Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet with the UCE engine => Topic started by: csbdr on February 19, 2010, 07:58:50 pm
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Could any of you guys who have put the upswept muffler on the C5 (Danny?) tell me what it cost you? I called CMW to find out what it would cost and they refused to give it to me. The convoluted explanation I got sounded like they didn't want to divulge the cost so dealers could "determine the price" (mark up) in addition to the labor. I knew it was a mandatory dealer install (which is also BS to me, but whatever...) but I though I could at least find out the price of the part and determine my level of interest before bothering my dealer with it.
Sorry for the rant within the question, but I hate the fact that I don't have the choice to do my own work. This is a job I am really going to chafe at having to pay someone labor to do. Isn't right.
Anywho, any help would be appreciated.
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None of this sounds correct. What ever the price is, is the price, and why wouldn't you be able to put it on yourself? I'm surprised at this. Sounds like you got some bad info,
but I'm not sure.
Could any of you guys who have put the upswept muffler on the C5 (Danny?) tell me what it cost you? I called CMW to find out what it would cost and they refused to give it to me. The convoluted explanation I got sounded like they didn't want to divulge the cost so dealers could "determine the price" (mark up) in addition to the labor. I knew it was a mandatory dealer install (which is also BS to me, but whatever...) but I though I could at least find out the price of the part and determine my level of interest before bothering my dealer with it.
Sorry for the rant within the question, but I hate the fact that I don't have the choice to do my own work. This is a job I am really going to chafe at having to pay someone labor to do. Isn't right.
Anywho, any help would be appreciated.
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I think some new items will be dealer only as to help dealers with the parts business.. Kevin hinted at it in previous posts so that is my guess.. Understandably in the long run as it seems the RE and their dealer network is growing in the states.
When I purchased my 07' I bought my shorty muffler through the dealer.. I thought was how it always went. Later I was pleasantly surprised to see what you could get online. I guess you can chalk it up to things change....
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I think some new items will be dealer only as to help dealers with the parts business.. Kevin hinted at it in previous posts so that is my guess.. Understandably in the long run as it seems the RE and their dealer network is growing in the states.
When I purchased my 07' I bought my shorty muffler through the dealer.. I thought was how it always went. Later I was pleasantly surprised to see what you could get online. I guess you can chalk it up to things change....
Well if that's the case I guess I won't be getting a C5. I have no dealer near me now. However, I'm thinking that CMW would make some exceptions they are very reasonable people to deal with.
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A good dealer would be happy to ship the parts to you. It may take a couple extra days if its not in stock, They need your support and you need theirs
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I ordered the exhaust from my dealer the day I bought the bike, UPS dropped it off a few months later and I put it on. This is the first I've heard of mandatory dealer install so I can't help with that. It does look and sound great though!
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That's what I thought.
I ordered the exhaust the day I bought the bike, UPS dropped it off a few months later and I put it on. This is the first I've heard of mandatory dealer install so I can't help with that. It does look and sound great though!
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How a bout ordering it through a dealer and having CMW drop ship it straight to you ?
It should not add more than five minutes to the order processing for CMW to Google map and compare your dealers address to your billing address.
Ring them up and see what they think about it.
I just can't see where CMW would abandon the RE rider who does not live near a dealer.
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It sounds like some dealers are willing to bend the rules. I got the "dealer install" answer from my dealer and the same from CMW. I'm just a little miffed that they wouldn't even give me the cost over the phone, especially since it's not a catalogue item which I can look up myself >:(
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Sorry, I didn't mean parts ment to be installed by the dealer , just parts in general
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The same dealer-only rules apply to the new C5 pillion seat - saw it on the UK districutor's site, called CMW and was told they had'em, color-matched, but I had to order through my dealer - which took less than a week and I absolutely love the look, even if the pad is, um, somewhat narrower than my wife's lower end. I note that while there are some nice spares emerging for the C5, if you put "C5" into the online store search engine, you get . . . an oil change kit. I assume this is a UCE thing to sweeten things a bit for the dealers. In my case, the dealer is only a few miles away and has a side-line restoring old (mostly euro) bikes, so I jump at any excuse I get to go there.
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I get the feeling that this is part of a relatively newer dealer-support policy.
CMW is trying to improve and solidify the dealer network.
The UCE bikes are more dependent on the dealer network than the old bikes were.
There is inevitably going to be more connection to the dealer than previously, due to the ECU and FI parts particularly.
This is also true with nearly any other brand of bikes out there.
I recognize that this may cause some irritation to some, but also look on the other side.
If the dealers are better supported and the dealer network is improved overall because of it, then when you take your bike to the dealer, you will be more likely to have a happy and trouble-free experience.
This is a change from the old ways, but the dealer network needs to be good with these new bikes, because they are more advanced and complex than the old ones.
Let's look at this realistically.
These UCE bikes are all brand new, and they have a 2 year warrantee on them.
This means that the dealer is only going to see warrantee work out of any bikes he sells for 2 years.
And the accessories market up to now has been basically aimed at a mail order arrangement, probably because the dealer network was thinly dispersed.
But, they are trying to restructure more around the dealer network.
What are the 2 most popular add-on accessories that we see on our bikes?
Seats and mufflers.
There you have it. The dealers now have access to some aftermarket sales and installations of the most popular accessories, which helps them to be more part of the overall situation, than just selling the bike and never seeing it again unless it breaks under warrantee.
So, some might see it as an irritant, and some might see it as beneficial, but it looks like we're going to be seeing it, in any case.
Who knows?
While your down there getting your seat or muffler, you might even have a cup of coffee with the dealer and maybe even pick up some spare cables or a helmet or a bike lock or something. You might actually even find that you like him, and want to go down there for more things. Or maybe he could even organize some local "ride-outs" and create a local owner's group.
There's alot of nice things that a good local dealer can do. And the good ones will do things that benefit their customer base, and even be friends.
When I worked as a mechanic, I had lots of customers that were friends. They didn't view me as "the guy that took their money". They looked at me as "they guy that they could depend on to care for their beloved vehicle".
It can be a good relationship.
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I agree Ace, If we don't support our dealers we won't have any, but a 300 mile round trip to my dealer won't happen often. I do always buy something when I visit, spark plugs, oil filters, cables, something to show my support.