[Richard230]

Today I stopped by my "local" Royal Enfield dealer, San Mateo Honda/Suzuki, to say "hello" and to ask when they would be moving, as they had a big sign on the windows for the past several months proclaiming that they were moving to a new location. (One of the employees told me a couple of weeks ago that they would be moving to the city of San Bruno, a few miles north, as their current lease would expire in May).  I might add that I have been buying motorcycles from them off and on since 1971, when I bought my wife a Honda CB100, and the dealership has been in operation continuously longer than that.

About 18 months ago the original owner was bought out and the new owner took on the Royal Enfield franchise and hired a sales manager who was said to be an expert at selling Royal Enfield motorcycles, which were always prominently displayed in front of the store. However, today the property was deserted, the shop was empty and there was a hand-lettered cardboard sign on the door saying "gone out of business".  It sure didn't take too long for the new owner to run the business into the ground.   

Now what?  I think that was the last Royal Enfield franchise left in the San Francisco Bay Area.  I know RE wants to build up their U.S. market, but right now it is not looking so good around here, especially as the Bay Area has a large Indian community that have the money and interest in buying Royal Enfield motorcycles, to say nothing of the rest of us looking for something different in two-wheel ownership. What is RE up to and when will they get their U.S. act in gear? 

[Farmer_John]

I think it was in gear. Not sure what the hell RENA is thinking, but I still maintain my RE could easily be replaced by one of the new Triumphs.

I mean, there are 2 flipping "official" RE dealers to cover essentially the entire area known as...North America.

You don't kill your base, to build satellites.

[Kevin Mahoney]

Sorry to hear that dealership failed. The sales manager "Dave: was a great guy. He was the guy that got us into the Fremont store and made things happen. He walked into a tough situation. This is a tough business.

[Richard230]

A friend of mine used to work at San Mateo Honda during the 1970's when he was in high school.  He sent me this interesting and fun story regarding his experiences at the shop and a couple of others during that time. You can't run a motorcycle dealership like that anymore:   

Stan Madill opened that store in 1964 as an addition to San Francisco Honda.    Stan closed the San Francisco store perhaps 1976, in maybe 1977 Stan passed away.  The store was left to his goofy wife Toni who was trying to extract BIG bucks out of the place, but there weren’t any big bucks to get.

Let me see, as I recall John went to work there for Stan in 1968, he was fixing to leave 10 years later.  I was working there at that time.  Grand Prix in San Jose had made him an offer and he was going to bolt.  For one reason or other he didn’t, suspected that GPX was going to want too much of a hustle out of him, and John didn’t dance to any drum but his own.

Another interesting factoid – Stan operated a company called “Dell Imports” – he bought and sold miscellaneous imported goods (not motorcycle related) – and I suspect that propped up the motorcycle business,  Stan wanted to retire, and sold Dell Imports, perhaps 1975 (before I worked for him)  Things started to slide quickly after that.

The shop was always in a state of financial crisis.  There were insurance bills to pay, and Toni Madill coming in demanding seemingly huge cash from John.   During the slow months the store was often on credit hold with American Honda, but that didn’t stop us from taking customers upfront payments for parts  that John knew at the time he was unable to order in a timely fashion.  The shelves were always empty of any fast moving parts, light bulbs, tail light lenses, oil filters, the bread and butter.  We did have a huge stock of obsolete parts- it would be gold today.  The bikes had been on the floor for an excessive long time, flooring costs were through the roof, on some bikes we had to sell them over list, but John was a very good salesman, and he could find the right sucker he would reel ‘em in and boy would they pay.  There was a recession on at the time, john had eluded to the fact that in the early 70’s the place was hopping, but in the late 70’s it wasn’t the same anymore.

As john was proud the say “Tight Screw Becheap  Honda”  He was proud of the fact he could run the place on almost nothing.  I think you could say he was a survivor.

I do know that John was doing so little business in those days that AHM wanted to revoke his dealership.  They sent the US head of AHM to have a look.  I have forgotten his name, he was very Japanese – he called with a thick accent and wanted to talk to John.  I put the call on hold and buzzed John. When John picked up I heard that “He shouldn’t revoke the dealership, it would put several people out of work” A bunch of high class pleading ensued.  Later the leader of AHM flew up from LA, and did a drive by, a big black limo stopped in front of the store, the rear window rolled down and a very Japanese looking face gave the edifice a hard look.  That was the last I heard of that.  I really don’t know if that was the president of American Honda, but he sure looked the part,  and I just caught a glimpse of this, he didn’t stop in.

My days there were really fun.  I was never on the payroll, everything was cash under the table.  Sometimes quite a bit of cash.  I was the shop kid, and I was trusted. I had a key.  I sold parts, bikes, did repairs,  got to work on and ride a bunch of different hardware, all makes and models and ages.  During one winter I was the service department coming in after school (I had “work experience” class, if they had only known what I was doing *EEEP!)  so I got away from school an hour early.  I would get to the shop about 1:45 and world work into the evening.  Summers I’d be there all day.  I did a lot of “on the side” jobs – John wasn’t really paying me anything, so this was blessed by the massa.  Geez, this was fun, about the best job a 18 year old could have.  Junior and senior year, plus and extra year while I attended college. I eventually went to work for Wally Will – Belmont HD, worked there a year and when I did the last two years of my degree I went down to SLO and worked for a rag-tag Harley dealer there.  What a culture shock.  I would have to stop by the casa (a converted detached garage on the very wrong side of the tracks(I used to roll the motorcycle into the “house” when I wasn’t using it)  and “dress down” before going in.  It was me, SLO, my Harley FX/E (a facsimile if which I now own) and SLO Harley Davidson.  Very different experience, but also fun.  Sort of the age of my enlightenment.  Man, I learned about life from all of that.

Later John bought the store (I don’t know when) and appeared to have sold the departments off to separate people, Jim had the parts concession, Pat had the service concession.  I doubt that AHM and Suzuki knew about this, but it seemed to work for John.  He had the store running this way for years and years.  John really improved his sales numbers, but the economy got much better.

Oh well, good riddance.  That place pissed me off so many times I just quit going in.

I want the “Executive Lounge” sign off the restroom door I had made and put there.

 

[Grant Borden]

Today I stopped in the Royal Enfield dealer in Daytona Beach, FL, the owner said that sadly he had to give up the RE line due to the requirements of the New Management with Harley Davidson mentality, requiring him to carry too much inventory of bike, parts and accessories.

Grant

[Richard230]

Today I stopped in the Royal Enfield dealer in Daytona Beach, FL, the owner said that sadly he had to give up the RE line due to the requirements of the New Management with Harley Davidson mentality, requiring him to carry too much inventory of bike, parts and accessories.

Grant

Unfortunately, I don't think this is going to be the last time we hear this story.  RE is really trying for the boutique market, but I don't think that is going to work in the U.S. since RE really doesn't have much of a reputation or history (if any, at all) with the general public here the way H-D, or maybe Indian, does.    They might have more luck with this kind of marketing plan in the UK, though.   

[mc35803]

Guess this will make all of our REs even scarcer.  But, if I had known this was going to happen 11 months ago I might have purchased something else...but for now, I love my C5.

[Surfernick]

Well,  it appears I made the right choice. I was all set to buy a new Royal Enfield last November (San Mateo), but a very nice Yamaha SR500 came up for sale nearby.  After riding it, and negotiating the price, how could I refuse?  It's a great little thumper, it came with all the trick modifications and it has dealer and corporate support.  Plus, being the SR500, it has more power than the SR400 (and none of the emissions controls that California loves to put on bikes).  Yeah, it's a 1978 and I had to repack the clutch and repair an oil line, but the price was right and the bike is easy to wrench on, so I can do all the maintenance.

[Kevin Mahoney]

I would like to point out that all of our old dealers can service you bike if they want to.
We have a full line of parts, especially service parts available to them at good prices. Our parts do not come in RE bags but you can figure that out.

[HoldenCornfield]

Guess this will make all of our REs even scarcer.  But, if I had known this was going to happen 11 months ago I might have purchased something else...but for now, I love my C5.

'Scarce' is definitely the word for it. I've been lurking here off and on for years, finally decided this spring to buy another motorcycle, my first one in ten years. Was all set to get an RE, a bike I've long admired and studied. Unfortunately, they seem to be like unicorns -- you can read all you like about them but try finding one in the wild!

I live in the Atlanta area, a metro population of over 5 million people... and I found ONE RE military bike for sale. 3-4 continentals in South Carolina...and that's about it in the entire SE region. Talked to three shops who basically told me the same thing, "I don't know if I'm still a dealer or not. All I know is that I can't order any more bikes right now." I know the RE dealer network is currently being overhauled but, still, this is not very reassuring news to a prospective buyer.

So I went to my local dealer, less than 10 miles away, to see if they've ever looked into becoming a RE dealer (they stock Triumph, Honda, Suzuki). I told them I'd definitely buy one. He politely said its an interesting bike, great style, great price point...but he clearly had no interest in stocking them.

I ended up buying a used Bonneville T100, a nice bike and I like it...but I can't say that I love it. My heart was set on a Bullet or Classic. Problem is, you can't buy a motorcycle off a website picture. You need to be able to see them in person, touch them, sit on them, compare colors, fire 'em up and hear them.

I'll keep my ear to the ground here and if any of these unicorns actually show up in the near future I might go take a gander. But for now RE missed out on this sale.

I can't see RE ever being a big seller in the US -- which has always been one of my attractions to it, actually. I think they had it right with their boutique setup. I can't understand why they would want to take a heavy handed Harley approach when they don't have a product with mainstream appeal. Shoot, don't seem to have any product right now.

I'm not bitter and hope this post, my first here, doesn't come off that way. I'm just disappointed that my first choice turned out to be no choice at all. Seems a curious way to do business, taking distribution away from the fine host here who clearly has such a loyal and dedicated following, and replacing that network with...what?

[JohnDL]

It's a similar story in the area of the UK where I live.

A local dealer decides to sell Enfields and sales are ok until the initial supply of interested buyers have bought their bikes, then sales slow down or stop, so the dealer gives up.

Another dealer a bit further away decides to sell Enfields, and sales are ok until the initial supply of interested buyers have bought their bikes, sales slow down or stop, so the dealer gives up.

Then another dealer even further away decides to sell Enfields.....and so it goes on.

Fortunately these bikes are easy to work on, and with the help of this forum, most problems can be fixed by the owner.

But if there's no supplying dealer near you in a country the size of the US, it must be a problem. RE won't make inroads into the US market without a dealer near to their potential customers.

John

[Kevin Mahoney]

You are dead right about the forum. It was one of the best ideas I ever had as far as my career with RE goes. I am not saying I made it good, because I had nothing to do with that, it is the unbelievable members here. The advice folks get here is normally very accurate (yes I do monitor) and in the history of the forum I bet I have only had to intervene for anything like behavior a handful of times and it has been up for a long time. You guys ROCK and have been a huge help with a sometimes "quirky" product.

[Ice]

 "I bought my bike because of this forum". Not at all uncommon to hear that here.

 Does anyone remember hearing that on any other motorbike forums they might frequent ? 

 

[Farmer_John]

"I bought my bike because of this forum". Not at all uncommon to hear that here.

 Does anyone remember hearing that on any other motorbike forums they might frequent ?

I bought mine as result of an ass on another site that claimed over and over and over and over what total pieces of shit Enfields were.

Showed him, didn't I?  He ended up banned, I ended up with a great little bike!

[malky]

"I bought my bike because of this forum". Not at all uncommon to hear that here.

 Does anyone remember hearing that on any other motorbike forums they might frequent ?

Same here.(UCE) Some other forms are particularly negative about Enfield's, but if you take the time to read between the lines it becomes obvious that the posts are usually done by total bell-ends.

[Arizoni]

This forum had a lot to do with me buying my RE too.

I really liked the looks of the Royal Enfields, but, because they were made in India, a country not known for its superior machine quality I had my doubts.

After reading the posts on this forum and finding that most of the problems were fairly minor I became more enthusiastic.

After reading various posts I realized Kevin Mahoney was not only the man who owned this site but he was the man who imported the RE's into the US so I did a search for his posts.

Reading thru them I realized that not only was he the top dog in the organization but he was thoroughly committed to giving his total support to the RE owners.
His honesty and knowledge told me I could rely on him and his company to fix any problem that came up so, I bought my 2011, G5 Deluxe without a second thought.

I would like to think the new importer would be as dedicated as Kevin and maybe he is.

I would have more faith in him if he joined us here on this forum to give us an inside look and understanding of the new company though.

So far, I haven't seen any evidence of anyone in the new organization being a forum member.   

[malky]

This forum had a lot to do with me buying my RE too.

I really liked the looks of the Royal Enfields, but, because they were made in India, a country not known for its superior machine quality I had my doubts.

After reading the posts on this forum and finding that most of the problems were fairly minor I became more enthusiastic.

After reading various posts I realized Kevin Mahoney was not only the man who owned this site but he was the man who imported the RE's into the US so I did a search for his posts.

Reading thru them I realized that not only was he the top dog in the organization but he was thoroughly committed to giving his total support to the RE owners.
His honesty and knowledge told me I could rely on him and his company to fix any problem that came up so, I bought my 2011, G5 Deluxe without a second thought.

I would like to think the new importer would be as dedicated as Kevin and maybe he is.

I would have more faith in him if he joined us here on this forum to give us an inside look and understanding of the new company though.

So far, I haven't seen any evidence of anyone in the new organization being a forum member.   

+1
It would show a great deal of respect to both present and future owners, and from what I've learned since becoming a member of this forum, the individual would be treated with respect and courtesy in return.

[Ice]

 The boys in Milwaukee are setting up shop and running it at the same time. If we ask Kevin outright I'm sure he'd tell us they are b-u-s-y.   What they are doing is no small task. Its like trying to build a boat while your sailing it. A little bird told me that they want to get know and understand their customers and do lurk the forum from time to time.