Harbinger wrote:
RRider wrote:
I saw one live too when I visited my dealer the previous time.
They are a multi-brand dealer, BMW being to main money maker for them.
Here the price tag of the basic model is almost identical to K GT without any extras.
Both will be very rare here as big long distance haulers nor cruiders don't sell much, again almost equally priced GS is the big Beamer that sells.
It is an impressive looking bike. I still don't like the 'over size' cylinder heads thought...
Interesting. The thing is here you can't get the K series without at least the premium package. BMW Motorrad NA seems to only bring in bike models with extras and not the basic bikes. So once you add the quick shifter, reverse , piping on the seat, blah blah the price goes up.
About pricing - yep, most of the BMWs sold over here come with accessory packages too. That's a part of their pricing game.
Our weather and thus the seasonal cycles play a factor on how the sales dymanics work. Dealers get a certain, actually quite small amount of bikes into their stock without specific customer orders. These are typically fully equiped to show the models in their full glory.
Most of these bikes are sold to customers who look and shop around for the next new bike during the early Spring, before the next riding season starts.
Then there are bikers who wish to have just a specific combo of accessories, colors etc. For some buying a brand new bike means that they wish to have it exactly according to their taste, down to the finest detail. These folks order the bike and depending on the brand, the delivery could take from weeks to several months. Order a basic model popular BMW and you're probably talking about months rather than weeks. So to get a bike for the next season, one has to place an order quite early.
In the past I've done both. With my Triumph I was lucky - the matte green was the only color I liked and the local dealer happened to have one at their show room. As this bike doesn't really have any factory options, the deal was an easy one... just paid the bike and rode away 8)