New C-14's for sale, but no FJR's?

[clutchless1]

I visited a local motorcycle dealer today, they sell just about everything but Harley and Victory. As I was getting off of my FJRAE one of the salesman comes over and asks me to look at it. I asked the salesman what he was looking for, he replied he's never seen an FJR before. Shocked I asked him how long he's been selling motorcycles, he told me over a year. I had to go in and see what this was all about, I found out when these bikes had to be special ordered no-one ever came in and ordered one from them. I asked the Manager why they didn't have any FJR's on the floor now because that special order deal died when the 07's came out? I was told they are too expensive to have sitting around, and there wasn't much of a demand for Sport Touring Motorcycles around here.

I was totally blown away by this answer, last December I wanted to see one up close because I was interested in purchasing one from there. I was told last December by the same Manager they expect some in March or April. When I saw these FJR'S at the local motorcycle show in January I knew then this was the bike I wanted, when I went back in March I was again told there was a delay from Yamaha and they expected a couple in April or May. When I told the Manager I purchased one in March of this year, he asked why I didn't get it from them? Dumbfounded I told him they didn't then, and still don't have one there for purchase, people can't even see what one looks like muchless buy one, and who wants to wait for an ordered motorcycle when it's finally getting warm out. So I went to a dealer who had them in stock and purchased mine, and no I didn't order it or have to wait for it to be ordered, he made no comment and walked away.

Because I have been to this same dealership several times in the past few months (I bought a Honda there last month) I knew they just got two of the C-14's in a month ago. While talking to the salesman who sold me my Honda I noticed the C14's were gone (this is the same guy who wanted me to trade my FJR in on a C-14, ha ha ha) he told me they sold them both in a matter of three weeks, non ABS models, I wasn't impressed by the new Connie.

First I was told there is no demand for Sport Touring Motorcycles, they have never had a FJR at this dealer, then as soon as the C-14'S are introduced they get two in and sell them immediately. Yamaha what's up at this place? Did you make them mad and they are boycotting you by not selling the FJR's? I'm just glad there is no demand for Sport Touring bikes around here. It might be Kawawsaki gives more money to the selling dealers than Yamaha does, I don't know? :glare:

 

[twowheelnut]

Got this from an '07 owner today. D&H is prolly the highest volume FJR dealer in the coountry:

I was in Alabama today at D&H Cycle and spoke at length with Jerrold, the owner. BTW, nothing wrong w/my FJR, I just went for a little 500 mile ride today and ended up near there and stopped by. I just love the 79 year old Parts Dept Mgr, Virginia! Anyway, Jerrold said he hadn't heard any updates on the altitude issue. Interestingly, he had just returned from the Yamaha Dealer show in Orlando late this morning and said *HE* will be making changes this upcoming year (2008) with the FJRs in response to "Yamaha losing the big picture with FJR customers". Said his last run was 110 FJRs.... this year (2008) he said he'll order "no more than three." Yes, three. He says the PDP issue has "caused a huge problem." Also of interest, if not shocking, he also said "I've been told there are Yamaha dealers who know absolutely nothing about the FJR. I met a dealer this past weekend who said he'd never seen the FJR in person." Can you imagine having to pull into that dealership while on the road with a disabling problem? Holy crap, that's scary!!!

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Got this from an '07 owner today. D&H is prolly the highest volume FJR dealer in the coountry:

I was in Alabama today at D&H Cycle and spoke at length with Jerrold, the owner. BTW, nothing wrong w/my FJR, I just went for a little 500 mile ride today and ended up near there and stopped by. I just love the 79 year old Parts Dept Mgr, Virginia! Anyway, Jerrold said he hadn't heard any updates on the altitude issue. Interestingly, he had just returned from the Yamaha Dealer show in Orlando late this morning and said *HE* will be making changes this upcoming year (2008) with the FJRs in response to "Yamaha losing the big picture with FJR customers". Said his last run was 110 FJRs.... this year (2008) he said he'll order "no more than three." Yes, three. He says the PDP issue has "caused a huge problem." Also of interest, if not shocking, he also said "I've been told there are Yamaha dealers who know absolutely nothing about the FJR. I met a dealer this past weekend who said he'd never seen the FJR in person." Can you imagine having to pull into that dealership while on the road with a disabling problem? Holy crap, that's scary!!!

Should I post my reply to this again?

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s...st&p=303318

 

[shokdimn]

Sold over a hundred 07’s and is only ordering…..three... 08’s? :shok:

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

<snip>I visited a local motorcycle dealer today, they sell just about everything ...I was told there is no demand for Sport Touring Motorcycles, they have never had a FJR at this dealer, ...what's up at this place?

Interesting story. The dealer where I got my FJR never sold another (last time I asked). They're Honda/Yamaha and, AFAIK, they never had an ST1100 (let alone an ST1300). They sell Gold Wings, Cruzers, and dirt-bikes -- and seem to do pretty well at it (I guess we may never know if they could do better?).

Interesting, too, about D&H.

OrangevaleFJR:

I don't know the current requirements, or odering period, but apparently it is much shorter requiring the dealer to predict their sales. Like you said, they are in a tough spot if they over order and are frustrated when they under-order.

I, for one, would like to see Yamaha either get their dealers 'up-to-speed' or send them 'down the road'. I think a dealer should have all the company's motorcycles and be well versed in their features and operation. They should know about motorcycles, for-crying-out-loud, and be able to sell them (not just 'take orders'). Alot of the U.S. dealers could just as well be selling mattresses or some other "product". :angry:

 

[twowheelnut]

Should I post my reply to this again?

Yes. Cuz I can't remember everywhere I post this ****! :lol:

 

[dragonchef]

I, for one, would like to see Yamaha either get their dealers 'up-to-speed' or send them 'down the road'. I think a dealer should have all the company's motorcycles and be well versed in their features and operation. They should know about motorcycles, for-crying-out-loud, and be able to sell them (not just 'take orders'). Alot of the U.S. dealers could just as well be selling mattresses or some other "product". :angry:

I agree with the mattress part, but not sure on the "if you sell one you sell them all" comment.

Are Chevy dealers required to sell every model?

To take this to it's end....is every Italian restaurant required to sell all types of Italian food?

If I own a dealership, would I want to sell a product that I did not believe in?

Here where I live, instead of malls with 85 different stores selling 85 different things, the city is organized into areas where there are 85 different stores selling the exact same thing. There is a section in town that has ALL of the motorcycle dealers, and mechanics (as well as parts guys, gear, clothing….you name it). It took time to get to know my way around, but after making friends with the Arai dealer, I learned who the best dealers were, as well as the best mechanics…..seriously, I should post some pictures.

 

[kansas transit]

I, for one, would like to see Yamaha either get their dealers 'up-to-speed' or send them 'down the road'. I think a dealer should have all the company's motorcycles and be well versed in their features and operation. They should know about motorcycles, for-crying-out-loud, and be able to sell them (not just 'take orders'). Alot of the U.S. dealers could just as well be selling mattresses or some other "product". :angry:

I agree with the mattress part, but not sure on the "if you sell one you sell them all" comment.

Are Chevy dealers required to sell every model?

To take this to it's end....is every Italian restaurant required to sell all types of Italian food?

If I own a dealership, would I want to sell a product that I did not believe in?

Here where I live, instead of malls with 85 different stores selling 85 different things, the city is organized into areas where there are 85 different stores selling the exact same thing. There is a section in town that has ALL of the motorcycle dealers, and mechanics (as well as parts guys, gear, clothing….you name it). It took time to get to know my way around, but after making friends with the Arai dealer, I learned who the best dealers were, as well as the best mechanics…..seriously, I should post some pictures.

I understand what you are saying, however if I was a dealer that was going to take on a line of bikes yes I would assume I would have to stock at least one model of everthing. Now don't get me wrong when you say full line I'm talking just bikes for instance I don't expect a dealer in florida to have yamaha snowmobiles, nor would I expect a dealer in a dry state to stock a watercraft vehicle. I personally think that this is one and maybe the only one area that HD has it going on. You walk into just about any HD dealer and they have every model available, and I would think that just about every harley dealer has a fairly knowledgable service dept. And HD has strict policies about who can sell their product and where there dealership can be located, within line of sight distance of a interstate hwy. And I don't buy the line that this certain model won't sell here, with the advent of the internet a dealer would have no problem getting rid of one slow selling model, I think thats just a horse **** excuse. JMO. Stan

 

[blackarrow]

I drove over the entirety of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas the early part of this year before I finally found one. The same story everywhere; they sell cruisers mostly with a smattering of sportbikes and a few dirt bikes. In fact I was quite dismayed when I came back into the market for a new machine. Everywhere I went most of what was in stock were *^&!! cruisers. Dealers universally said sport/touring bikes don't sell. The local Honda dealer in Muskogee actually expected me to believe the ST1300 was a special order only and wasn't willing to even talk price until a deposit was put down. A Tulsa dealer got an FJR in March but was not willing to negotiate a reasonable price. I waited another month and got one from Muskogee. He only had one through his dealership before and it was purchased by someone in Nevada who drove down to get it. Their service department has never actually worked on one before which gives me some trepidation.

The first and only FJR I've spotted on the street was a 2006 in Tulsa.

 

[scubatech]

Last weekend my wife and I tooka trip down to the Sangre De Christo mtns. in southern Colorado. The second day I noticed that the center of my Pilot Road was worse than I thought. I got a little worried about it so I called and found one. A small friendly mountain dealership had one. He had never worked on an FJR either so I got to help him change it. Normally that would not be allowed so I was happy to do it. He had only seen and rode one FJR! I suppose a lot of these dealers mostly sell quads & snow machines. I felt lucky not to have to worry about making it home with my wife on the back.

 

[flyinlow]

I drove over the entirety of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas the early part of this year before I finally found one. The same story everywhere; they sell cruisers mostly with a smattering of sportbikes and a few dirt bikes. In fact I was quite dismayed when I came back into the market for a new machine. Everywhere I went most of what was in stock were *^&!! cruisers. Dealers universally said sport/touring bikes don't sell. The local Honda dealer in Muskogee actually expected me to believe the ST1300 was a special order only and wasn't willing to even talk price until a deposit was put down. A Tulsa dealer got an FJR in March but was not willing to negotiate a reasonable price. I waited another month and got one from Muskogee. He only had one through his dealership before and it was purchased by someone in Nevada who drove down to get it. Their service department has never actually worked on one before which gives me some trepidation.
The first and only FJR I've spotted on the street was a 2006 in Tulsa.

This and all the other things stated is why we don't get other products like the MT-01, or the totally naked FZ1, or Honda's CBR1000F (Canada is getting it this year).

All the Jap manufacturers think that they can only sell cruisers and dirt bikes, and race machines like the R1 and R6. Honda and Yamaha used to create markets with innovative products, now they just follow along.

 

[clutchless1]

I just don't know how or even where to start with this whole thing. We as owners know as much or more than the people who designed and built these bikes, I'm not trying to be funny when I make this comment. Here we have a nice bike Yamaha designed and built, but we also have shops around the country that sell Yamaha's who have never ever seen (some have never heard of the FJR, I'm not kidding) one of these bikes. I guess a common sense question is if these dealers have never seen the FJR which has been out in this country I believe starting in 2002 or 2003, how are they supposed to work on and properly diagnose any problems we have with these bikes? I mean come on, Yamaha doesn't seem to think it's nessessary that these Dealers who not only sell the Yamaha product but who also represent Yamaha aren't required to at least know what it is they are selling? How in the world are we as owners supposed to believe our bikes will be properly repaired when we take them in for any kind of work to a crew who know nothing about our bikes?

I can honestly say A FEW on this forum help lead the rest of us out of bad situations Yamaha and their dealers either can't or won't address. Problems a lot of us complain about and let Yamaha know "Hey there really is a problem here". Then we hear Yamaha has never heard about any of this, and after they check it out the problem is non-existant. If not for the few who actually take their time and explain to us (even they have explained a dozen times before the same fix or comment) and do so without belittling us. You should be answering the phones at Yamaha when a customer has a problem. Without you people, we may as well dump the FJR.

When I visited the big bike show in January of this year I wanted to be sure Yamaha was going to be into the FJR for a long time to come. I asked a Yamaha Rep how committed they were to this bike, I wanted to know if parts and techinical data were going to be available in case their new baby, the AE Model had problems, or even if the A Model developed problems of it's own. I was told this is a proven design, and Yamaha never introduces anything that isn't tested in all types of conditions before they release it. I also asked why I have never seen any FJR's in six of the Yamaha Dealers I've visited so far? I was told each Dealer representing Yamaha would indeed have one of each FJR Model in their showrooms starting in March of 2007. After looking at the competition and seeing what they had to answer the FJR with, I was completely sold.

I can't and won't go into the terrible situation I have been through concerning my own FJR, and the fact the lengthy repair performed on my bike may come back at any time really concerns me to no end. Part of my situation deals with what I've written here this evening. It seems most have issues of one type or another dealing with the various years, heating, stumbling at high altitude, ignition switch failuresa, and valve noise just to name a few things. These issues some of which have been addressed, and some that haven't as of yet. Add to the few issues I've mentioned, no repair parts when the bike does break down, (because they are breaking down). Hell, Yamaha can't even supply parts specifically designed for these bikes people are paying an extreme amount of money for that have nothing to do with performance or maintaining their bikes. A friend of mine finally gave up on the thought of adding a Yamaha top box to his FJR because he got tired of hearing it's on the way. He has been told the box is in but they are waiting for the mount plate, as much as Yamaha charges for the whole package I would have thought they had them ready to go so they can collect the moolah, they can't even do this?????

So here we have it.......Quite a few Yamaha Dealers don't stock the FJR.........A lot (even if it's 30%) have never laid eyes on one except to look in a book Yamaha provides them with a picture of it............Sales people who sell Yamaha wanting to actually lay their eyes on a real Yamaha FJR because they've never seen one before.................Part availability is almost non existant (how many of you waited for new ignition switches? Heated Handgrips?) lets put it this way, parts we need are non-existant, parts specifically made for the FJR..............Absolutely no color choices in the US market...................Ah yes, very poor customer support (I can write you a book on bull s%#@ comments made by the people who are supposed to help you out) absolutely no follow through when a customer is really needs help............

The FJR is a nice looking Sport Touring motorcycle. A lot of what it does, it does well. I just can't help thinking Yamaha is almost acting as if they want to get rid of the FJR in the States. If not, why is there what seems to be a total lack of parts and support for this motorcycle? I really don't understand the thought process behind this whole thing. Almost as if Yamaha is saying to us all we could care less about selling this bike in the US, we sell them just to keep our customers riding the Yamaha product until they decide to buy something else from us? :glare:

 

[SR-71]

Here in northern Virginia, my dealer had two on the floor; A and AE '07's. The North Carolina dealer I ended up buying my '07A from, just had one on the floor. Your salesman's interest in seeing a FJR for the first time doesn't surprise me.

I think I may know why some dealers are experiencing a lack of FJR sales. According to Motorcycle Consumer News, the average person that buys a FJR is a male between the ages of 50 to 64. True, there's younger and older FJR owners (and women as well), but that's the average sales.

Now... ask yourself how many males you know in your work place, ages 50 to 64, that are chompin'-at-the-bit to buy a bike (any bike), much less a FJR? A few here and there certainly, but not many. Most people around that age tend to look forward to being parked on their couch and watching the big game, or race, on their big screen TV. And of course odds are a younger person coming into a cycle showroom would be looking for crotch rocket or a dirt bike, not a FJR. \

So from a salesman's point of view, what are the odds of someone walking onto his showroom floor... looking for a FJR? As we all know it's possible of course, but the odds aren't that great.

Unfortunately, I don't know if any of this will ever change. But luckily for all of us, FJR demand is good enough for Yamaha to keep building them. And I sure hope that continues and the demand continues to grow as well!

SR-71

 

[clutchless1]

SR-71, I also read the MCN. It's very to the point and informative and holds no punches (which is a good thing). One thing I'm concerned with is the way they did their question and answer session a few months back asking FJR owners about their likes, dislikes, problems, and so on. These questions are based entirely on the answers of thos who responded, most of which I would believe also subscribe to MCN. I believe the answers were hitting the nail on the head, I hope some at Yamaha actually take their time to read some of the suggestions FJR owners have brought forth. But my main question about MCN saying most owners of the FJR's are 50 to 64 may not be true at all, and this would definately give the wrong impression to Yamaha who I'm sure make decisions based on who's buying their product, how they ride, how long they have been riding. I fear if Yamaha got the wrong info and feel the age group is higher than they first thought changes may be made to the point where they just no longer care and eventually do away with the FJR because within a few years their base is dying off. My question would be this, could it be true most who subscribe to MCN are between the ages of 50 to 64?

I would like to take a forum such as this one and ask owners their age, I would think this answer on a forum such as this would definately give Yamaha a REAL Answer to the ages of the people who own and ride these bikes. I'm saying this because when I was younger I wouldn't have given a magazine such as MCN a second look much less purchase a subscription for something as plain and dull looking as MCN is today. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the way this mag is laid out, I just don't think we get the whole picture when it comes to FJR owners real age.

I would say we should hook up and do some riding, but Stafford would take me about 2 to 3 hours one way to get here to there. Be Safe.

 

[twistedcricket]

D&H, a small town dealer sells 110. While the dealer I purchased from sold 4 '07s he knew enough about them to know that he would order one in a heartbeat if someone asked for it. I ordered without visiting the dealer, without a test ride but with the knowledge I gleaned from this site. I bought mine and they had sold 3 previously, and have an '05 sitting there for sale next to an older Connie. He said he will order the A and AE 08's. I said I'd spread the word. The local dealer is much larger, had two on the floor, but the salesperson had to refer to the spec sheet to attempt to answer my questions and wanted me to "consider" a cruiser for long-distance rides. The FJRs were still there two weeks ago; I remember the last 5 digits of the VINs.

IMHO, HD dealers are not out there selling anything but the Harley line (including Buells). Most BMW bike dealers are the same. Honda/Kawasaki/Yamaha/Suzuki are hardly ever on their own. Imagine trying to keep up with the VStrom, Connie, FJR, specs/prices/news on top of the cruisers, rice rockets and accessories. My dealer carries Yamaha/Honda. As someone else mentioned though, he sells more sleds, quads and cruisers than sport bikes.

The average age according to the MCN survey is probably the same average age of any cycle rider not on a rice rocket. That same group generally buys the cruisers because of their general preference for "lay-z-boy" comfort. Present company excluded in that brash generalization. I'm helping to lower the average age

Are Chevy(Ford, Dodge, etc) dealers required to stock everything made by XYZ? No. They go from previous year/month/quarter sales numbers. How many Corvettes/Mustang Cobras/Vipers are sitting on car lots? The manufacturers might push a certain model with the incentives and tell their dealers to buy X amount to meet the projected demand, but even that is based on sales history. They can order whatever you want and/or "buy" one that is built the way you want it from other dealers in the area.