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Anyone here IN the Motorcycle Business?

Discussion in 'General' started by cajun636, Apr 6, 2015.

  1. cajun636

    cajun636 Honda Junkie.

    And successful? I don't mean inheriting a dealership or anything. I mean work in it and make a good living.

    I ask this as a spin off of the I hate my job thread. I got to talking to my friend about it and I LOVE bikes but never think I could make enough to justify it. My non bike friends always say "well if you love bikes so much why don't you just work at a bike shop". My return reply is always that I wouldn't make enough. Although I would take a slight pay cut, but bills gotta get paid.

    So let's here it. Anyone here work at one? Or should I say, anyone work at one and make over $60K
     
  2. daveknievel

    daveknievel I love orange kool-aid

    I worked at a Kawasaki dealership a few years ago. The pay sucked, and you just get tired of seeing bikes all day, everyday. I would take 2 hour "test rides" to clear my head at least once a week.

    If its a good shop with good people, might not be bad. but the guy I worked for would drag in every POS off the street from customers with no money, and want to fix them. then they would sit there for a year, then he would settle on them paying half the bill.

    And that's what eventually killed the place.
     
  3. ACDNate

    ACDNate Well-Known Member

    I love the whole tree hugging bs of "do what you love and you'll be successful". Total load of crap.
     
  4. TurboBlew

    TurboBlew Registers Abusers

    A friend had his own shop... dealing with retail customers off the street. :down:
     
  5. Pittenger5

    Pittenger5 Well-Known Member

    Bikes are my enjoyment, why would I want to turn that into a job?
     
  6. worthless

    worthless Well-Known Member

    One way to change your mind on something you LOVE to do is to make it something you HAVE to do.
     
  7. BigBird

    BigBird blah

    Unless your VR46...look at his quote from the race in Qatar :up:
     
  8. worthless

    worthless Well-Known Member

    There's always an exception to the rule
     
  9. stephenr928

    stephenr928 So come on baby, get in..

    If you love ice cream (& you REALLY love ice cream!), get a job at Baskin Robbins....You'll hate ice cream in 5 months.
    This what I tell people when they get all excited hearing about my job with the motorcycle industry.

    (Lots of good advice about balancing work-life & private-life in the "career choice" thread too...)
     
  10. HPPT

    HPPT !!!

    What does that have to do with trees?
     
  11. cajun636

    cajun636 Honda Junkie.

    He means the warm fuzzy feeling of doing what you love and being poor as shit.

    I understand that turning your passion into your job is prone to hating it. And to clarify, I would never want to work on other people's shit. My standard of workmanship only extends to my bikes. And that usually ends with "it passed tech last time!!"

    I was asking in regards to sales or marketing.
     
  12. ACDNate

    ACDNate Well-Known Member

    Would you prefer "tree-hugging, patchouli wearing hippie scum"?
     
  13. 418

    418 Expert #59

    $60+K a year is not gonna happen unless you land a gig in the perfect environment which is about as likely as winning the lottery.

    Maybe H-D.
     
  14. HPPT

    HPPT !!!

    Sounds just as dumb. What does that have to do with doing a job you enjoy?
     
  15. ACDNate

    ACDNate Well-Known Member

    nothing, it has to do with the folks who preach the BS.
     
  16. t500racer

    t500racer Never Fails To Fail

  17. cajun636

    cajun636 Honda Junkie.

    Oddly enough I get exactly what he is talking about. The same type of peeps don't want grid girls lol

    AmIrite!?!?!
     
  18. dtalbott

    dtalbott Driving somewhere, hauling something.

    Well, I inherited a dealership. Ran it for ten months. I was making 35K a year when I finally pulled the plug.

    Dealerships can survive now only on volume. I could see a motorcycle business buying and selling used bikes only making money.
     
  19. HPPT

    HPPT !!!

    I guess you're both under the mistaken assumption that the only job someone could love involves growing produce in a hippie community. :Poke::D
    I had coworkers on Wall Street who wouldn't trade their jobs for anything in the world. There is a whole spectrum of options between the two.
     
  20. TEAMLIKETYSPLIT

    TEAMLIKETYSPLIT In Limbo

    I spent 16 years of my life in the business. When things were good (economy) it was less like a job. I've been out now since 08 and i miss it. Leaving that place was like going through a divorce..but right now its like it was in the 80's in the bike business. Not much money to be made and the manufacturers are in this weird place of trying to find those magic bikes that will sell big numbers. I dont know if we will ever see the big numbers like we did between 00 and 07
     

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