Streetfighter in Columbus , Ohio

DoubleEagle · January 26, 2009, 09:30:36 PM

Quote from: vw151 on January 26, 2009, 11:50:05 AM
It's been a funny ride. Getting my monster. The people at desmohio do have some pretty strong opinions. Especially on the matter of motohio but I think most of them are giving Mike a chance as well.

I bought my bike at JD performace in Cincy (which I think has changed names) I got it there because they had a 2006 in the summer of 2007 marked down in the color I wanted. I also had some routine maintenance done there. I have always been happy with them. They have always been prompt and never screwed anything up.

I have had the bike at motohio for service and have had mixed feelings. Before Mike Allen was there I was less than impressed with some of the attitudes of people there. I won't get into details but I felt like I was causing them an inconvenience by bringing my bike in and of course it was very slow, mainly because they took so long to get parts. Mike has a very good attitude and seems very interested in doing what it takes to sway the opinions of the local Ducati owners. I was at the M1100s opening night. He had pizza and beer for us, I went to a few Grandview bike nights where they had test rides (vespas once, and hypermotards another) I think the hypers might have been under the old ownership. Anyway, he and his family seem very cool. If nothing else they are finally giving me a special feeling about owning a ducati rather than making me feel like I'm the 16 year old kid with no money and a beater car that has to beg the mechanics to look at his car.

Further. I've had the bike at ducati Indy because, frankly, whether motohio had great service or not, Ducati indy has a dyno and is run by a bunch of track addicted racers that love tuning performance bikes. So for stuff like getting a rapid bike fitted and dyno tuned or having my suspension set up and dialed in or maybe having high comp pistons or a 1080 kit done in the future I'll probably go to those guys. Unfortunately they are about 200 miles away from me.

Only other shop to consider near Columbus is Competition Accessories and all I've ever done there is browse the bikes. I've heard some first hand horror stories about their service department unfortunately.

I have heard decent reviews about crooked river and JD hord for tuning but don't have any first hand experience there. I guess that's my 15 cents.

I have a felling that Ducati has been a very" Foreign " bike in the Columbus area until just recently.

It's my understanding that the Dealer 2 Dealers ago didn't do a good job w, the Marque and although I think had the previous owner before Mike would have been better capitalized he could have done a good job w, Ducati.

The sad fact is that being located in a Northern Latitude a Dealer has a hard time. Since the cash flow during a Winter like this where 3 -4 months there is basically no money coming in the door but all the new bikes on the showroom are on floor plan with a bank or with the Manufactuer and interest must be paid monthly plus they must be open and pay for the usual fixed expenses like electricity , property taxes , and employees etc.

Now we have a Recession where banks are loaning only if your credit scores are " golden " so times are even tougher for these newer Dealers .

Don't you think we as Ducati riders should try and be a part of a solution and not part of a problem ? Dolph

vw151 · January 27, 2009, 08:28:32 AM

Quote from: DoubleEagle on January 26, 2009, 09:30:36 PM
I have a felling that Ducati has been a very" Foreign " bike in the Columbus area until just recently.

It's my understanding that the Dealer 2 Dealers ago didn't do a good job w, the Marque and although I think had the previous owner before Mike would have been better capitalized he could have done a good job w, Ducati.

The sad fact is that being located in a Northern Latitude a Dealer has a hard time. Since the cash flow during a Winter like this where 3 -4 months there is basically no money coming in the door but all the new bikes on the showroom are on floor plan with a bank or with the Manufactuer and interest must be paid monthly plus they must be open and pay for the usual fixed expenses like electricity , property taxes , and employees etc.

Now we have a Recession where banks are loaning only if your credit scores are " golden " so times are even tougher for these newer Dealers .

Don't you think we as Ducati riders should try and be a part of a solution and not part of a problem ? Dolph

I'm not really into the dealer bashing if that is what you mean. I am not sure how to be part of the solution either though. I just take my dollars to the places that will take care of me best. Certain dealers offer certain advantages and disadvantages. Obviously Motohios biggest advantage for me is that it's located in the same city that I live in. No less, I've always been a believer in capitalism in these cases. Yes these are tough times for a boutique motorcycle dealer but how well they do is up to the economy to decide. I am not going to treat them like a charity. I guess it's kind of a darwinistic approach. No less, I think Mike is doing well, I didn't know the previous owner well and before that I didnt' own a Ducati so I wasn't in the loop. I hope motohio does well. It's in my best interest for it to do well.

redxblack · January 27, 2009, 08:44:53 AM

threads like this make me appreciate my local dealer in Akron. I was thinking about driving to Columbus tonight to see the Red Wings beat up on the Blue Jackets, but I won't be making the drive when I'll see the bike at the Cleveland show.

DoubleEagle · January 27, 2009, 10:26:08 PM

Quote from: vw151 on January 27, 2009, 08:28:32 AM

I'm not really into the dealer bashing if that is what you mean. I am not sure how to be part of the solution either though. I just take my dollars to the places that will take care of me best. Certain dealers offer certain advantages and disadvantages. Obviously Motohios biggest advantage for me is that it's located in the same city that I live in. No less, I've always been a believer in capitalism in these cases. Yes these are tough times for a boutique motorcycle dealer but how well they do is up to the economy to decide. I am not going to treat them like a charity. I guess it's kind of a darwinistic approach. No less, I think Mike is doing well, I didn't know the previous owner well and before that I didnt' own a Ducati so I wasn't in the loop. I hope motohio does well. It's in my best interest for it to do well.

Joe, my point is to look for the good in things ...not the bad , such as someone bashing a Dealer so then you go in with a negative attitude and tend to look at the glass as 1/2 empty rather than I got my bike serviced and I'm back to riding which is what I want to do in the 1st place.

Everytime I take one of my bikes in for service I expect to leave the Dealership with the bike serviced correctly. So far since '05 that has been the case.

I can't say that I'm always happy with the time it takes or the price it may cost but I guess I'm kind of used to high prices after some of the cars I've had. Dolph

vw151 · January 28, 2009, 06:09:09 AM

I hear ya Dolph. Purge the negativity.

DoubleEagle · January 28, 2009, 09:31:12 PM

Quote from: vw151 on January 28, 2009, 06:09:09 AM
I hear ya Dolph. Purge the negativity.

That's the Spirt Joe..... Dolph

geoffduc · January 29, 2009, 02:43:25 AM

Goodmorning Dolph it's just like i said "your dammed if you do and dammed if you don't", sometimes you just can't win

.

Oh well tonight's the night so go along have a real good look at the streetfighter and report back

.

Hope it all go's well for Mike and the team, so best wish's from this side of the pond

LA · January 29, 2009, 07:09:35 PM

OK, tell us what you thought about the bike. I'll shoot you if you get one of those too.

LA

vw151 · January 30, 2009, 07:45:19 AM

I actually liked it a lot more in person. I wasn't real into it in the pictures. I think it looks better than the new monsters. I will try to get pics up today at some point. My buddy kept going on and on about how it's not a new design and it's just a 1098 with less parts but I dunno, I guess, I just don't care that much about that.

His point was it was just like what MV agusta does. Take the F4 and remove some parts and now you have a Brutale. I dunno, you've got a big motor, you have a frame that handles the power well, I can't say I wouldn't re-use some parts as a bike manufacturer as well. That's just me. Either way, it's gonna be a sweet bike on the street.