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  • Santa Cruz Harley Davidson shuts its doors

    Has the craze ended!? :

    Santa Cruz Harley Davidson dealership shuts its doors

    Sentinel staff report
    Article Launched: 11/12/2008 05:37:33 PM PST

    When Santa Cruz Harley-Davidson owner Mike James took out a magazine ad last month for the dealership's "The End of the World as We Know It" sale, he said it was meant to be irreverent and edgy.
    Now, for him and local riders, that ad has turned into a sobering reality.

    The seemingly well-established Eastside business abruptly closed its doors for good Tuesday evening after 11 years at its location on the corner of Soquel and Seabright avenues.

    "The simple answer is we're a victim of what's happened to consumer confidence," James said. "We may be the first Harley dealer but we won't be the last."

  • #2
    does Mike James still own the rights to a santa cruz delership? or does that go up for auction?

    (Harley only allows one dealership in an area,new dealers have to petition Harley to open another. this is to prevent competition between close shops)
    "We want to be free. We want to be free to do what we want to do. We want to be free to ride. And we want to be free to ride our machines without getting hassled by The Man. And we want to get loaded."

    "I can't promise you sticking your dick in a diamondback's mouth and zapping it with a cattle prod *will* get your pecker bitten, but I can promise you it's a BAD FUCKING IDEA" -Rotten

    "Guns, stolen motorcycles, and dead hookers tend to attract a lot of attention"

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by NYHC View Post
      no fucking way. I thought they were closed today for veterans day.
      Veteran's Day was yesterday, holmes
      "We want to be free. We want to be free to do what we want to do. We want to be free to ride. And we want to be free to ride our machines without getting hassled by The Man. And we want to get loaded."

      "I can't promise you sticking your dick in a diamondback's mouth and zapping it with a cattle prod *will* get your pecker bitten, but I can promise you it's a BAD FUCKING IDEA" -Rotten

      "Guns, stolen motorcycles, and dead hookers tend to attract a lot of attention"

      Comment


      • #4
        FUCK!!!

        Guess I'll need to go over the hill or Watsonville for parts now =(
        Mr. Cthulhu, this is your wake-up call! &&

        Comment


        • #5
          Actually I was just in We All Ride this afternoon when I heard about it (you beat me to a post about it). Apparently they do carry a lot of Harley parts on order and have been doing tires for some of the Harley folks who have been less than pleased with SCHD.
          Last edited by elfboy; 11-13-2008, 06:59 AM.
          I've got your mother's maiden name tattooed on my arm...

          Comment


          • #6
            Guess I'll need to go over the hill or Watsonville for parts now =(

            If you're talking about Green Valley HD, it's been closed for a while now. Unless there's another HD dealer/parts in W'ville?

            Comment


            • #7
              Green Valley HD was owned by SC HD, & it is true, they did close a while ago.
              Ted who is the manager at We All Ride worked at Cycle Imagery back in the day & should be able to get the aftermarket stuff.
              I wonder who will take up the slack for service. I had seen WPD bikes at HD SC's service bay in the past & there are warrrantys to honor.

              Comment


              • #8
                Well FUCK!!!!

                Hmm oh well, looks like I'll go mail order from now on then. The SJ Harley shop never seem to stock any Buell parts when I have stopped by. Guess I'll check them out again and see if they cleared the chrome from between their ears.
                Mr. Cthulhu, this is your wake-up call! &&

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Connar View Post
                  FUCK!!!

                  Guess I'll need to go over the hill or Watsonville for parts now =(

                  Or you can get a mans bike.






                  "I love Satan and speedmetal" - Dylan

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    "Obama gets elected, local Harley dealer closes doors"

                    I wonder if we can just keep re-electing him until they are all gone.
                    "Through the course of my life, I've spent most of my money on motorcycles, drinking, drugs and chasing wild women. The rest of the money I just wasted."

                    I am the chosen one, the mighty hand of vengeance...
                    ... sent down to strike the unroadworthy!



                    sigpic

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Rotten View Post
                      "Obama gets elected, local Harley dealer closes doors"

                      I wonder if we can just keep re-electing him until they are all gone.
                      H8R!
                      2 wheels and a motor. Harley's are in the set, they have 2 wheels and a motor.

                      I'd own one if I had extra millions of dollars, probably be about the 6th or 7th bike purchase.
                      "Mathematics are the result of mysterious powers which no one understands, and which the unconscious recognition of beauty must play an important part. Out of an infinity of designs a mathematician chooses one pattern for beauty's sake and pulls it down to earth."

                      Marston Morse

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        More from the Sentinel

                        Santa Cruz Harley-Davidson rides into sunset

                        ISAIAH GUZMAN - SENTINEL CORRESPONDENT
                        Article Launched: 11/13/2008 01:33:35 AM PST


                        SANTA CRUZ -- When Santa Cruz Harley-Davidson owner Mike James ran a humorous magazine ad this month for an "End of the World as We Know It" sale, he had no idea how much truth it held.

                        Citing poor motorcycle sales due to a struggling economy, James shut his dealership, with its one-of-a-kind museum, abruptly Tuesday, ending 11 years at Soquel and Seabright avenues; the closure also ended Harley-Davidson's 80-year run in the city.

                        "The simple answer is we're a victim of what's happened to consumer confidence," James said. "We may be the first Harley dealer but we won't be the last."

                        Though other areas of the dealership were doing fine, bike sales had fallen from an average of 50 per month to 15 in October, James said. A deal to sell the business was lined up, he said, but corporate rejected it.

                        The dealership's satellite shop in Watsonville closed earlier this year.

                        Funds were so tight that the "End of the World" sale, which featured 50 percent markdowns last weekend, was needed to pay salaries. The sale originally had been planned as a holiday season kickoff with 20 percent savings.

                        "It was just sort of eerie that by the time the ad came around it had a double meaning," James said.

                        James would not say exactly why the deal was rejected.

                        "It's a typical story of corporate lethargy and focus on money rather than what's important, which is customers and employees," he said. "I didn't think that



                        it existed in Harley-Davidson, but I certainly found out that it did."
                        Bob Klein, a spokesman for Harley-Davidson in Chicago, declined to comment: "It's our long-standing practice not to comment on situations."

                        Klein said he did not know of any other dealerships closing due to the down economy.

                        "In this particular environment, our dealers are the best in the industry," he said. "The economy has affected some dealers but in general our dealers are resilient and dealing with the current situation."

                        Santa Cruz Harley-Davidson closed an hour early Tuesday for an employee meeting; that's when they were told the business was closing immediately. However, some technicians were back on their own time Wednesday finishing work on customers' bikes.

                        "It just shows the kind of people that worked here," James said.

                        One employee who declined to give his name said he had "nothing bad to say. Great place to work."

                        Jeannie Atwater, a former director of the Santa Cruz Harley Ownership Group along with her husband, Charles, learned of the news Wednesday evening.

                        "We are stunned and shocked and disappointed," she said. "And I don't know where we're going to go to get our parts and service."

                        Atwater worried for the local HOG chapter, saying its charter does not allow for a chapter without a sponsoring dealership.

                        "These things are like dominos," she said. "It ends up affecting a lot of people in a lot of different ways."

                        James opened the dealership at Seabright and Soquel in 1997 despite community concerns about noise and traffic. He spent $2 million setting up the museum and renovating the former Hart's/Ebert's building. James, who leased the building, also contributed to local charities and fundraisers and sold motorcycles to the Santa Cruz Police Department.

                        He sent out a newsletter Wednesday thanking customers for their business and said he received 500 e-mails in return.

                        "It's heartwarming," he said, "but it's just really sad because it's come to an end, and it didn't have to."

                        Contact Isaiah Guzman at 429-2436 or jcopeland@santacruzsentinel.com.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by lugnut View Post
                          H8R!
                          2 wheels and a motor. Harley's are in the set, they have 2 wheels and a motor.

                          I'd own one if I had extra millions of dollars, probably be about the 6th or 7th bike purchase.
                          No. They have two wheels and a boat anchor between them.

                          I've no ill will towards SCHD, it's (former) owner or it's employees but I've had negative experiences with their product. There is a Sportster sitting in my front yard and the ride quality isn't worth the cost of the gas to run it. Even when it was brand new.
                          Last edited by Rotten; 11-16-2008, 07:14 PM.
                          "Through the course of my life, I've spent most of my money on motorcycles, drinking, drugs and chasing wild women. The rest of the money I just wasted."

                          I am the chosen one, the mighty hand of vengeance...
                          ... sent down to strike the unroadworthy!



                          sigpic

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Same dealership which featured this fine Yamaha product one day last February?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Don't blame me, I did my part:

                              "I love Satan and speedmetal" - Dylan

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