Chicago Indian Dealership CLOSED

[ampdavolts]

Mother Goose rhymes for all of time,

"You can lay the eggs but then you have to hatch them."

[suburbanryder]

@ampdavolts true that

[bugSPLATtv]

bert will turn over in his grave.

[suburbanryder]

@bugSPLATtv I bet Polaris will turn it around. They had record profits the last quarter of 2011.

[RedanWhiteRebel]

It is a shame to see but all too common with so many businesses these days.

[suburbanryder]

@RedanWhiteRebel I think multi-brand dealerships are the way to go in the future.

[mcgrawtim123]

Sad to see, but I agree, that bike was overpriced.

[suburbanryder]

@mcgrawtim123 Polaris seems to have some better ideas for Indian.

I hope they give the other brands a run.

[kd4ysi]

i hate to hear that its getting bad everywhere

[suburbanryder]

@kd4ysi Yep, sure is.

[larrythelookout]

Times is bad all-round the place chuck. money getting tighter on people.

[suburbanryder]

@larrythelookout Along with price they had the worst timing for a big cruiser bike.

Housing is still down real bad here. Lots of people losing houses.

[larrythelookout]

@suburbanryder Sad to hear.

[inkmonster0u812]

@suburbanryder yep, its bad every where..



[boobtubeviewr]

* "... under Polaris, no true new Indian models until 2013 and maybe 2014, have discouraged or financially exhausted several dealers... At this pace, it seems... that when Polaris will be ready to launch new models, the network will be rebuilt only from a selection of existing Victory dealers."

* "POLARIS REPORTS RECORD 2011 FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR RESULTS"

Timing is everything. Polaris is making a VERY smart move to completely "reboot" Indian... like the phoenix rising from ashes! ;-)

[suburbanryder]

@boobtubeviewr That sounds like they have some smart minds at work.

They made a new American brand out of nothing so they proved they can do great things.

I would rather they wait and do it right instead of plowing ahead blind.

[boobtubeviewr]

@suburbanryder That's exactly what they plan on doing. Polaris wanted to acquire Indian back when they first started Victory but couldn't come to agreeable terms, so they went ahead & completely focused on Victory instead. It's fitting that they now own Indian because if anyone can bring that brand back, it's Polaris.

And if they're really smart, they'll use Triumph's revival as a shining example of what's possible & totally re-ignite that decades old Harley/Indian feud! :D lol

[boobtubeviewr]

@suburbanryder BTW, I agree that Polaris has already proven that they can compete against Harley & win. Can you imagine what's gonna happen when they combine modern engineering with truly classic/historic/retro American style? Yep, they're gonna reintroduce the world to "America's first motorcycle company" alright. And that's exactly the sort of 21st century 'kick-in-the-ass' Harley needs tbh =)

[navythomas8]

now that sir Sucks!! maybe it was just the dealer that threw his hands up. Agreed on the Scout Bro!!

[Neothinker2012]

They sold Indians? Isn`t that against the law to sell people? How come people are not outraged that they are sell Indians as slaves? Isn`t slavery abolished? Well,it`s a shame because I could a nice Indian princess,just saying LOL :0)

[suburbanryder]

@Neothinker2012 Indian Princess LOL

[bakker46]

They are great looking bikes only the price.... shame to see them gone however.

[suburbanryder]

@bakker46 If Polaris is serious about keeping Indian alive they really have to have a presence in a large city like Chicago.

I expect we will know in less than a year from now.

[cashstore1]

The bikes are too expensive. I always thought that they would never sell a lot of bikes given the price range.  I was unaware that Polaris bought the company. I bet they do a better job with the marketing, as they have the money to make changes.

[suburbanryder]

@cashstore1 Polaris said they will not combine Victory and Indian brands.

Victory knows how to compete on price with Harley.

I hope that carries over to Indian.

[glennofsb]

I love the look of an Indian, but you're right, if Polaris can't get the price down these bikes are never going to sell. I'm looking into finding a Kawasaki Drifter.

[suburbanryder]

@glennofsb Even a student in first year marketing could figure out that plan of elite pricing was a bad idea.

Sometimes the stupidity is just flat out amazing.

I own a Kawasaki Vulcan and would not hesitate to recommend a Kawasaki to anyone looking for a good priced bike.

[1954shadow]

Yep, the Indians have gone and left no reservations.

[suburbanryder]

@1954shadow Reminds me of the old tv ad for the International Scout.

There are still a few around on the road.

Jay Silverheells used to be in the ads. Tonto from the Lone Ranger.

[djverhulst]

what a wast, but I think also with reasonably priced model they had do better business ....

[suburbanryder]

@djverhulst Exactly, Chicago is working class people.

This area is not Beverly Hills.

You would think with the prices of bikes they were only appealing to a very upper class income level.

[djverhulst]

@suburbanryder Didn't tell anybody to that shop owners, that they are on the wrong place witch such prices ,, Chicago isn't Beverly  Hills oke not that bad like Detroit or some place....

[suburbanryder]

@djverhulst I told them they needed some Indian Scouts for the same price as Harley Soft tails or less.

They were only staying open by selling used Harleys so they knew the Indians would not sell at that price.

Polaris needs to combine dealerships so they sell Victory and Indian at the same dealer and they need to bring back an affordable Scout.

[djverhulst]

@suburbanryder They can't help that the factory dasn't make lower priced models and the haven't the cash to invest to make a lot of bike like Harley do build cheaper bikes than the need volume.....

at Harley's laugh the crape out of them since the Japanese big chopper get more expensive and Harley isn't that expensive any more

[gogosor]

They are nice bikes, also over priced, they recently had their 110th Anniversary

[suburbanryder]

@gogosor I really hope they make it by getting a line of affordable bikes out there. When I was a kid the three bikes you saw most of all were Indians, Harley's and Triumphs.

My first ride as a kid was on my Uncle's Indian.

[azwakko]

I know, we here in phx are in need of good dealers. A corporation called ridenow is buying up all the small dealer and building big multi brand dealerships with no care for customer service. We have two Honda, two kawasaki and one suzuki dealers left. Along with one harley davidson dealer. Other 10 dealerships in town are all owned by ridenow.

[suburbanryder]

@azwakko I think every generation it swings from service to low price and then back.

Sure, a large dealer can low ball the bikes because of volume, but the smaller mom and pop shop is where you get the best service most times.

When I was younger I was always into lowest price.

I got older and I realize it's not the same as value.

[azwakko]

@suburbanryder That's the sad part this corporation don't give customer service or deals on anything. They pray on the young riders with bad credit that like their name want to ridenow. I see guys pay 17k for bikes with a msrp of 13k. The 5 mom and pop drealers it town will sell you a bike at right price and remeber your name every time you come back.

[britex3186]

Houston never got an Indian dealership. Good thing as I don't think they would sell at that price. One of my Triumph dealers got bought out by giant dealership here. They have several locations through out the area. Mancuso

[suburbanryder]

@britex3186 Triumph had some set backs years ago in Chicago but now they are steadily growing.

I see more and more on the road now. I love mine and I think for a classic type motorcycle it's way more bang for the buck than Harley.

In some places it is forcing Harley to bring prices in line with reality. That is a good thing.

[bangalorebobbel]

funny, just found their webpage indianmotorcyclesofchicago - on first view, it seems to be still alive: according to that page, the address is Indian Motorcycles of Chicago, 474 Redington Dr, South Elgin, IL. But where ever You click, no bikes, nothing, last news entry is from May, 2011 ... ;-)

[suburbanryder]

@bangalorebobbel It's like they are afraid to say, "Hey folks we could not make it as Chicago's only Indian Dealer." We will just leave the page up to look good.

[bangalorebobbel]

@suburbanryder ... or as kinda internet memorial ... too sad, really ;-(

But obviously in general no sense of business: if this place was so well known among bikers as place of worship and pilgrimage, at least one could have opened any hot dog stand associated with sale of any Indian memorabilia there ... ;-))

[suburbanryder]

@bangalorebobbel Let me tell you the STORY behind the story there.

It was open for two years and did some good business. All the business was selling Harleys and a few other brands as used bikes.

If not for that they would have lasted way less than a year on the dealer brand.

[bangalorebobbel]

@suburbanryder

that remembers me my first Opel car - I got it in a Ford dealership ... ;-) But they did not use it as general business model - it was the only Opel there among all those Fords, and that's why it was the cheapest car in their shop, means they wanted to sell it as fast as possible ... ;-)))

That's too much of bad luck - guess they really would have liked to sell Indians, but the only way to survive at least for a while was selling Harleys ... what sad story ...!

[thatmanfromyorkshire]

Hey SB its sad whn it happens but i'm not suprised its happened and i can see many many more businesses packing up with the way the world is today, financially it hard to make money and for others its easy to make so much money when times are tough and thats the sad thing. People making money out of people going bust and it's just not right

[suburbanryder]

@thatmanfromyorkshire That is a good subject. In the US we have Cash for Title and Cash Advance stores popping up like daisies all around us. They play on people's desperation for quick money. You get a few hundred instantly and then pay three times the amount paying it back. I just can't see doing that to people who are down and out already.

[lauriejennifer]

Wooooow... That's a real shame. I do think they seriously read the market wrong, though.

I wonder if I still have any film from our trips there.

[suburbanryder]

@lauriejennifer I think Polaris has one more shot at saving the brand if they do it right.

If not Indian, sad to say, will go into the history books forever.

[SCRC401]

Yeah ... that's just sad.

[suburbanryder]

@SCRC401 When you only have one main product and the average Joe can't buy it you have very little room to succeed.

[DesmosediciAlice]

wish i'd film Chicago Cycle "last days" they had outrageously great deals on ducati gear too bad they had piss poor sales team

[suburbanryder]

@DesmosediciAlice Since 2011 I have been going around recording a lot more. Just making a record of stuff that may be long gone in ten years.

I think it is one great use of places like YouTube to preserve history in video form.

Our great great grandkids might really be surprised about the things that are just part of life to us.

[DesmosediciAlice]

@suburbanryder you know what , you are absolutely 100% right

[BigBillChicago]

@suburbanryder If YT folds or loses it's servers think of what could be lost! They change home pages and could on a whim delete any vids they chose to.

[suburbanryder]

@BigBillChicago Absolutely, I am on four video sharing websites.

I don't ever put all my eggs in one basket.

I also keep two sets of all video files on hard drives.

If some of us can preserve a video history that is still around in 100 years it could be very valuable. I would love to see ordinary life from 100 years ago in film or video form.

There are only a few films in existence like that.

[lybo5646b]

30 - 40,000$ motor cycle ??? New world order - - - for awhile ! ?? lol ! Had a dog, and his name was rover. And when he died, he died all over ! Had a Harley flh 1972 in 1973- sold it for what I owed on it in 1975? - ! When I had learned to drive a car beiter than a bike !

[suburbanryder]

@lybo5646b Hi Bob. I am hoping Polaris gets their act together and actually wants to keep Indian alive.

[kb1nyd]

Wow, that price is stupid high, no wonder they were not selling any of them!

[suburbanryder]

@kb1nyd Yep, tough economy and some of the most expensive bikes on the market.

Not real smart.

[bc65925]

The Indian web site does not know it yet. Maybe they should have told them they were closing.

How about Indian of Omaha NT8?

[suburbanryder]

@bc65925 I looked recently too. Why would they have it still listed?

This is not a good start to Polaris owning Indian in my opinion.

[navythomas8]

@bc65925 Nope no indian of Omaha!! But I bet he can work the daylights out of an old one!!

[aeroliner750]

no big surprise we just had the bike show here in ny and came across an indian booth great looking bikes but not for 36 thousand before taxes not worth it sorry

they also had your favorite the royal enfield very sharp

[suburbanryder]

@aeroliner750 And no listening to me and others wanting something affordable like a Scout.

You are right they made it too expensive and didn't listen to customers.

Polaris will either fix it or lose it for sure.

I found out last summer the older Royal Enfields carried the Indian name too under license.

[bangalorebobbel]

@suburbanryder

hi, just to clarify that Enfield thing: Indian has sold in the USA from mid2end 50s motorbikes under their own brand Indian, which were originally Royal Enfields and completely manufactured in the UK. They just exchanged the tank emblems.

I guess the original Indian died 1945, those later trials to continue the brand were anyhow like riding a very famous but very dead horse ... or to ride anything but telling this is still the same very famous horse ... ;-)))

[suburbanryder]

@bangalorebobbel We have two Royal Enfield dealers and I saw one with the tank emblem "Indian" like you said. Just a tank emblem only, still exactly like the other Royal Enfields.

I know in the mid seventies Indian licensed their name to a moped.

We had an Indian moped dealer in Elgin.

[bangalorebobbel]

@suburbanryder

cool, that Indian was surely one of those formerly sold by Indian Motorcycles. Historical bike - always a good buy, even better if there is still service for it!

Yes, they tried this method several times, also with CZ 125 bikes. Means, that original company was gone in 1945, some years the brand owners even didn't have any factory, they just put their badge on the tanks of any bikes.

Very interesting - original dead horse thing, let's see what Polaris plans ... ;-)