Simple words! Yes or no?

[yeti66]

Hello All, a friend of mine that I've known sense Jr high has decided that now being that both of his kids (twin boy and girl) are on their 2nd year of college, its time to get back into riding, he was the one that got me hooked back in 85, then had kids and became worried about being run over and leaving his kids without their dad, well I guess now its ok. lol!

His dad recently passed away and left him and his wife the house and other possessions (as moms and dads will do) well one of the things left behind was a big fat yamaha full dress cruiser, you all know its the one that were always passing because there so god oddly underpowered! lol, He started riding it and found out that he really misses it, but the bike had to go, his dad had bought it 7 years ago and only rode it a hand full of times, he ended up not liking the bike as much as he thought he would and in the garage it went.

Kevin sold the bike and was givin permission (the wife) to buy a new one! he loves my rocket, so down to erico he went, he's not planning on buying through them now that he remembered that's who I dealt with but he's still ready to buy now and is debating on the rocket, a yamaha raider, 1800 vtx and a suzuki 109! his dad bought a bmw car from foothills bmw years ago and hated every minute that he dealt with them! so he has no intention on buying anything from them!

He comes over last night for a beer and asked me how I liked my rocket overall? he knew that I had had some issues right from the beginning back in 06, I told him that the bike has been wonderful and most all my issues were caused by erico's "my dealers" service center, and most everything that went wrong was because of erico's poor work and consistently diagnosing things incorrectly, and to top it off one of the worst service managers that I've ever had to deal with! (dominic)

DOMINIC thankfully moved on but for 2 years I had to deal with this horrible, horrible guy! sadly the guy thats in there now is no better! so after about a half hour of telling him about some of the little horror stories that erico had caused me, he looks at me and says the rocket is at the front of the pack of choices and really wants it the most, so would I please tell him if I would do it all over again in 2 simple words, yes or no?

I hate to say it but I told him NO! the problems that I have had have been to many and I have had to spend to much "unnecessary" time at the shop! I really love my bike but he's a old friend and asked me an honest question!!! what actually made up his mind for him was the fact that the only other place here in the denver area to buy is a new dealer up in loveland and guess who there service manager is, thats right the devil himself DOMINIC!!!

My old friend Kevin today became a proud new owner of a 2009 deep dark blue suzuki m109!

 

[9Ball]

just my opinion, but he should have bought the Raider instead of that crappy M109

 

[bcbatman]

Excellent service and good mechanical design play a major part in the over all experience of ownership. Brand loyalty is easy to destroy when the wrong people are behind the counter or the wrench. IMHO Triumph is bending over backwards to keep customers happy. Been on both sides of the counter. In 35 years I have seen it all. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I hope you have better luck with your bike and finding a good dealer.
bcbatman

 

[xhdskip]

Your friend, your call.
Hope he's happy with your and his decision.
I know my bro-in-law LOVES his underpowered harley.
No accounting for taste right?
Hey, we know Rockets aren't for everybody.
The fact you have a crappy dealer goes along way.
The fact that Triumph, as a company,
has stood behind any and every problem without charge,
has consistently paid for fixes in and out of warrenty,
shouldn't even be considered,
when he could have a yamaha.
Tell him congrats and rest assured,
you gave your "friend" good advice.

 

[busajack]

just my opinion, but he should have bought the Raider instead of that crappy M109

I agree, really fun bike and much lighter

 

[busajack]

Sean, isn't Foothills still in Denver?? I know what your talking about,had a 16 year old kid replace the final drive back in 05. The first recall on the Rockets. Scared me to death.
Must be the worst service departments in the nation.
Dont think you would hear half the problems if Triumph had real wrenches.

 

[HellFire]

I think that only someone who has never been, is or ever will be exposed to bike peer pressure could buy a 109. As long as he's happy, thats what matters.

 

[yeti66]

I think that only someone who has never been, is or ever will be exposed to bike peer pressure could buy a 109. Al long as he's happy, thats what matters.

Yes well put, I gave a rather short version of everything that was going on, my friends biggest thing about motorcycles is reliability, and servicing, he like many others out there works alot and when he gets free time he wants to be able to get on it and go, his last bike was a mid 80's harley that gave him nothing but problems,so thats why he was considering Japanese, "reliability" and "service" he just loved my rocket but when theres little competent service, and only a couple of places to get the " sometimes competent service" it makes for time consumption, with jap bikes theres alot more places and dealers to find this competent help.

He really wanted a rocket but when he sat down with me and purposely ask about my experience, and then listened to what I said! there was no way he wanted anything to do with triumph, sadly I actually only told him about half the b.s. erico and their service manager monkey put me through!lol

 

[RocketDaryl]

just my opinion, but he should have bought the Raider instead of that crappy M109

I don't know that M109 is "crappy"; no experience with them, but I too was going to recommend the Raider. Yamaha is putting out some pretty darn good quality stuff from what I can tell. The fit and finish is good, the chrome is good, etc... Unfortunately, I can't say I'm overly impressed with the Suzuki offerings.

 

[RocketDaryl]

As a side note, I could never buy a bike, no matter how much I liked it, if the dealer sucks so I think he made a wise choice to stay away from Triumph if the dealer there is poor. We have an excellent dealer here. And yes, Rockets aren't for everyone. I sold my R3T and bought a Thunderbird and couldn't be happier; much better bike for *me*.