This is my perspective on sales in todays day and age:
Keep in mind I sell outdoor power equipment from chain saws all the way up to 80k track hoes. Not custom motorcycles but sales none the less.
If you pay asking price for any of this stuff it is only for a few reasons:
1. You find something you can not be without and you want it NOW.
2. You have not done your homework.
3. You place value in buying from the dealer you intend on servicing your bike. (I still encourage negotiations).
Most of these dealers have an account that these bikes are sold to them through. All should be offered some kind of discount if they pay cash (approx. 2%) but in todays markets, cash is king and the discount is not worth the risk of not being able to be liquid.
I assume the loan holder to these dealers would be GE Credit. They are the biggest player for power / recreational equipment. When a dealer makes a purchase from a manufacture, the sale is complete. It is the dealers.
BUT, the dealer is given a grace period of 8 - 12 months NO PAYMENTS / NO INTEREST on the actual delivery date of the bikes. After this period, the dealer is responsible to make payments of up to 30% of the balance including the accrued interest from the original sale date to the dealer.
Dealers will make their Spring orders in the later part of the year to give manufactures an estimate as to whether their numbers are in line with expected market demand.
When the order is placed, they will likely have several shipping windows to when the equipment will arrive. Gives time for the dealers to alter their order and the manufature to fullfill the order as well.
I am going to make an assumption that the largest window will be in February
to give the dealer time to set the bikes up and have them availiable when the weather breaks.
With all this said, if a dealer has the largest shipment brought in during the month of Feb. than the dealer is going to have to make payments on every bike that has not sold to date some time in Oct. or Nov.
Sold bikes had to be paid for immediately following the actual sale date....they send an auditor out every 30 days to verify THEIR assets. Keeps dealers from robbing Peter to pay Paul.
These are the optimal months to negotiate with dealers on new inventory.
So if you are looking for a current model, find out who has the most of them before you start negotiating.
There is a lot more info I can provide but just realized that no one may care....:roll: :roll: :roll:
So if you want me to continue, let me know. I will be happy to. If not....sorry if I highjacked the thread.
:roll: :roll: 
