Another Bike Shop Shuts The Doors

Well, Wagga is now down to just one bike shop. The Stable has closed the doors and ceased trading. This means that as far as I'm aware the closest Honda and Ducati dealers are in Canberra (maybe Griffith for Honda), and the closest KTM dealer is in Albury (Wodonga actually).

The remaining bike shop is a Yamaha and Kawasaki dealer whose reputation isn't good. Unfortunately I can see a time in the not too distant future where there will be no bike shops (other than the tyre shop) in Wagga.

whats happening with the population up there? is the demographic changing?

I take there is just not enough sales / income to keep them open?

Thats sad to hear. Not good when bike shops close..
But dont worry, you can have some of ours in sydney...we have plenty

Thats very sad news for locals and travellers.
I'm in a much smaller town than Wagga (Pop about 12,000) and we have a red shop and a blue shop both very good and 16km up the road there is another red shop and 15km from there there is another blue shop that has just taken on a Suzuki franchise as well.
I think I'm safe for a while but I feel for you guys who have little or no choice.

Wagga has a population of over 50,000 people. At last years toy run, someone made a point that there were 250 bikes on the run, which he was pretty disappointed in given there are supposedly over 2000 bikes registered within the 2650 area code.

Up until 2004 Wagga had the following bike shops:

CJ's Harley Davidson - HD, Buell, Aprilia and Polaris - closed in 2004 (my wife was the sparts parts, accessories and warranty 'manager') due to falling sales and an arguement with the devil incarnate (Frasers)

Frontline Motorcycles - Moto Guzzi, Laverda and Bike Wreckers - closed in 2007 after the owner died.

The Stable - Honda, Suzuki (lost Suzuki in 2006), Ducati (since 2003), KTM and Polaris (picked up after CJ's closed). Closed this week.

B&A Motors (Now Riverina Motorcycles) - Yamaha and Kawasaki. Still open, for now at least.

Riverina Motorcycles has a less than ideal reputation. The service can be absolutely brilliant as can the mechanics. But it can be the worst you've ever seen. A friend of ours put there bikes in for a service, when they got home they noticed that one bike had too much oil and the other didn't have enough. We were down in Albury visiting Whitehouse Motors and there were some other people from Wagga buying helmets, jackets, boots, gloves etc. The spent roughly $2000. I asked them why hadn't they bought the stuff in Wagga. Their response nearly floored me. They'd spent 30 minutes in Riverina Motors with arm fulls of gear waiting for someone to take the money off them, in the end they just dumped it on the floor and walked out. The Stable didn't have anything they wanted or it didn't fit them.

While it's not such a problem for me, the B12 is a UJM so just about any mechanic (even a car mechanic) could work on it. The big problem is my wife has a 2000 model 750 monster and the mechanics at Riverina won't touch the engine except to do Oil, plugs and filters. So we now have to go to Canberra, which will add even more cost to the servicing. Although we are hoping that the Ducati mechanic from The Stable stays in town and keeps his tools.

For a township the size of Wagga Wagga, thats gotta hurt.

solerida wrote:For a township the size of Wagga Wagga, thats gotta hurt.

Damn right it hurts. I feel sorry for anyone who recently bought a Honda, KTM or Ducati thinking they could get it serviced here. Of even bigger concern for them would be warranty repairs.

If I only I had the money..................

Since I posted my reply the other day Sale has seen another shop open.
It’s a repair service only at this stage with a view to deal in used bikes down the track.
Its run by an ex head mechanic from a shop in Bairnsdale. I reckon I'll give him a go at the 18,000km service. Not because I'm unhappy with my regular shop but a new business needs to be supported.

2wheelsagain wrote:Since I posted my reply the other day Sale has seen another shop open.
It’s a repair service only at this stage with a view to deal in used bikes down the track.
Its run by an ex head mechanic from a shop in Bairnsdale. I reckon I'll give him a go at the 18,000km service. Not because I'm unhappy with my regular shop but a new business needs to be supported.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you're a bstrd.

You'll have to ride south for your next service lol

while a ride down to Sale would be good, there's so many good roads to choose from, it's just a bit far to go for a service.