IMS

[Mike Duluth]

Who went, what did ya think of the show this year?

[Busa dave]

it was a good show.  Lots of people on Saturday.  Lots of MSTA people and the seminar's were good.   It did seem that were less vendor's.  But those that were there had nice displays     It was fun   

[RCKT GRL]

I think there was a good turnout... Saturday between 1-4, it was very busy.  Yesterday by mid afternoon, it was thinning out considerably.  Overall a decent show and it was nice to see and visit with friends and talk about the upcoming season.  I heard Vince was checking out every sportbike possible and he was even trying to coerce me into a 2012 GSX-R750!  The rumor is he might be riding Kawi green this year?   

[Pipes]

I went Saturday and it seemed like a lot of people.  More than the last couple of years. 

[gely]

I was there on Saturday afternoon, and seems like the place was packed.  Disappointed that I didn't get to try out the 1199 Panigale S .   There weren't any sales person while I was there, so I asked the Ducati girl if I could sit on it, and she wouldn't let me.  She however asked for my name and number

[Ray916MN]

Meh, the show was probably not much worse and certainly no better than the previous year. There is a certain sense that the industry is in a bit of a downward spiral. Kaw sales apparently are running about 50% of pre financial crisis levels and the industry notion is this is the new industry norm.

A good time to be buying. I spoke to a couple dealers and the general sentiment seems to be don't let any buyer leave without buying because the probability that there will be another buyer later in the season is not so good.

Kaw is going to a MSRP only advertising policy for 2011/12 bikes starting on 3/1. Dealers can still sell at whatever price they want, but they can only advertise list price.

Ducati is greatly limiting the supply of Panigales. Standard and S models are sold out or close to sold out in the Twin Cities through May delivery. Tri-Colore's are still available for a little over $30K out the door with TTL. Got to see some pics of an engine torn down. Going to be very interesting to see how this bike performs. Unfortunately for Ducati dealers there are leftover 1198 around and there are big questions as to what Ducati is going to do to help move them. They are going to be a tough sell against a Panigale and dealers are taking 1098 and 1198s in trade on Panigales. I expect prices on these bikes will plunge as more Panigales become available. The Panigale was very very nice. Maybe someday ...

Got my 10% TwistedThrottle discount code, so I'll probably be getting some Bags Connection stuff.

Took a good look at the Honda NC700X. Very disappointing. Long on style. Probably be a good city bike, but not took good for much else.

Spent probably over an hour talking politics and philosophy separately with both Brent and Bill B. Lotta fun. Never get to talk about this kind of crap on rides.

The one thing I saw which I need to figure out how to get was this:



Do you have an agent? 

[Tumbler]

Thanks for the recap & 411 on stuff Ray.  I missed the show due to Drill but sounds like I didn't miss much.

....it was nice to see and visit with friends and talk about the upcoming season.

That seems to be all that show is good for in the past 4-6 years.

It's still nice to go but I think I may step down to going every other year or when I'm looking for something specific & can get a good deal.

BTW...I say yes get the new 750....if I could I would!!

[vince]

I think there was a good turnout... Saturday between 1-4, it was very busy.  Yesterday by mid afternoon, it was thinning out considerably.  Overall a decent show and it was nice to see and visit with friends and talk about the upcoming season.  I heard Vince was checking out every sportbike possible and he was even trying to coerce me into a 2012 GSX-R750!  The rumor is he might be riding Kawi green this year?   

No green and I didn't know you read my texts.

The one thing I saw which I need to figure out how to get was this:



Do you have an agent? 

I was surprised they didn't have a poster of her doing a wheelie behind the display.
On the way to the show she passed me so I passed her back. I was going to cut her off but I was nice and then she passed me again. I was going to grab Lloyd's gun and shoot out a tire but he wasn't pack en any heat so I told him to put the four point harness on the race is on. Somebody tell her your not suppose to drive a SUV like that. She is have way to much fun.

[Deplorable, thank you!]

^^^LOL

I was looking for that 5 point harness.

[pkpk]

Does anyone understand the strategy behind Kaw not allowing dealers to list selling prices?  Is this supposed to "float all boats" by betting the majority of customers would pay closer to list at their closest dealer (discouraging shopping around)?

If so...I can bet they will lose out some fence sitting customers to the other three who will list sale prices. 

[Deplorable, thank you!]

 Where is that Picture of Vince sitting on the red and black ......green machine

He says no green, but he is talking about its color, not its manufacturer.....

Oh did I let the cat out of the bag, sorry Vince--yes there should be atleast 1 new green bike added to the mn-msta rides this year

[RCKT GRL]

Where is that Picture of Vince sitting on the red and black ......green machine

He says no green, but he is talking about its color, not its manufacturer.....

Oh did I let the cat out of the bag, sorry Vince--yes there should be atleast 1 new green bike added to the mn-msta rides this year

Awesome picture Lloyd!     Is that copyrighted?? 

Hey Vince, did you see if it wheelies first?!   CONGRATS!

[Deplorable, thank you!]

^

nope it was located off Vince's very open to the public facebook page....lol

Well apparently someone (not Vince) whined and complained about a publicly posted picture being shared to more public and someone (not me) removed it.


I find this completely absurd.

hey picture taker---don't post anything in public if you don't want anyone to see it !!!!!!!!

Someone copied Rays picture of D and her poster...OMG--better remove it !

All those youtube vids...yep better jump on deleting those too.

All those copied articles and all those other posts and threads that were simply copied from someplace else....Yep-suddenly there will be no content.

Where will this type of insanity end.

I guess I'll complain about anyone quoting any of my posts and poof the will be deleted too?

This is the most idiotic thing I have seen in a long time...It would of been one thing if Vince didn't want a picture of him shown-but he wasn't complaining !

[Ray916MN]

Does anyone understand the strategy behind Kaw not allowing dealers to list selling prices?  Is this supposed to "float all boats" by betting the majority of customers would pay closer to list at their closest dealer (discouraging shopping around)?

If so...I can bet they will lose out some fence sitting customers to the other three who will list sale prices. 

Kawasaki is trying to prevent dealers from destroying pricing levels.

The issue isn't local price advertising as much as it is the pricing that is showing up on Ebay. Some very very large volume dealers have been flipping bikes onto Ebay at very low prices and this has been undermining their dealer network since sales volume are low.  This policy has no effect on Kawasaki profit margins, since it doesn't impact their pricing to dealers, but it helps them keep their distribution network intact.

If you want a Kaw, since dealers can only advertise MSRP starting 3/1, the deal is going to be to go to different dealers and see who will give you the best deal. Even with advertised sale pricing, in my experience visiting different dealers to try to negotiate the best possible deal was worthwhile.

I think Kaw hopes everyone else follows suit. If they don't they are going to have a tough time keeping dealers in business given the current lack of market demand.  Suzuki dealers, seem particularly hard pressed, since Suzuki has been doing very little new product to create new showroom excitement.

[flyinlow]

So many companies have tried this in the past and failed. All it takes is to contact one of the big dealers, find out what they would sell it for, then negotiate with your local dealer. It won't make any difference whether they are allowed to list their true price or their selling price, there's always a way around that.