Anyone here IN the Motorcycle Business?

Gotcha...

 

The coveted gigs in the motorcycle business are on the wholesale end. If you can land a job as a rep for a major parts vendor, you won the lottery. Guys who rep for Parts Unlimited or Tucker Rocky earn 60-100k per year, make their own schedule, and are basically unsupervised. Plus they buy their own stuff near distributor cost.

If I absolutely had to work a normal job, I think that's the one I'd want.

 

what he said

 

Are there many of those jobs around? It almost sounds like the kind of job you have to wait for somebody to croak or retire before there's an opening.

 

Kinda but like everything else it's all about who you know

 

Yeah, that is the way I see it also. But for 35K a year, if you could afford to live on that, it may be the way to go. I would take a small pay cut, but not 25K or so. I wasn't using you as an example, I was just speaking from some I know of but not actually you.

What is the average amount of profit on a bike? I know a car lot will usually average around $1200 a car or so. That's net profit.

No no, what he means is... "I just do it for the passion and for my love of xyz.... maannn ."

Then it's like, SLAP, reality hits you in the face and you realize you're hipster self doesn't want to live by barely scraping by for the sake of "passion" alone.

Yeah I see what you mean. I know street bike sales are down but are dirt bike and quad sales down also? I see a SHIT ton of quads down here in the south now a days.

 

Back in the hayday the typical bike, atv, watercraft was marked up about 17% at STICKER. The bike business, much like the car business, has turned to a volume mentality. That means that you have to make money on the backend (extended warranties, maintenance plans etc..)

 

I could happily spend all my time working in the paddock. I enjoy every aspect of being at the track working. I also still enjoy working on motorcycles even after almost 2 decades of it at various levels (big dealerships, small dealerships, race shops, aftermarket shops, my own shop, etc).

That said, $60K at this point in time would be, I think, if not impossible decidedly optimistic. Parts people are usually minimum wage, decent mechanics at a good shop can do ok, but as the FNG you would not get much gravy, commission based sales guys are hurting from what I hear, reps are basically traveling salesmen. You get the picture, I'm sure.

More to the point, employment in the motorcycle industry is not always readily available. This is particularly true if you want to work in racing. Even more so if you want to be paid for working in racing.

 

I am a rep for PU and you're right, being a rep for one of the larger distributors is not a bad gig. Decent pay, flexible hours, and you work with all kinds of shops so every stop is different so you get some variety during your day. It's not an easy job to get as the reps tend to stay at their jobs for long periods of time and I know for PU they tend to only want to get guys from the area that an opening comes up at. I got lucky that I knew the old rep fairly well from the shop I worked at and he helped me get the job.

 

Grom, $200 profit.
CRF50, $49 profit.

More profit in bigger bikes. Don't forget the volume dealers pricing below MSRP and living on the holdback, which you'd get from Honda every quarter.

 

Yeah I don't know WTF honda is thinking with their pricing these days. They want you to be exclusive with them but make it damn near impossible to make any money.

 

Comforting to know that has not changed since 08.

 

Volume.

I sold 15 motorcles, ATV's, and generators at $100 over cost in the two weeks before Honda came to pick everything up, and I still had customers griping that they weren't saving very much. I just told them that was why we were closing, not enough profits.

 

Have you considered switching to motors, staying in the same line of work?

 

The enjoyment factor is directly tied to the personality of the ownership. Get someone who views their employees as an asset that is worth developing and nurturing and you've found the rarest and most desirable of situations. Get someone who views their employees as just another outgoing expense who are lucky to be in the presence of the business genius they consider themselves to be and you stepped into the steaming pile that is the majority of franchised shop owners.

 

i was listening to a podcast and they said the manager-employee interactions and how they gel was one of the most important indicators in employee retention, and IIRC above a higher salary.

 

This.

I'm back in the biz but working for a good friend of mine I've known for years and used to work shoulder to shoulder with at a bigger dealership. It's a small shop but we do things the way we see fit. No way would I take a gig at one of the multi line dealerships around here.

 

Nothing is ever about who you know. It's about who knows you. Moreover, it's about what they know about you.

I just spent the weekend with a good friend who is a rep for PU. Like Spooner, he was working at a dealership, and his rep helped him get the interview. You may think I'm making your point, but it's the opposite.

The previous rep knew hundreds of people in and out of the business. It was what he knew about my friend that mattered. He knew that he was passionate, personable, hard working, and that he had what it takes to be really good at the job.

 

You are right. Even back in the late sixties and through the seventies when I was still in the industry wholesale was where the best money was. The only problem with being a rep for a manufacturer of bikes or accessories is that you're under the gun to produce.

You have to produce enough to meet your quota if it's still like it was then. In those early days we had Fox Dist, Tucker Dist. and about another dozen or so smaller Distributors supplying the same products. It took a salesman that was a real smoozer to gain the trust, and friendship, of the dealer just to make sales. Tough business indeed.

I ended up moving from dealer level as parts and service mgr. to Kawasaki Motors in 1971 and worked as a warranty analyst and a customer service contact so I only had to deal with pissed off customers and 300 plus dealers in the Central Region.:wow: I lasted 8 years before I became jaded and dropped out. Bikes became a chore instead of fun.