A bit of a seismic shift for one westcountry dealership

[TLS-Moose]

Whilst what they sell may not be to the taste of the general membership here, I saw an article elsewhere that said Riders of Bridgwater are losing their Harley franchise.

Riders have been a mainstay of the HD dealer network for the best part of thirty years now, and their premises in Bridgwater is a testament to their success with the brand.

What might affect some members here though, is one wonders whether their other franchise will be enough to sustain the business on its own - Ducati ......

[DaveH]

Ducati won’t keep them going with the overheads of such a large premises I reckon. I guess they will try to replace HD with one or more other marques.

[billinom8s]

May even go down the Chinese/electric bike route.

[TLS-Moose]

I also noticed there's a new Yamaha dealership in Exeter opposite the Toyota dealer, beside where Toolstation used to be?

I think in the distant past Riders might have been Kawasaki dealers?

[bkingalan]

I used to know the owner Phill Jessop many years when he was a apprentice mechanic at a car dealership when he started dabbling in buying and selling bikes with a friend and went from there certainly did well for himself,

I saw him at a bike meet one night while I was there with my best man who was also a friend of his we spoke and he just kept walking and didn't want to know us

[Jug]

I wonder if we'll see Harley suffering more loses. When the cost of living increases the non-essentials tend to suffer. Added to that the recent interest rate hikes and those HP & PCP deals are not looking so good.

The cheapest new Harley is £12,995, the big ones are over £20,000 and the tourers are starting at £25k and run up to £50k.

This is what the average interest rate for personal loans has looked like over the last 20 years.
Remember back in May the bank base rate had only just jumped up to 1%.

£5k.JPG

£10k.JPG

[DaveH]

The cheapest new Harley is £12,995, the big ones are over £20,000 and the tourers are starting at £25k and run up to £50k.

And of course, Ducati prices are in the same ballpark

[Jug]

Currently 8.9% seems to be the best rates available, and is what both Honda and also Harley are offering.

[Robbo87]

Did a bit of digging and it seems Riders of Bridgwater will indeed lose their HD franchise in the new year but will then operate as an HD independent.