I see that Stratstones, Leicester has closed down. I was going to purchase a Explorer XC from them in April. I will now have to search out another dealer.
Thats sad PJ, personally I prefer to buy from dedicate bike dealers. Honda in the North West of Lancashire have dual bike/car showrooms, it does not feel right. Theyvare into moving machinary, the used car salesman mentality, quick buck and sod the service. Long live the free independent dealer. Conversely, I hear that my nearest BMW bike dealer has been taken over by the BMW car franchise, now normally that would be the kiss of death but Bowker BMW are fantastic to deal with.
Its a shame about Stratstones, I very nearly bought my Tiger off them last year. They did piss me off a bit though after giving me their best and final lowest p/deal offer I ended up doing a deal with Pidcocks Nottingham for a lower sum, Stratstones then called me back several times asking me to cancel my order as they would now better the offer! I told them to shove it, once a deal is agreed and deposit paid its too late. Actually I'm glad I went with Pidcock Nottingham, they have been great on the service front, sorted all warranty issues without fuss on both my Speed and Tiger, I would recommend them Pidcocks have a BMW bike showroom just down the road from the Triumph one and are setting up as Ducati Nottingham next door to the Triumph shop so it makes a trip to Nottingham even more worthwhile.
Wasn't it for Stratstones that Triumph took away Windy Corners license to act as agent for Triumph in 2010 as they were considered too small to keep up with the rising demand for sales and servicing?
:upyeah: That's what happened, Windy Corner was a nice little dealership....too little in Triumph's opinion and even though they had a record sales year in 2009 the licence to be an official Triumph dealer was handed over to Stratstone with their glass fronted showroom and larger service facilities.
Same thing happened with Haslemere Motorcycles, They were a fantastic Triumph Dealership who had their own r&d department and then Triumph in their wisdom decided to take away the franchise. Triumph do some very weird things sometimes
I will have to get over to them and see what sort of deal I can sort out on a new Explorer XC.:upyeah:
