[charleetho]

Snipped quote

In the meantime I may have to break down and buy a GS911 for my BMW to clear codes and such.... END QUOTE

Don't buy a GS911 if you are going to sell your GTL. Find an independent shop that works on BMWs and they can reset it. I think they charge me $30. I asked my local BMW dealer to reset the service light and got a song and dance about them having to have done the service.

I agree on the need for a test ride. Six years ago I swore I was done with BMW but I test rode a 2014 R12GS. It sucked me in and I got one. Albeit a used one. Love the 2014 much more then my problem prone 2005.

When the 2018 wings came out it seemed every Honda dealer had demo bikes. I test rode a couple and loved the bike. I waited 3 years until the used ones came down to a price I was willing to pay. Love my new to me 2018.
You may have better luck lining up a test ride on a used bike from a dealer. Then if you like it shop for a new 2021.

Good luck in your search.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[MsFanChicagoland]

It's not Milwaukee, but still pretty close. DSPHonda in Des Plaines, IL. I purchased my 2018 leftover from them in the summer of 2020. They have a very large selection and offer test rides, although I haven't been at their location lately, so can't vouch for any in stock.

I owned a 2009 BMW R1200RT and put it on consignment at Barrington BMW in Barrington, IL, then rode the metra train from the Barrington stop to the Cumberland stop with all my gear, picked up my new Wing and rode home. Barrington handled the sale of the RT and made it a pretty painless transaction. Took about 3 weeks for the RT to sell and when it did, they just mailed me a check.

 

[BigBob1]

Isn't it still winter in Wisconsin? Might be a reason behind your dealer issues...

 

[Rick H.]

Thanks for all the great replies guys! I appreciate the info. Yes unfortunately it is still winter here with 3' of snow on the ground, but when I asked about demo/test rides I stipulated when the roads were salt free and the temps a bit warmer. As I said, two of the dealers were pretty stand-offish on the test ride question with one sales guy asking me if I would want a brand new motorcycle that had demo miles on it? I look at that as a loaded question actually because there are a ton of variables involved. In my experience (and I have purchased a lot of bikes in my lifetime) I would never accept any bike unless I test/demo rode it and because it just came out of the crate doesn't mean much in my book. It could be one big pig-in-a-poke sitting in that crate. How many people would buy a car or truck without a test ride first? How do you know if you will like it? How does that specific vehicle ride or perform?

The last two Beemer dealers I dealt with both had no issues with test rides and they both agreed test rides sell the vehicle and confirm the buyer is going to be happy with the purchase. All my BMW's that I purchased were tracked back to my test rides on them and only one didn't turn out good in the end. Car wise I have only purchased one new car without a test ride in it and that was my special ordered Chevrolet 2017 SS that was in the last year of production. I purchased that car sight unseen because it was built in Australia and shipped to the U.S. You either got on the "buy it now" list or you were out of luck. I can't envision not taking a demo ride before purchasing almost any other vehicle, especially a motorcycle as those tend to be quite personal vehicles.

Rick H.

 

[SeaDogActual]

I live in the Milwaukee, WI area and my wife and I decided to take a car trip today to look at the new Honda Goldwings that have supposedly been released. There are four Honda M/C dealers in our area and we went to three of them looking for new Goldwings. I specifically wanted to see the new black DCT Tour model, but not one of the dealerships had one I could look at. I was quite surprised by this as the dealer websites all stated they had this model in stock. I asked about taking a test ride when they finally get some Goldwings in and one dealer said "Yep, no problem when the roads are clear" which meant salt/snow free, but the other two definitely leaned away from offering any test rides. One sales guy asked me if I would want to buy a new bike that had seen demo miles? He went onto say that they keep their new bikes in the shipping crates until they are purchased, or have money down on them and then they are uncrated. He also stated that they have a black DCT Tour in stock, but wouldn't show it to me because it's in the crate, but if I wanted to put $100.00 down he would have it uncrated so I could see it. Not surprisingly two of the three dealerships showed little to no interest in taking my 2018 BMW K1600 GTL in trade. The third dealer said "We should be able to work something out".

Is this how most Honda M/C dealerships operate? I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling at all going into to talk to these guys and my wife and I came away with the feeling they didn't care if we bought a bike from them or not. One salesman spent more time talking about what a great salesman he was, than talking about selling me a Goldwing. The second salesman we talked to couldn't tell me what the warranty was on a new Goldwing. He then corrected himself and said it was a one year warranty. Is that really the warranty on a $29,000.00 Honda Goldwing?? Only a year?

I have really convinced myself that I would like to get a DCT Goldwing primarily because the two BMW dealers nearest me have closed their doors, but I was quite taken back by the rather cold reception at the Honda dealers I went to. It bugs me no end when I am talking to a salesman about buying a big ticket item and he keeps answering phone calls losing my attention in the process. What do you guys think?? Can anyone recommend a decent Honda M/C dealer in Southeast Wisconsin? On another note, one salesman told me 3 or 4 of the Honda M/C dealerships have been "taken over" by new owners. Does anyone have any information on this? Thanks in advance for any information/help.

Rick H.

Call Des Plaines Honda (847) 699-9600 and ask for Alfredo Guerra and see what he has to say.

 

[Strawman2]

I have bought from Vetesnik's in Richland Center . Ron Olson was my sales person, Heck of a great guy! I also purchased their extended service for my 2014 CTX1300. Just left it go several months ago. Had 97000 miles on it. While it was for me, a three hour drive, their service was always very good and my appointments were always done on time. And they took a bike right off the showroom floor for me to test out. My latest bike is a 2018 demo from Ken's Sports in Kaukauna. I was allowed to test ride it also. I have only had service done there once o the new Wing. . Was done on time and satisfactory . Andrew Kletti sold the wing to us. I think we had a test ride that lasted quite long. I can recommend both dealers! PS , I am pretty sur I saw a new 2021 on their floor this past week.

 

[FIRE UP]

Rick H,
It really is too bad you had to deal with not only one dealership but, multiple ones that were less than hospitable. While it seems a bit of a stretch of the imagination, I sure which ole' Soichiro Honda could be there to witness just how folks that sell his product, treat potential customers. It sure sounds as if these dealers just don't care if they loose potential customers or not. The last time I was in a multi-brand motorcycle dealer in the San Diego CA area, we, the wife and I, were greeted by a female sales person.

This female was not overly pushy but, without a doubt, she took her job seriously. We meandered over to a new Wing and even though, there were multiple signs around that say: Do not sit on motorcycles, I climbed right on the new Wing as she watched. Her first words were: "Well, how does it feel"? I reacted and we talked quite a bit. After about 2-3 minutes of conversation, she said, I'll be right back, I'm gonna get you a dealer plate and you can take this one out for as long as you like"! I replied: "Whoooooa, not so fast. While I really like the bike, I'm not ready to take on more debt".

She was really trying to get me to take it out and experience the DCT. And, I gotta admit, I was anxious as hell to do it. But, I'm not the kind that does JOY RIDES when I'm not in a position to buy. She was a very, very nice lady. They even sold Can Am Spyders. The wife sat down in one and ask me how she looked in it. The sales lady said, "wanna take that one for a test run"?

So, my point is, again, you just ran into some JERKS that are not all that anxious to pick up new customers. But, don't be too disswaded on this. The Wing is top notch machine. And the DCT raises it even a notch higher than the top any other bike in my opinion. If you have to travel some to get satisfaction, well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Good luck.
Scott

 

[Rick H.]

Thanks for all the additional replies everyone. Really helpful in many respects. Just for grins I went back to one of the dealers I was at initially and spoke with a different sales person. Man oh man do they fight on going for test rides! Unless I write up a sales contract and put $100.00 down a test ride isn't happening. I just have a really difficult time thinking I could buy anything this expensive ($30+K) without at least going for a test ride. As the sales guy was shucking and jiving me on the test ride I kept thinking he might go along with the idea, but in the end, No contract=No test ride. They had an all black one, dark grey really and I liked the bike, but then we got into talking about taking my K1600 in trade and things got even worse. "Well you know the blue book and NADA price guides aren't all that accurate and are written by the manufacturers, so their prices are a bit high". Once that came out of his mouth I was like I'm done, show me the door. I even asked about their trade-in appraiser taking a ride to my house and look at my bike, but no dice. I have to bring it to the dealership. The salesman said they "might" be able to come over to my place with a trailer and haul the bike in for an appraisal, but this seems like an awful amount of work for a 5 minute appraisal. Plus you better know how to strap a K1600 down or damage can be done.

And this guy didn't know what the exact warranty was or anything about the extended warranty. He did say the extended Honda warranty runs concurrent with the factory warranty and I'm not too sure about that. There would be no sense in buying an extended warranty until the factory warranty is almost expired. Just for poops and giggles I asked what the horsepower rating was on the Wing and he wasn't sure, but he knew the one I was looking at had a TPS warning system, but he didn't know how it operated, or if it showed actual tire pressure for each tire, but he added it's very sensitive.....Really? How does he know that? What a circus!

So the more I look into this switch to Honda the more frustrating it gets. It is like I have to convince them to sell me the bike instead of the other way around and don't any of their salesman know anything about the bike? So at this point I am not going to waste anymore time and effort on this until it warms up outside and the streets really clear up. Perhaps by that point the local dealers will have more Goldwings in stock and be a bit more amiable to effecting a sale of one. I am plum tuckered out trying to get someone to sell me a Honda Goldwing close to home. It isn't supposed to be this difficult really......

Rick H.

 

[tony-wisco]

If I were in your shoes Rick H. I would feel the need to contact Honda directly to express my disappointment with this dealer.

 

[Rick H.]

Thanks for the idea Tony. I may do just that. I hate to admit it, but I don't know how these sales people can begin to keep up on changes and specifications to the motorcycles, let alone everything else that they sell. I mean when you just stand inside some of these dealerships it is a smorgasbord of things for sale. Snow mobiles, jet-skis, motorcycles, generators, Can-Am Spyders, ATV's, boats, trailers and on and on. And many of these places don't sell just one brand of vehicle they sell Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, KTM and more. How do these people keep it all straight in their heads? I never sold anything in my life for a job let alone the myriad of things these guys are hawking. I am not making excuses for what I have experienced but a knowledgeable sales person that knows the various product lines would be invaluable to the dealership. Yet when a sales guy/gal doesn't know what the warranty is on a given product it's pretty clear we need to go back to school and learn the basics. If nothing else, if it were me, I would have find out what the customer is interested in and have "cheat sheets" made up for that product that I could refer to so I didn't seem completely inept. Nothing is worse in my book than giving out the wrong information about something as simple as horsepower or warranty info. May be I expect too much from sales people.

Rick H.

 

[cycledude]

With all the beautiful weather lately why didn’t you just ride the BMW your wanting to get rid of over to some of those dealers so they could look at it ?

 

[Rick H.]

With all the beautiful weather lately why didn’t you just ride the BMW your wanting to get rid of over to some of those dealers so they could look at it ?

Good question. While the weather wasn't bad when you consider what it was a week ago, the outside air temp at the dealership was only 43 degrees and there is still a ton of snow on the ground. The warmer temps mean the snow is melting and water from that melted snow is laying all over the roads. Because it hasn't rained as of yet the water is mixed with the salt the highway departments put down to melt the snow/ice on the roads. So unless one wants or desires a rusted motorcycle it's a good idea not to ride a motorcycle until it rains a few times to get rid of the salt residue. Should one really need to take their motorcycle out at this point it would necessitate completely washing the bike after the ride to get the salt off if you at all care about your bike. As I stated earlier my asking about a test ride hinged on better road and weather conditions as I wouldn't take my bike out yet, nor would I expect a dealership to allow a test ride on a new bike in these conditions. Hope that answers your question.....

Rick H.

 

[tony-wisco]

Thanks for the idea Tony. I may do just that. I hate to admit it, but I don't know how these sales people can begin to keep up on changes and specifications to the motorcycles, let alone everything else that they sell. I mean when you just stand inside some of these dealerships it is a smorgasbord of things for sale. Snow mobiles, jet-skis, motorcycles, generators, Can-Am Spyders, ATV's, boats, trailers and on and on. And many of these places don't sell just one brand of vehicle they sell Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, KTM and more. How do these people keep it all straight in their heads? I never sold anything in my life for a job let alone the myriad of things these guys are hawking. I am not making excuses for what I have experienced but a knowledgeable sales person that knows the various product lines would be invaluable to the dealership. Yet when a sales guy/gal doesn't know what the warranty is on a given product it's pretty clear we need to go back to school and learn the basics. If nothing else, if it were me, I would have find out what the customer is interested in and have "cheat sheets" made up for that product that I could refer to so I didn't seem completely inept. Nothing is worse in my book than giving out the wrong information about something as simple as horsepower or warranty info. May be I expect too much from sales people.

Rick H.

I agree it can be difficult for sales people to be knowledgeable on all the makes and models sold at multiline dealers these days. I remember when I bought mine the salesmen had a binder. The binder had charts on the differences between the bagger, tour and air bag model. I think now days with so much information to sift through on the internet I would just prefer to buy direct and deliver directly to my home, The dealership would just be for test rides, service and warranty.

 

[Flatsixbasic]

Take a road trip to Storm Lake, IA. Storm Lake Honda will make you feel good about buying a new Goldwing. And they take all kinds of motorcycle trade ins...Harleys, BMWs, Triumphs, etc.

Good people. For years and years, they've had the reputation that, "If you leave there without buying a Goldwing, you just didn't really want one!". GWTA & GWRRA members loved them.