Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/985130
Letters to the editor can be sent to voices@cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Letters should not exceed 150 words and are subject to editing. Anonymous letters won't be considered for publication and each letter should contain the writer's name, address and daytime phone number… Editor VOL. 55 ISSUE 20 MAY 22, 2018 P7 side-by-sides, etc. When said toys become too expensive, you move on—enough of the BS. Many Dealerships here in Southern California bump their parts prices over MSRP (OEM parts not aftermarket). They want to bump parts prices on items they don't keep in stock and you have to leave a deposit. A Suzuki GSX- S1000 comes from the factory with a Renthal FatBar, no different than any other Renthal FatBar. That handlebar from Suzuki retails for $380! Huh? I don't mean to pick on Suzuki, because they are all guilty of it. We have dealer- ships charging $125 per hour for labor and I wouldn't let most of the techs out there tune-up my weed whacker. You cannot treat the motorcycle industry like the car industry. RIP. Brian Hoffman I believe in spending my money locally. If I don't, my community will not improve. I understand the local shop can't work with the tight margins online sellers offer and I'm willing to pay a bit more to help the local shop and keep money in my community. However, I recently had a bad experience with my local shop. When I walked in, I could hear the employees laughing it up in the back room while I waited at the counter. I needed a replacement part and was hoping the shop would have the part in stock; they didn't. I ordered the part, paid up front (and paid about 25% more than if I had purchased it online), I waited a week for a call from the shop, receiving no call. I called myself to find my part did arrive, they hadn't bothered to notify me. In the end, I felt I had paid 25% extra and left thinking it's not worth trying to help the local business for this type of experience. With the tighter margins the online industry works with and lower prices they offer their customers, local shops need to step it up in the areas of convenience and good customer service in order to survive. Edward Rushton I feel like a ghost when I walk into the average big dealership! I usually leave without talking to any one. The problem as I see it is the industry needs a condition of em- ployment, which states what the job duties include, from emptying the trash to creating a customer. I came from a different industry, but the story is the same. I made it a point to train and teach employ- ees to be the best they can be! Len Faltyn Proper training is key, put the damned phone away, be engaging and leave the ego at home. Roger Durrant An era of brick-and-mortar dealer- ships is nearly over. Decades of experience in dealerships has taught me the 80/20 rule and online shopping will destroy most dealerships in North America; 80% of the business is done by 20% of the dealers. I think most dealerships stink. Snotty staff, high prices, poor displays and parts people that should never work with the public have done huge damage to whatever was left of customer loyalty. I avoid dealer- ships now. The two I still like are many hours away. I buy nearly everything online. It used to make me feel bad but no longer; I'm over it. Jonathan Stickel Supercross Points For the second time, Eli Tomac has been denied a Supercross championship in spite of obvi- ously being the fastest guy. Yeah, reliability counts, too, but after all, it's a contest of speed. I don't begrudge Jason Anderson his title. He was fantastic defeating Jeffrey Herlings in the Motocross of Na- tions, and he might have been as fast as Tomac, if he'd been forced to race him. But because of the points structure, Jason would have been foolish to take any chances with his points lead. The system rewards discretion over aggression and championships are decided by random accidents. There was a time when riders dropped their two lowest scores. Promoters didn't like this because sometimes the Championship was decided before the last event. But the suspense of keeping the championship unde- cided is phony. When a rider has a 20-point lead the championship is decided, except for an accident/ breakdown. Is that the kind of sus- pense we want? Spread out the points. Right now, a DNF takes nine finishes of first over second to make it up. That number should be four or five. Brent Meeker