I am considering getting a new ride and have tended to only consider bikes with a Dealership in Northern Ontario. However that limits the choice to Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Harley Davidson. I almost pulled the trigger recently on a 2018 Sport Glide but stepped back after reading of issues with the new Milwaukee Eight engines, deciding instead to wait for the 2019 models. In the meantime Indian has caught my attention but the nearest dealership is four hoiurs away in southern Ontario. That's also where the nearest Triumph and BMW dealerships are as well.
I have had such a good experience with the CB1100 that I think whoever said on this forum that the CB1100 can spoil you for other bikes might be right on. So why not just keep riding the CB1100 you might ask? Maybe it's a case of wander lust but I would like to try the cruiser/bagger experience. If I was younger I could easily wait and see what comes along but at this point every riding season is precious and I want to make the most of them while I can.
Got the coming winter to dream on this...
I would do it, so long as there's a mechanic in town who can be relied upon to work on the bike. personally, i'm not my own mechanic, so i'd always need somebody nearby who can take the bike and do whatever needs doing. that's easy with Yamaha and Honda ect, but hard with things like BMW and Indian. If you plan on doing all work yourself, then all this is moot.
Not me. Luckily the dealership I use is only 9 miles away. My son bought a Ducati from a dealership 100 miles away and it's a royal pain taking the bike in and dropping it off, going back home, then coming back a couple weeks later to pick it back up. So each time it goes to the shop requires a total of 8 hours of trailering.
Four hours there and then what do you do? A change of tires may be alright if they work on you bike at a prearranged appointed time, but that is not usually the way we are treated. You get there four hours after every working person has dropped off their bike before going to work and the shop is already busy working on their bikes.
My former GM dealer would have me book an appointment 2 weeks before having my winter or summer wheels and tires changed. After a half hour drive, I get there to find the appointment time means nothing. I stand in line for 15 minutes waiting to tell the first available service rep the same thing I told the person on the phone two weeks ago. Then they tell me there are lots of cars ahead of me and I may not get my car back until late in the day.
They offer me a shuttle service to take me home. I wait half an hour for one to return. Then there many people squeezing into the van, and I always seem to be the last one off an hour later because I live half an hour away.
At five they call me to say my car is ready. I wait half an hour for the shuttle and spend another hour while he picks up everybody else.
The dealership is busy so I wait in line to pay the bill. The service rep calls to have someone bring my car around. Fifteen minutes later it arrives. I spend an hour in rush hour traffic getting home.
Five minutes from me is another GM Dealership. So I booked an appointment and they honoured it. I get my free beverage and watch TV in their lounge. Within an hour they tell my car is ready. I am home 5 minutes later.
My former dealer that I have used for decades keeps phoning and e-mailing me to ask why I am no longer use there service. I explain why, but they won't guarantee my car will be worked on at the appointed time. BYE!
Guess where I will buying my next car.
I wouldn't do it. Too inconvenient. My closest reliable BMW dealer is 50 minutes away and even that is a pain. They're closed on Sundays which means I can only drop off my bike on a Saturday. It's a waste of a day. Around here, the weather is too chancy to make service appointments ahead of time and I have neither the room nor desire to buy a trailer.
Nortoon, I know exactly how you feel!
I buy the quality products after research, not a dealer service, however while I am getting older, things may change a little bit . Since I've been livening in big city, there is no issue with dealers
My CB dealer nearby has closed, the other one, from which I bought my first 2013 CB, OEM parts, oils and let them do tire replacement is 80 km/50 miles away. So far have no problem with them due to good quality service and relation
Sporadically, I buy oil & filter from 20 km away Honda Powersports.
Cars... only once let car dealer do the first oil change and pop up head light motor replacement under warranty on my 1987 Accord... I do everything by myself, if misdiagnosed = I can only complaint to myself
I would because once I buy a bike I never return since in my experience most dealers are hacks who know less than me & rip you off right in front of your face.
I have bought two of my CB 1100's 3 hours away because of a good price from that dealer but never went back for service as I do my own AND have a good Honda dealer close by but with high new bike prices.
Yes and without hesitation. My Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki dealers are 100 miles away, 80 to the Yamaha and Harley dealers. Unless you intend the dealer perform all maintenance there is little reason to be concerned I think. Parts are easy to get on line and motor oil is cheap at Wal Mart.
When I was young, thin, flexible and poor; I used to do all of my own maintenance. I still have a chest full of Craftsman tools to prove it. But motor cycles were so much simpler to work on back then. There were no disk brakes, fuel injectors, electronic ignition systems, environmental devices, plastic shrouds, etc.
I could change the oil (no filters), use the old oil to boil the drive chain, add new oil, check the spark plugs, ignition points, and balance the carburetors in a couple of hours. Brakes were shoes with springs with an adjustable rod or cable to activate them. No bleeding required unless you nicked yourself on the bike. Four stroke engine valve adjusters were easily accessible studs and nuts that could be measured with a set of inexpensive feeler gauges.
After getting married, reaching middle age, and gaining 60 pounds; Penny and I rode on touring motorcycles. Heavy and complicated beasts. Except for oil changes, I let the dealership take care of them.
Things didn't get better when I returned to motorcycling after a 25 year hiatus. At 68 I now weighed 80 pounds more that the day I was married. Loved my CB500XA, but a valve inspection or spark plug replacement required removing a number of plastic shrouds, the fuel tank, a tray of electronic devices, and a spaghetti bowl of wiring. I stopped wasting my money on lottery tickets and put away $20 a week to pay to have the dealer mess with these more complicated tasks and save my sanity.
Did they always get it right? No! After a valve inspection, they had to lift the tank a second time to plug in the signal lights. After a spark plug replacement they had to pick me and my bike up an hour from my home. They were not aware of Honda's practice of snugging NEW spark plugs down twice. But neither was I until this happened. Apart from the inconvenience, they made things right with no further cost.
New tires from another dealer for my CB1100 EX worked well. They even shuttled me home when it started to rain when I went to pick-up my bike. We both agreed riding in the rain on slick new tires was not a good idea. The only thing I found wrong was the nuts on the wheel adjusters had not been tightened down. Fortunately the axle had been torqued down, and the rear wheel and chain were straight.
So while I am willing to do the simple stuff: oil and filters changes, winter prep and storage, etc. I will leave the more complicated stuff for them to do. This keeps my blood pressure down and avoids a lot of aggravation. Despite having the Shop Manuals I could probably make the same mistakes that they do.