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Another One Gone.

Garwood

Maintaining a Low Profile!
GT Contributor
Joined
Sep 15, 2012
Messages
130
Location
Buffalo, Wyoming
So, yesterday I was sitting around with nothing much to do. We had a big snow storm here a couple of nights ago and the residual effects of that are still hanging in. But starting today we are in the 50s and it has stopped freezing at night. The roads are clearing fast. Time to start thinking about getting the Eldorado out and going for a ride (No "stay at home" order in Wyoming). My nearest Moto Guzzi dealer is Sturgis Motor Sports in Sturgis, SD, (no "stay at home" order there, either) and it's a nice two hour ride over there. They are a nice bunch. I can ride there, visit with them, find something to spend money on, and have lunch. The perfect first-ride-of-the-season destination.

BUT, when I looked on their website there was no mention of Moto Guzzi (oh, the sinking feeling). And there was no mention of them on the National Guzzi website's dealer finder page. I'm beginning to rethink my plan.

A quick call to Sturgis Motor Sports confirmed the obvious. They dropped Moto Guzzi about a month ago. They just couldn't sell any in a real small, Midwestern, Harley centric town. Not surprising, really.

They informed me that they still have their MG trained mechanic. And they are keeping their MG specific tools, so they will still work on any MG that stumbles in needing attention. Parts will be harder to source, of course.

So, my smug feeling of superiority at having a convenient dealership less than 500 miles away has vanished. It's back to Colorado, or Minnesota, or Washington for me. I knew it was too good to last.
Garwood.
 
I'd keep going there for service. The only issue would be updates to your dash or ECU they won't be able to get. But the software still works w/o a subscription. They can still tune your bike. If you need parts there are suppliers out there. If they need software, cause they sent it back, tell them about Todds flash tool.
 
Oh, I will still go there for some things. Tires as an example. And they are a nice dealership. Friendly, return calls, do what they say they will. I will miss them mostly for the occasional part I might need. I do most of my own work and I have always had Guzzis that didn't need much. The Eldorado has been pretty much bullet proof. I'm up to 26,000 miles on it with no problems, other than the front brake recall, which Sturgis took care of for me. I've done the GuzziTech preemptive strike on the exhaust cross over and I have Todd's full boat fuel package. This bike runs so well and is smooth like an electric motor, so I doubt I will have much need of a dealership. Really, if I need anything serious looked after, I will probably pack it up and take it to Todd's shop.
 
I fear for all bike dealers in general. For many people bikes are a luxury that when things get tight, they learn to do without, especially new purchases. I am lucky that I still have a bike dealer on my doorstep (International Motorsports) that still wants to deal with Guzzi but they are having large sales at the moment to drum up business. They have also had to diversify their portfolio into Triumph, Indian, Enfield etc.
 
Oh, I will still go there for some things. Tires as an example. And they are a nice dealership. Friendly, return calls, do what they say they will. I will miss them mostly for the occasional part I might need. I do most of my own work and I have always had Guzzis that didn't need much. The Eldorado has been pretty much bullet proof. I'm up to 26,000 miles on it with no problems, other than the front brake recall, which Sturgis took care of for me. I've done the GuzziTech preemptive strike on the exhaust cross over and I have Todd's full boat fuel package. This bike runs so well and is smooth like an electric motor, so I doubt I will have much need of a dealership. Really, if I need anything serious looked after, I will probably pack it up and take it to Todd's shop.

500 miles for a tire change wow - they should be well scrubbed in by your return
 
That's why I will still go to Sturgis for tires. It's only 185 miles back home. 325 if I have to go to Ft Collins and 780 to Minneapolis. I did get tires in Minneapolis once but I was on my way to Wisconsin, so it worked out. I could take the wheels off and get the tires put on at the local Honda dealer. I've done that before with my Norge. But when I turned 70 last year, I decided I would still do the fun work on the bike and let someone else do the drudge work. Now I look at new tires as an opportunity to ride somewhere.
 
They seem to have recommendations in place that mirror what most other states are doing, just no "stay at home" order. They have closed a few businesses where hot spots have developed. Mostly they are giving people guidelines and expecting them to be responsible enough to follow them. And I think most people are. South Dakota is a very rural state with big expanses of empty. It's my understanding there are large areas of the state with little or no corona present.

We have a similar situation here. As I write this, Wyoming officially list 426 cases of Corona virus in the state, 133 of which are listed as "recovered". In my county (Johnson -North Central Wyoming) we have slowly crept up to 15 over the last month, 12 of which are "recovered". We have had two deaths in Wyoming, one of which was an elderly man with underlying health issues here in Johnson County. The biggest change of activities here is that restaurant dining rooms are closed and a few businesses deem non-essential are closed. People here are staying close to home, standing apart from one another, and buying every roll of toilet paper they come across! But no government order to stay home and no drones snooping around to see if we are maintaining social distance in our hot tubs.
 
I admit I am odd, but I enjoy the "What's that?", reaction I get from a lot of people who see my Moto Guzzi. And not having a lot of dealerships around probably helps that along. Fortunately, the Eldorado makes not having a close dealership not much of a hardship. It doesn't need much dealership attention. I do my own maintenance and there are places like Harper's and MG Cycle around to mail order parts from, which I can go back to doing now that I don't feel obligated to do as much business as possible with my "local" dealer.

I have had experience with "dealership free vehicles" in the past. I once owned a 1948 Hudson Commodore. I have owned Norton Commandos for 30+ years but I didn't get the first one until 1986, well after their dealership network dried up. Shortly after buying a Fiat, that company took a hike from the US for a number of years. MG sports cars - had a couple of them. Owned a Dihatsu for awhile (loved it). Had an AMC Gremlin in the family at one point (came with my wife). So the Eldorado fits the pattern.
 
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