Put it this way. If I draw a circle around what I personally think of as "Toronto", I can't find anyone that sells a motorcycle. Maybe a Vespa, but no motorcycles. There's a few of us outsiders that get stuck living downtown and when we want to buy a motorcycle, options get tight.
Re: "Sorry, there are no Honda Motorcycle Dealers in Toronto, Ontario." What is going
There is also Larry's Small Engines up here in Orangeville, not that this is really any help to those in TO. They are an authorized Honda and Bombardier dealer. They likely avoided the same fate as Snow City since they do not carry any other competing motorcycle products in their shop.
Ah the good old days when McBride's Cycle, Cycle World West, (then East and North), as well as Toronto Honda on Queen East had plenty of Hondas on the floor.
The thing they'd have to do if they really wanted to distinguish themselves though, is cut out all the copycat models they make (SS, cruisers) or make them outstanding in some significant way, at a premium price.
Ya, like create a cafe model to take advantage of the current wave in cafe racers, the way Moto Guzzi, Royal Enfield, Triumph, etc. are doing. Some of the most classic, desirable cafe builds are based on old Honda CB models.
There is also Larry's Small Engines up here in Orangeville, not that this is really any help to those in TO. They are an authorized Honda and Bombardier dealer. They likely avoided the same fate as Snow City since they do not carry any other competing motorcycle products in their shop.
Ah the good old days when McBride's Cycle, Cycle World West, (then East and North), as well as Toronto Honda on Queen East had plenty of Hondas on the floor.
I'm pretty sure Snow City sells Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha (EDIT: Arctic Cat, Can-Am, Sea & Ski Doo as well). A lot of people seemed to hate McBride's and both Cycle Worlds with a passion, so we probably have the market we deserve, kooky Honda ideas aside. Except for a small group, Canadians just don't really care about bikes (something like 2% of us have M licenses and bike ownership is sporadic IIRC).
PB was storing a DN01 and it looked pretty well executed in the flesh (err...metal). I think it was a set of standard bars and pegs away from being the new PC800. Add in some model-specific luggage and you have a winner. At the very least, it would have competed well with Maxi-Scooters, offering a more aggressive look with bigger wheels.
Re: "Sorry, there are no Honda Motorcycle Dealers in Toronto, Ontario." What is going
I was a service rep for another company at the time Honda decided to go with their Powerhouse Dealer idea. You might not realize this because it's not bike related but, they took their Outboard boat engines from Marinas that were "on the water" and put them in showrooms with cars and motorcycles 20 or 30 kms inland from the water. Honda's competitors moved in right behind their departure from these Marinas. I really couldn't believe that they actually thought this was a good idea. The president of Honda Canada at the time had just arrived at Honda Canada with this idea after being run out of Germany for trying to pull the same stunt.
They were trying to imbue themselves with the aura of the European brands. Truth.
There was a public rant from (I think) a Honda Canada exec about not understanding how the Europeans can charge so much more when Honda products are as good or better. Which is a fair point, but the Jap brands built themselves up as a the low-price, high-quality product from the very start, so IMO they can't complain now after decades of good, sensible bikes that their brands lack character (and therefore cannot be premium priced).
There's a lot of truth behind this 'brand' issue. The Japanese car manufacturers recognized this and each created their own 'premium' brand - Acura, Infinity, Lexus...
Creating a new 'brand' is extremely expensive and time-consuming and there is no guarantee the new brand will succeed.
The car guys didn't do it just for kicks, they did it because they absolutely had to. In the '80s, it would have been virtually impossible to sell a $50,000 Toyota so they rebranded their top-of-the-line car a Lexus and viola - it could sell.
Trying to imbue the whole Honda motorcyle line with the cachet of some European brand like BMW or Ducati doesn't seem at all likely to succeed. With Honda's (reasonably) successful Acura line, I'd have thought they'd understand this.
At least some motorcycle manufacturers seem to get this concept. Witness Yamaha's Star brand. Victory Motorcycles (nee Polaris). Probably more that I'm not thinking of just now.
The Honda Powerhouse concept seemed doomed from the start, at least to me and I dare say, most other oxygen breathers.
What an expensive way to alienate your existing dealer network and confuse and annoy your loyal customers. Was there really going to be any benefit for the customer?
All Honda Canada really cares about is how many Honda Civics and CR-Vs they sell, and whether they can keep the Civics streak of best selling car for 14 years going.
The motorcycle market is depressed in Canada. Plain and simple.
Canada is such a tiny motorcycle market for a company as big as Honda. I'm positive they are not losing any sleep over not having a dealership in Toronto.
EDIT : Perspective........
North America, not just Canada.... NORTH AMERICA...... In 2011, only 186,000 bikes sold. Which was even lower than the 2010 sales figures.
South America.....in 2011, almost 2 million bikes sold!
There's a lot of truth behind this 'brand' issue. The Japanese car manufacturers recognized this and each created their own 'premium' brand - Acura, Infinity, Lexus...
Creating a new 'brand' is extremely expensive and time-consuming and there is no guarantee the new brand will succeed.
The car guys didn't do it just for kicks, they did it because they absolutely had to. In the '80s, it would have been virtually impossible to sell a $50,000 Toyota so they rebranded their top-of-the-line car a Lexus and viola - it could sell.
Remember though, until fairly recently.... Acura for sure, and correct me if wrong, I believe, Infiniti and Lexus didn't exist outside of North America. Every Acura NSX, Legend, Integra were labelled as "Honda" every where else.
Amazing what coining up a catchy new name and some fancy pants marketing does to North America, eh?
Re: "Sorry, there are no Honda Motorcycle Dealers in Toronto, Ontario." What is going
Does it really matter if you have to travel 30 or 40 minutes out of the city to go buy a bike? It's not like you have to travel to another province.. lol
Maybe i see it as not far because i do deliveries for a living and criss-cross the gta from hamilton to oshawa on a daily basis. But still, it's not that far, and once you have your bike it's not like you have to visit the dealership again very often (hopefully)
I was a service rep for another company at the time Honda decided to go with their Powerhouse Dealer idea. You might not realize this because it's not bike related but, they took their Outboard boat engines from Marinas that were "on the water" and put them in showrooms with cars and motorcycles 20 or 30 kms inland from the water. Honda's competitors moved in right behind their departure from these Marinas. I really couldn't believe that they actually thought this was a good idea. The president of Honda Canada at the time had just arrived at Honda Canada with this idea after being run out of Germany for trying to pull the same stunt.
Hah, hadn't thought of that angle. This is even dumber than the situation with the bike dealers.
If Honda really were a premium gotta-have-it brand name (which Honda seems to think it is, even though it isn't), then maybe someone shopping for a boat engine might go away from the water to do it, but why bother when you can buy a Yamaha or Suzuki or Evinrude right at the marina?
Re: "Sorry, there are no Honda Motorcycle Dealers in Toronto, Ontario." What is going
Honestly this is why i just order my stuff online and ship to my door.
recently i lost one of my keys so i am trying to find a place to cut it, and its like damn barrie or markham.... so next weekend i plan to make a day ride, maybe hit up gp bikes and few other stores in area.
There is also Larry's Small Engines up here in Orangeville, not that this is really any help to those in TO. They are an authorized Honda and Bombardier dealer. They likely avoided the same fate as Snow City since they do not carry any other competing motorcycle products in their shop.
Ah the good old days when McBride's Cycle, Cycle World West, (then East and North), as well as Toronto Honda on Queen East had plenty of Hondas on the floor.
Yeah, I was wondering how many would catch that one; for the record I am 56. When I sold my CB350 I dropped it off at Ontario Honda so the purchaser could get it certified.
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