Motorcycle riders, what would you want in a shop?

Question

my husband & I are opening a motorcycle repair & scooter sales business very soon, and will provide basic and routine maintenance, sell a few scooters, and sell parts and accessories like helmets, jackets, banners, etc. What is a service or product that would draw you to one shop over another? (besides low prices!)

Answer 1

A stripper pole in the customer lounge perhaps, just a thought.

Answer 2

have your husband hire a lot of hot women

a lot of hot woman washing the bikes, hot women serving us beer and food, hot women taking in the orders, and a lot of hot women to take out for a ride

Answer 3

I have to agree with Chyma... extended night and weekend hours. Only one dealer around me has service available on Sundays, when most riders are off work. They can't sell bikes on Sundays because of blue laws, but they sell a lot of accessories! The lot was pretty full when I was there at 5pm last Sunday.

Answer 4

The local Honda shop wisely has lots of young cute chicks at the cash registers.  Always seems like a good idea to drop in and look around.

Answer 5

Honesty and quality repairs by competent mechanics.  

Answer 6

i suggest you can add up a website. It very good in business. I like a site like the http://www.motorcycleworldonline.com i think this format will help you.  

Answer 7

One thing that might help is to serve coffee. I live in Ireland and we cannot drink and drive so a lot of bikers go to coffee houses to meet up and talk. The only problem is parking as most of the coffee shops are in the city centre and there is little space in the kerb.

If you have space for them to park, have some comfy chairs for them to sit in and have some good coffee at a reasonable price and are open on weekends that would be a draw here. Once you get them in the shop you would get a lot of secondary sales.

I don't know what it is like where you are so you should check.

Also, a lot of shops here cover the basic things. If you can be competitive price wise, it may be worth stocking things like lubricants, sprays and general tools. The shops here sell things like chain lube, but I was doing some work on my brakes and needed copper anti-seize spray and had a very hard time buying it.

One thing that may be a draw as well is fitting accessories for free (well, included in the price) so if someone wants to fit something like a pannier set, they could drive to your store and get it done.

If you listen to your customers I am sure you will find a lot of small things they are looking for that other shops don't stock.

Answer 8

Gee, I want a shop that can supply parts for my scooter!

Its a 1970 Yamaha U7E 70cc.

If you can get parts, drop me a email and i'll send a list. New or used are fine!

Im in Australia but dont care where I buy from as long as freight is reasonable.

Answer 9

Honesty and competence as stated above. And stand by your work. I hate BS from service personnel. And please don't close at noon on a Saturday. Take Monday off instead. And give your technicians time to mop the shop floor once in a while. Cheap prices would be nice but I'm not totally unrealistic. If your good I will gladly pay your price for the services provided.

Answer 10

It would be nice to have someone open late of an evening or on the weekend. I work 8 to 5 and have to take off work if I need to go into the shop for anything.

Answer 11

I really do not know what the scooter consumer will be looking for most often but on a sportbike we burn through many sets of tires and need oil and filters, so a low price on tires will draw us into a shop and as long as the service is fine we will most likely return when anything else is need.  I call ahead but many want the tires in stock but I expect any shop to have the oil and filter I need on hand.  Any other part I need I usually purchase online and I do all of my own work so I may not fit the demographic you intend to serve exactly.  Those who would choose to have someone else, such as you and your husband may also be concerned with the hourly rates that the shop will be charging.  I would also stock cleaning supplies and chain lube since I generally pick up what I need when I pick up oil and filter because of the convenience on doing so.  I go to one shop for tires because they offer the best rates but because they do not stock the brand on oil I use I go to the nearest shop who does.  Location will also factor in where a consumer will choose to go.  I would believe more so for scooters since they will have so spend more time traveling at 30mph than a bike would over the same distance.  Good luck with your new business venture, I hope you are successful.

Answer 12

Honesty and competence are great. I would also like no bias toward a particular brand or type of motorcycle. A lot of Harley riders hate people who ride Japanese bikes, a lot of people on sport bikes hate Harleys etc.  

Answer 13

if you want to specialize in scooters, i think you'll attract scooter riders.  i don't have your answer, but it would have to be some pretty fancy marketing to have me visit a scooter store for parts to fit my harley

service wise, the only shop work i hire done is tire balancing and dyno work (i don't imagine you dyno scooters, lol)