Who's going to the NEC M/C Show?

[capitano]

And ditto what everyone has said about Kymco - good looking products, but where are you supposed to buy them?

Frustratingly so...

I lifted some photos of Kymco's stand from their Facebook page.

One interesting fact that I gleaned was that Steve (Stavros) Parrish is one of their brand ambassadors. The photo of the plane is Stavros's plane and his scooter, presumably given to him by the company.

When Kymco's last distributor folded over a year ago, the bikes business was taken under the general Kymco UK umbrella company. Their big business is mobility scooters and golf carts.

[capitano]

If you are looking for the discussion on earplugs that was on this thread, it's moved to its own thread here:-

http://www.maxi-muppets.co.uk/forum/vie ... =5&t=22940

[Data]

The annual NEC bike show is whatever you make it, I don't think going there is a big deal and never have. It's better now than it was in it's early years when it was like the BMF Rally, with stalls offloading old stock clothing, helmets, and accessories. But there's still show goers having to sit on the floors to each their lunch because there's no seating areas. If you decide to go for a pie or burger etc, tables can be hard to find because they're full of blokes chatting long after they've finished eating.

As I've already mentioned I couldn't care less about the latest motorcycles, because I'm not going to spend much more time looking at them than the ones I see daily parked in the street.

As for getting technical info, I stopped at the Quadro stand on my last two visits and yes they were knowledgeable about the Quadro 3 and Quadro 4, but when asked about their dealer network North of Watford they couldn't tell me a thing. Enquiring about the Limited Edition Quadro 'Steinbok 4' and 'Edelweiss 3' models that were already on sale in mainland Europe drew a blank too, they knew nothing about them.

Gotta say the food area's were pretty good, clean and with nice food and good prices for most things. Got a table (as usual) with no issues. I'm guessing this could vary a bit from day to day depending on how crowded the show is but I've been on just about everyday of the week over the last few years and never had an issue. Part of the reason for that is the food areas have expanded to take into account the rising popularity of the show.

For someone who claims not to have gone to the show for a long time because of lack of interest, you seem to 'think' you know a lot about it....lol Never mind!

[Data]

Sorry that none of us gave a full show report.

Likewise, I obviously didn't get the memo. I may wear the same hat as Henry Cole sometimes but I'm no reporter of any merit, and my personal reasons for liking and attending the show aren't that relevant to anyone else to be honest. My photo skills are pants, too!

MotoGB did indeed have a few Syms there, but the range of scooters, and their positioning (literally hidden behind their banner) displayed their indifference to the brand in the UK. It typified their whole approach, "Great product, rubbish support network."

Kymco were a bit more of a conundrum. Another great product, that they displayed well. I'd take an educated guess and say that they had their whole range there.

Kymco's bikes looked great, particularly the AK and Xciting models and there were plenty of Kymco staffers on hand to answer queries ... about the bikes. Although I knew, I did ask who my local dealer was. When they answered, my response was, "They aren't really a bike dealer, they are a small repair shop and clothing store." Summing up, plenty of knowledge and pride about the product (and they did look/feel great) but the support needs a lot more work.

As a true potential buyer in the near future, the lack of dealer/importer/distributor support puts me off buying one.

So, no change really.

I spoke at length with Kymco reps who tell me they are pushing to get more dealers across the country and have already increased the number in the last 18 months. If you remember when the original importers went down (Masco) Kymco took direct control of the import and sale of their bikes in this country. 18 months later, Kymco is still in full control of their brand imports and sales through Kymco Mobility UK and this will remain the case. They seemed less than pleased with the performance of the previous regime. There is no doubt the brand is set to grow considerably over the next few years, as it is already doing. The bikes themselves are fantastic quality and they had their full range at the show. They put SYM to shame. SYM had just token bikes their, not the full range. But that's down to MotoGB.

[MrGrumpy]

I spoke at length with Kymco reps who tell me they are pushing to get more dealers across the country and have already increased the number in the last 18 months. If you remember when the original importers went down (Masco) Kymco took direct control of the import and sale of their bikes in this country. 18 months later, Kymco is still in full control of their brand imports and sales through Kymco Mobility UK and this will remain the case. They seemed less than pleased with the performance of the previous regime. There is no doubt the brand is set to grow considerably over the next few years, as it is already doing. The bikes themselves are fantastic quality and they had their full range at the show. They put SYM to shame. SYM had just token bikes their, not the full range. But that's down to MotoGB.

Well, I hope so! Though things seemed to have got worse before they've got better from what I've seen. At least it appears that my 'local' dealer in Newcastle hasn't gone down the tubes as their website says 'coming soon' (despite it being in existence a couple of months ago).

I always thought that Masco were supposed to be a decent operation - or maybe it was just that journalists liked them!

Yes, I'm quite open to buying a Kymco product - the AK550 is undoubtedly every bit as good as the Tmax and the CV2 concept they exhibited a while back looked interesting (any further sign of that???) - but unless I'm confident that there will be proper tech support and supply of spares, I'm not going to shovel £10k+ in their direction and hope it works out. After all, Yamaha are pretty good on both these fronts....

[MrGrumpy]

Just been on the Kymco site to see where my local dealer is.....it gets worse, not better!

The dealer in Newcastle has vanished from the list, so the nearest ones are in Morpeth and Driffield - both well over 60 miles away. The Morpeth dealer's website won't load and his facebook site hasn't been updated in months. The people in Driffield are obviously off-road bike specialists and make no mention of being Kymco dealers. There's another dealer in Huddersfield - they have a website, but don't mention being Kymco dealers, but do have some new Kymco scooters for sale. Branches of J&S Accessories are also listed as dealers, but these don't strike me as likely places to buy a bike, though maybe I'm wrong.

To quote someone else, they just CANNOT be SERIOUS!

[Data]

Oh, they are serious alright. No doubt about that. But it's going to take time. It's a big commitment taking on a new bike franchise for a dealer and can cost large sums of money. Some franchises have lots of rules attached making it even more awkward to take them on. But we'll see what happens in the next year or two. It seems to be looking good though in my view. Lots of dealers in my area and around for Kymco.

[bikerdezzie]

I like the AK but the fact it has a battery booster under the seat puts me off as it seems to use a lot of battery but runs out of starting juice pretty quick, you find this out on foreign sites as less likely to know this in the UK i find that the daftest thing ever, why not just give it a system that copes everytime you start the bike, dont really tell you this in the reviews either but there is some good UK reviews now singing its praises.

[capitano]

I spoke at length with Kymco reps who tell me they are pushing to get more dealers across the country and have already increased the number in the last 18 months.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they find a home in one of the decent dealers near me.

Based on the Kymco scooters I've ridden, and te range at the NEC, I could definitely see myself as an owner if they sort themselves out.

Sym are a different kettle of fish. MotoGB seem to have concentrated nearly all their efforts on getting Royal Enfield into dealerships, and forgotten about their scooter brands.

[MrGrumpy]

btw J&S Accessories in Doncaster and somewhere in Cheshire really ARE Kymco dealers.