Bigdog had another lay-off today

[K9Anniv]

The service manager at my dealer (Arlen Ness) seems to think it's not long now before they fold.

Wow, I sure hope this isn't true ...Big Dog HAS to survive!

 

[waykool]

Now hold up. When I tried to cut a deal on a 09 K9 at a dealership in Daytona last month I was told that BDM sales were fine. In fact I was told point blank that there was no recession and that BDM has not experienced any slump in sales. So whats the real story here?

 

[Raywood]

Now hold up. When I tried to cut a deal on a 09 K9 at a dealership in Daytona last month I was told that BDM sales were fine. In fact I was point blank that there was no recession and that BDM has not experienced any slump in sales. So whats the real story here?

That might just be Florida where you can pretty much ride all year around. Northern and Western states may be a different story.

Keep in mind all that to my knowledge Sheldon is still the sole owner of this company. Unlike Iron Horse, Ultra, Titan and Indian they were owned by investors who wanted their money every month.
If Sheldon can just hold on till the "stimulous money" loony starts working then maybe he can save the company. I wonder if he has thought about what the Auto companies are doing. Just shut down production for a pre-determined time to save money then open up later. Most likely the same workers would come back as BD is not the only company struggling.

Anyway, hopeing for the best. :flag: :flag: :flag:

 

[waykool]

That might just be Florida where you can pretty much ride all year around. Northern and Western states may be a different story.

Keep in mind all that to my knowledge Sheldon is still the sole owner of this company. Unlike Iron Horse, Ultra, Titan and Indian they were owned by investors who wanted their money every month.
If Sheldon can just hold on till the "stimulous money" loony starts working then maybe he can save the company. I wonder if he has thought about what the Auto companies are doing. Just shut down production for a pre-determined time to save money then open up later. Most likely the same workers would come back as BD is not the only company struggling.

Anyway, hopeing for the best. :flag: :flag: :flag:

I see, i see. And yes lets hope for the best.

 

[TheDeadOne]

Lets all just take a good breath here.

Lets all just deal with the "known" fact here.

Rumors will spread like wildfire during these hard times.

Lets all just keep some faith, until the truth tell us better.

 

[medicineman]

BDM Service

We've been a BDM dealer since 03 and yes we had a heyday "back when"
But we saw the writing on the wall and prepared. We geared up for modifying Big Dogs ,stocked up on hard parts and do complete revamping of electrics etc. to help our customer base. With the rumor mill ramping up by who knows who? BBC, HD ? You never know do you? Big dog I believe will survive .Its going to be tough but its a lot to walk away from when you've invested the kind of time and money Sheldon has into his baby. The man is an excellent businessman and his expansion into the canadian and european markets will help pull the company through. THe only problem in the U.S. is that as dealers we have a problem getting people financed, period ! The desire to own is still there ,it has never deminished. The problem is with the lending institutions puckering up and not releasing funds that they were supposed to to help this stagnant economy! These are not bad credit customers that cannot get financed either. Howabout a 730 credit score but not enough a credit history to get financing! Give me a break ! We will continue to stand behind Sheldon and Big Dog as it truly is a superior product compared to the others including HD. Been doing this since 73 and we have a large nationwide customer base that has supported us in good times and bad. All of our work ,fabrication, paint ,dyno tuning ,engine building etc is done in house, with several carriers picking up bikes and delivering them nationwide.

 

[K9Anniv]

EXCELLENT! Thank you for the positive feedback and "inside" scoop. We're rooting for you AND for Big Dog Motorcycles to survive, and thrive!
ps- what's your dealership's website?

 

[Marco Polo]

I wonder if he has thought about what the Auto companies are doing. Just shut down production for a pre-determined time to save money then open up later. Most likely the same workers would come back as BD is not the only company struggling.

Anyway, hopeing for the best. :flag: :flag: :flag:

I asked that same question because we were talking about how AIH had kind of involuntarily done that and it hasn't worked out for them. He said pretty much what you said too about how it's Sheldon's baby and his call alone so if he does have to shut the doors it's very likely that with his love of motorcycles that they would reopen at some point.

As far as why a salesperson would tell you they are solid and completely unaffected by the econmic times and sales have been as high as ever... You shouldn't have to look any further then their title. Would you still be just as interested and pay just as much if she said "they'll probably be under and we probably won't support you at all by the time you're up for your 500 mile maintenance but either way this bike is worth $35K right?"

Me ,personally, I think they'll pull through. If I didn't I wouldn't have bought mine. The last poster was dead on as far as financing now though, it was tough to find a decent loan even with credit around 800 and I think we settled for something like 7%.

 

[jax]

Since Sheldon is the sole owner and makes the final decision... let's start a petition signed by all of the BDM owners stating how much we believe in his motorcycles and for him fight to keep this company alive. Better yet, let's all show up at BDM headquarters on a specified date to show our support.

 

[barhopper]

Petition would be cool. To many could not make the trip there.

 

[Marco Polo]

That would be great if he could pay his employees and bills with petition signatures but unless each person that signs attaches a few grand along with it I don't think it will make much difference to the effort he's already making. It's not like he's going to close up shop if he doesn't have to.

 

[lee]

I just want to add one thing. I'm getting the impression that a lot of you seem to be thinking that if BDM do go under then your bikes go under with it. Not so. Following on from what Marv said you will still be able to fix your bikes and put after market parts on them when you want to / need to. I know a lot of the stuff is proprietary but there's always a way round it as I had to do with my handlebar switches for example. I live in England and have had no support from BDM whatsoever - no warranty (if you have to rely on a warranty you shouldn't have bought it in the first place), no recalls, they won't even answer questions on email but I've done alright and my bike is running better than ever. Yes it will be sad if they go through the hoop but your bikes will live on.

 

[LDO]

as far as BDM going under things will be the same for me.

work on it myself. if its a proprietary part and i cant get it then change it out.

I'm with Marv on this one. Never had or needed a warranty for mine and I'll replace or change out whatever fails.

I would like a chopper style Big Dog in my garage and I could possibly afford the payment in a few months but I, like many others, prolly couldn't get financed.

Most folks are 'payment buyers' and can afford the monthly payments but can't get approved financing to get 'in the door'!!!:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

Maybe I'll just build my own...

 

[KnotSo]

BDM is still employing 91 workers on the payroll. Which is more than my company is here in Washington AND Nevada.

 

[MARV]

looks like another disgruntled ex employee from BD posted at cyril's blog


bikerspaceman
Jul 6th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Way to go Sheldon, even your millions can’t undo all of the piss poor decisions that you and your team of useless managersn have made contrary to recommendations of members of the test center and your career employees.
The Pitbull Can go ionto a wobble and crash at high speeds (2 people crashed with injuries at 98 mph and one crashed at 65 mph when he hit a bump.
All bikes involved were dismantled ( I personally tore down two of them). The talk was to offer the Pitbull as a kit so they wouldn’t be responsible for instabilities (they could blame them on the builder) John Brock’s idea.
In testing, the X-wedge failed due to cam belt issues twice in less than 500 miles.
The coil cover temps were measured on the X-Wedge and exceeded 350 degrees F.
I hope you choke on warranty claims Sheldon!
Oh yeah, to date, over 88,000 waranty claims on 25,000 motorcycles1

 

[Raywood]

one crashed at 65 mph when he hit a bump.

Wonder who this was?? Oh, it was on a Pitbull.

This is a discruntled ex-employee. :argue:

 

[Tim]

My words of wisdom (ok, not really my words)...

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

I'd hate to see them go under because of the workers who will lose their jobs and what I feel is a respectable company being shut down. I always felt their customer service was top notch and really stood behind their product.

I hope BDM can weather the storm, start expanding again and hire those employees already laid off back.

 

[littlef66]

I want to know more about this issue with the pitbull front end wobble. Sounds like this guy is VERY pissed. If they were going 98 mph and hit a bump with a rigid frame, what do you expect. Dont be a dumbass. I will say that I have hit some bumps on the interstate running about 75 and I thought that I was going to lose it completely. Has anyone else heard this or is it this pissed guy just spreading false rumors

 

[jimizee028]

That would be great if he could pay his employees and bills with petition signatures but unless each person that signs attaches a few grand along with it I don't think it will make much difference to the effort he's already making. It's not like he's going to close up shop if he doesn't have to.

i think i allready gave him enough of my money upon purchase.......:loony:
but of course i would be willing to sign the petition:up:

 

[loujr]

My best wishes go out to Big Dog,........just ride it out like the rest of us business owners. Our new Obama God is gonna fix everything!!! Do we love the change yet??? :angry: