R18 sales appear to have stalled, at least in the UK (+ special "tribute" to Vines Guildford)

[Mr Signore]

Hi all.

After owning the R18 Pure FE for 2 years and enjoying it immensely (using it as my main bike for a year), I decided it was time to sell it to free up some space in the garage. Especially since I hadn't ridden it for 3 months and thought it was time to give my "friend" a good hand.

At the same time, I certainly understood that the prices for the R18 had fallen through the floor, especially recently, and 2-year-old bikes with less than 1000 miles on the clock in perfect condition can be bought for 9000-9500 pounds from dealers, which is 2-2.5 times less than the price of a new one. That is, objectively, I could expect sell mine for 7-8 thousand maximum. However this was not an obstacle, since it was just a shame that a great bike was gathering dust in the garage.

But the reality turned out to be sobering. The dealer I bought the bike from (Vines Guildford) 2 years ago said they don't buy R18s at all because they are buried under a mountain of unsold bikes. And this is an official BMW dealer, working under BMW programs. The showroom had new R18s, the same ones that I saw 5-6 months ago.

In the end, in my case it's not a problem and I decided to just keep the bike. It's still great for leisurely rides on a nice day along the sea, etc. But it seems BMW has no more chances to sell new R18s.

And the "tribute" to Vines Guildford (https://www.vinesgroup.co.uk/bmw-motorrad/). Initially, I wrote to them through the website, described my question (= "are they ready to buy the bike and for how much"), received an automatic confirmation that they will answer me, but response never arrived. Accordingly, I called them, and after a long wait, the operator told me that the sales team would contact me and send me a questionnaire that I needed to fill out to estimate the cost of buying out the bike. I never got this promissed questionnaire. Then I just rode to see them, and the sales person immediately told me that they don't buy R18s. To my reasonable question - why didn't they tell me this over the phone - the answer was - "It was not me who talked to you", and turned away from me. To be honest, after such an attitude, it's clear that I won't deal with Vines Guildford anymore, but in general - my willingness to buy new bikes from BMW has also disappeared. I don't remember such an attitude before from other brand's dealers, and I had motorcycles of almost all leading brands, Harleys, Triumphs, Hondas, Ducatis etc.

 

[Rufus]

Morning. I live up country from you. I have an acquaintance that trades used bikes, a lone trader, he gets his stock from main dealers. He told me the market is difficult across all brands not just our particular bike and his exact words to me were “big cruisers are a hard sell”. Within an hour of me about a dozen main dealer and multi franchise dealers have closed over the last few years, Harley, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Moto Guzzi all gone.

Completely Motorbikes have gone bust this week, that’s another 15 dealers gone. Norton cant sell more than a handful of bikes despite huge discounting and both Royal Enfield and BSA have reduced their prices at the other end of the market. I did see that even BMW Bahnstormer in Maidenhead have closed after many years trading.

Chinese bikes are being heavily imported and promoted now (tasting blood in the water) which can’t help any of the established brands.

I visited a Kawasaki dealer a couple of months ago while I was looking around for a 2nd bike. There was next to no used stock, amongst a showroom stuffed full of new bikes. In the end I bought a new Transalp, I had to ask and was offered £8k for my R18 but I declined that. It’s worth a lot more to me.

YouTube is riddled with owners (of all brands) lamenting their trade in values. Caveat emptor, sadly I think whatever we buy we have to be prepared to keep nowadays.

 

[Mr Signore]

Morning. I live up country from you. I have an acquaintance that trades used bikes, a lone trader, he gets his stock from main dealers. He told me the market is difficult across all brands not just our particular bike and his exact words to me were “big cruisers are a hard sell”. Within an hour of me about a dozen main dealer and multi franchise dealers have closed over the last few years, Harley, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Moto Guzzi all gone.

Completely Motorbikes have gone bust this week, that’s another 15 dealers gone. Norton cant sell more than a handful of bikes despite huge discounting and both Royal Enfield and BSA have reduced their prices at the other end of the market. I did see that even BMW Bahnstormer in Maidenhead have closed after many years trading.

Chinese bikes are being heavily imported and promoted now (tasting blood in the water) which can’t help any of the established brands.

I visited a Kawasaki dealer a couple of months ago while I was looking around for a 2nd bike. There was next to no used stock, amongst a showroom stuffed full of new bikes. In the end I bought a new Transalp, I had to ask and was offered £8k for my R18 but I declined that. It’s worth a lot more to me.

YouTube is riddled with owners (of all brands) lamenting their trade in values. Caveat emptor, sadly I think whatever we buy we have to be prepared to keep nowadays.

Agree big cruisers is a hard sell in general, especially in the UK. However was a bit shocked by the dealer's hostile attitude when they understood that i am a potential seller.. this was unpleasant

 

[Rufus]

Yea, don’t understand that tbh. Hardly going to improve business is it? No excuse for being rude.

 

[Aussie-Hoss]

My opinion is that big cruisers are just like every other commodity in our capitalist materialism based economies.... fads come and go and tastes change, but classic style never really goes out of fashion and the pendulum will naturally swing back. Depreciation always occurs rapidly post purchase, but years later - like a fine wine (or scotch) the assets value begins to appreciate until it surpasses its original value. In simple language - bide your time and ride what puts a smile on your dial.