| Author | Message | ||
     Ben782 |
I was searching around looking for different Buell dealerships and found Wilwerts to be an awesome dealership, then after digging a little deeper for information on Wilwerts I came across this. http://nwhog.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/harley-deale rs-shutdown/ Any other dealers shutting down? Does anyone even know if this is true or not? It says nothing about it on there website. (Message edited by ben782 on December 12, 2008) | ||
| Just_ziptab |
The very first motorcycle shop I ever steeped into. 1967, when it was a down town shop. My cousin rode one of their race bikes down the ally to try it out. I was just getting interested in motorcycles at that time and got to ride "bitch" on my cousins 650 Bonneville over into Illinois to Bee town and back. I was HOOKED! | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
I bought my one and only Buell from Wilwerts back in '01. They're great folks and gave me one heck of a deal, and they did an excellent dealer prep on the bike. I've never had the bike breakdown near them, but I've heard good thinks about their service department from their local customers. It's sad to see the good dealers go under while the Stealers survive. | ||
| 80rs427 |
My wife and I go to Dubuque to a B&B a couple times a year. I always visit Wilwerts and I've bought a few Buell items from them. They have a beautiful facility and were always very friendly. I'll miss stopping there. There aren't many Triumph dealers in Iowa, so I stop at the Dubuque Triumph dealer too (used to have Ducati also). They have a small, conservative building. He told me he was glad he wasn't paying for Wilwerts' fancy facility. | ||
| 4cammer |
The only real good that I can see come of this economic reality is that HD(Buell) dealerships stop building chrome emporiums and once again have shops that center on the rider and sales/service. Can still remember when the local, and still in business, HD dealers had real shops that smelled like motorcycles and not Chinese leather, cheap t-shirts and inflated egos. I realize that the current infatuation w/bigger and bigger t-shirt shops was more than likely requested by HD Corp. I look forward to going to my semi-local Ducati/KTM/MV/Triumph store that is smaller than my townhouse and dread asking for part number 11124 from my servicing dealership. That is a problem, and one that will have to be addressed now that sales will have to be earned instead of expected. | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Wilwert's old shop was about the right size for the market they're in- Dubuque county only has about 90,000 people and the surrounding areas are pretty rural. But I suspect HOG(NYSE) wanted more room for the T-shirts, leather, and trinkets and pushed them into the new big box store. | ||
| Mikethebike72 |
4cammer, we have 4 11124's in stock. LOL. | ||
| Ben782 |
The real reason I even became interested in Wilwerts was because they are a multi-line dealership. I was trying to find dealerships in Wisconsin that were multi-line with HD and Buell and something else. Wilwerts was the closest I could find. | ||
| No_rice |
why wouldnt you look for a bike shop in florida? or did you move? we arent shutting down. not even any rumors of it. seem to be doing fairly well with our 3 stores so far. yes wilwerts is done. not sure if they will re open somehow or not. i know clay was looking for investors. 3 of my friends left working with me and moved to dubuque to work there. 2 have been back for awhile after their pay checks were taking a few extra weeks to show up. thats always a bad sign of things to come. the service manager there was the other guy. he just started working at john deere. its to bad for all of them. sign on the front windows says "going out of business thanks to the customers" i believe they had there bankruptcy sale on the 6th 05 this month. | ||
| Ben782 |
I am currently going to school down here and really cant wait to get out of Florida. I grew up on a dairy/beef farm in Northeast Wisconsin and miss everything about the country life and miss actually having 4 seasons (not two like FL). City life is certainly not for me! This is why I'm looking for dealerships in the midwest that primarily deal with HD/Buell but also carry other brands as well. This way I could also cross trained and get certified on other brands of motorcycles. Currently I have HD/Buell and will soon have Yamaha 5 star certs. Too bad there wasnt a Harley, Buell, KTM, and Ducati dealership out there. I think there is one similar in Connecticut or something but I would like to stick to the midwest. | ||
| Prior |
Wilwerts was supposed to close on the 1st of December, but the lights are still on in the place. The paper had a writeup on it a few weeks ago, the dealership defaulted on a $1.6M loan from the bank, thus the closing. There is also supposed to be a sheriffs sale sometime in January. Wilwerts was unique in that they carried Harley, Buell, Suzuki and KTM. KTM pulled out of Wilwerts over the summer though. I liked their old dealership and some of the old salesman better than the new place. It seems like lately they have had a lot of turnover at the new place, and it's sad to see them go. I'm moving too, so I'll have to scout out another dealership! | ||
| Trac95ker |
I wonder if part of that 1.6 mil has to do with the new dealership look that HD forced on dealerships back in the 90s. I liked the old way better. It felt different walking into a dealership before the makeover. I hope the added cost of these new dealerships don't sink to many others. | ||
| Buelltoys |
Guess I will have to find another dealer to get help from when I travel to Dubuque to see my parents. They helped me out last April and seemed to be a good bunch. Sad to see them go, my uncle used to buy his Harley's from them. | ||
| Koz5150 |
I bought my one and only Buell from Wilwerts in 2002. It was a brand new M2 that i still ride today as my main motorcycle. They cut me a great deal on the bike and did a nice "get to know your new bike" session with me along with the T-shirt. I used to look at there website often and always wanted to attend one of the Hill climbs they sponsored. | ||
| Bill0351 |
I wonder how many more are going to bite the dust before this is over. I know Stock's in Manitowoc, WI had an old traditional steel building for years. Just last year they moved into a big "destination" style building. Talk about bad timing. I hope they make it through. They were very cool to me when I bought my Sportster. The sales staff worked hard to make sales even when they really didn't have to. The follow up after the sale was nice too. I know they carry Buell, but I have no idea how hard they work to support and sell the brand. I hope those sales skills carry them through the tough times. On the other hand, McCoy's in Green Bay deserves whatever bad luck they get. They embody everything people associate with bad dealerships. |
