New BMW dealer in town

[montmil]

Saturday was the annual Open House at our local multi-line dealership. Along with free food, a band, mfg'ers reps and plenty of bikes to ogle, there was also the "official grand opening" of BMW of Denton.

The past few years, BMW Motorrad has become quite strict on how their products are presented to the buying public within a multi-line dealership. Same here in town... The BMW portion of this Texas-sized store is all by itself in a special area. No co-mingling of any non-BMW items from clothes to displays to bikes. Nice BMW set up they have along with KTM, Honda, Victory, Suzuki, and Kawasaki.

Rode in on the '81 R65 as it was parked closest to the shop door. Parked next to a two-wheeled RV. The beautiful, factory-fresh Honda 550-4 caught my eye.

After returning home, I checked the dollar amounts I have spent for my three Airheads, the Triumph triple and the little pip squeak Chinese pit scooter with a big bore kit. Still spent less than the cheapest BMW in the showroom. No way would I ever be tempted to buy a brand new BMW. Ya can't work on the bloody things!

[k_enn]

Glad you have a new game in town.  It is always good have a BMW dealer nearby for parts, and for those jobs you may not want to do yourself.  

Having a BMW dealer in my area has been a problem over the years.  

Back in the 1980s, there was an excellent BMW dealer about 20 minutes from me.  It was a small family shop which had been around for decades, with space for about 10-15 bikes in the showroom.  Their machine shop, parts and service were the greatest,and they had a great reputation of race-prepping BMW bikes.  In the early 2000s, BMW pulled the plug on their franchise, too small for the big brand corporate image the mothership was pushing.  That left me without a local dealer, and although there were one or two others in the state, they were a good ways away, and unexpectedly going out of business.

About 5 or 6 years ago, a local Harley dealership got a BMW franchise.  The floorspace for BMWs was less than the old family place that had its ticket pulled.  While the sales people were nice, they did not promote the bikes well.  The real problem was the service department, which never got the job right on my bike - what do you expect when you Harely mechanics working a BMW.  About 3 years ago, they gave up their BMW franchise.

Rumors circulated for two years that Max BMW was going to take the franchise and open up in the area.  It seemed that they were getting pretty close to doing that, but then when they opened their second dealership in Conncecticut, the abandoned New Jersey.  

So for almost two years, I have been hearing rumors that the one remaining dealership in NJ (in central NJ) was going to open up a second one in northern NJ.  They never said anything official, but when you asked them about it they would neither confirm nor deny, but give a look like you knew right.  I heard they even had a location and were ready to take over a building, but now I hear that it has been denied local municipal zoning approval and they are giving up on the idea.  That sucks, because my new fangled BMW does need dealer service for some items.  

What makes this a really big shame is that until recently, BMW has been headquartered right in this area.  Despite that connection to the area, they have been unable to have a dealership around here.  

So, be glad that you have one opening in your town.  Even if you don't use them much, it is good to know that they are there if you need them for part on a Saturday when you are in the middle of a job, of if you need them for something that is beyond what you can deal with.    I hope they do well, despite corporate policy.

k_enn

[marcmax]

Never having a BMW dealership in my area I have been used to having to mail order and wait for parts. The nearest dealership was in Daytona, FL and was not airhead friendly at all so I found an independent BMW shop in central FL. It is about 2.5 hours away but the owner, Tom High, was trained by BMW and does concourse level restorations. Plus he is a wealth of knowledge and is willing to share all or it, either in person or over the phone. First time I met him was when I bought my first airhead near his shop and brought it to him to give it a once over and a fluids change before riding it home. He took me into the shop and said, "Watch me, this is not rocket  science. Do these things yourself and save your money for when you really need my help." I can't remember the last time any shop let me past the "No customers in the service area" sign much less showed me how to do things myself. I have been a steady customer and he is a good friend going on 10 years now. About 2 years ago a new BMW dealership opened in Jacksonville, FL about 25 minutes away. I was doing some routine service on my LS and needed an oil filter, crush ring and some valve cover gaskets. Tom was away at the National Rally so I went to the "local" dealer. They were friendly but told me they don't and didn't plan on stocking anything for airheads and would not accept them in for service. I haven't been back since. I ride right past their dealership, and them some, to get to Tom's shop. I can call or email him by Wed and ride down on Sat and the parts are waiting for me.

[Ed Miller]

Even when there was a BMW dealer in Salem, I could usually get my parts faster from the Beemershop.  I think my nearest dealers now are in Eugene or the Portland area.  I don't need them.

[montmil]

The non-stocked parts for Airheads at BMW dealerships is becoming more the norm than the unusual. The shop crew at my new BMW dealership has no knowledge, training nor experience working on older Beemers. I subscribe to the old BMW axiom: If a Bavarian farm boy can fix this motorcycle, so can you.

I have an indie shop in town -a real 1-man show- run by a Butler & Smith factory trained mechanic. Fella is also a former manager and service dept contractor for a Ducati dealer. The wise gray beard has shared with me much about how a motorcycle service department operates.

Consider that dealership service departments make their biggest bucks doing the regularly scheduled maintenance on late mod4el bikes. The mechanic has been through an MMI school or similar and needs to feed his family by logging more hours and more bikes. This is what my indie Whitworth mentor calls, the gravy. Simply stated, diagnosing a mysterious electrical or carburetion problem on an Airhead takes a mechanic more time than he might actually be able to reasonably charge a customer. The shop and service tech will both lose money. The customer could also leave dissatisfied and bad mouth the shop. It all boils down to time and chargeable hours; not to different from a lawyer's billing hours.

Pre '84 Boxers, maybe. Nothing newer.