[ST] Triumph's absence at the shows

["Richard Marcus" <rich.marcus@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Zoltan and I attended the M/C show in Long Beach , CA on Saturday.  We
talked to 2 different Triumph dealers at the show:  South Bay Triumph and
Southern California Triumph.  We both asked them what they thought of
Triumph's decision to not participate.

Their answers couldn't have been more opposite:

The South Bay sales guy we asked thought that it was a good idea, since they
were getting back-end co-op dollars to help defray the cost of being at the
show. When he said it, it made sense, because I thought who does the
motorcycle consumer really buy their bikes from?  Triumph or the dealer?  In
reality, it's the dealers who are "the face of Triumph" to the world.

Then Zoltan and I chatted with Tom Hicks, the owner of (WARNING:  shameless
plug coming) the best motorcycle dealership in So. Cal, Southern California
Triumph.  Tom thought it was one of the dumbest things Triumph had ever
done.  His logic was to take look at what it'd cost Triumph to be at the
shows. (Tom figured $1,000,000.)  Then make an estimate of how many people
would come to them.  (By Tom's calculations, it's about 80,000 folks per
weekend show, multiplied by 10 shows, or 800,000 people total)  Divide the
$1,000,000 by 800,000, and you come up with a cost of $1.25/person as the
cost of presenting your latest-and-greatest products to a large amount of
folks.  By his calculations, Tom thought it'd be an exceptionally wise
investment on Triumph's part.  And Tom's positoin also made sense to me.

Rich M.



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