Small Scooter Dealers

[MrGrumpy]

Now I've been thinking about replacing the baby Burger and I've been looking around various options, including local dealerships, which tend to be thin on the ground round here. I've noticed that some of the dealerships round here are less grand than you might expect!

There's a Sym/Daelim dealer in Durham who's basically a bike training company, whilst the other Sym dealer near Sunderland and the Kymco dealer in the wilds west of Durham are basically workshops who sell a few bikes. None of these even mention the brands of bikes/scoots that they are apparently dealers for on their website.
And it goes on - the small workshop near the office (run by 2 guys plus various family members occasionally) has just started selling Baotian scooters from the tiniest showroom you've ever seen (office sized!), whilst we have a WK bikes dealer in town who are principally classic scooter restorers who operate from a tiny lock up industrial unit with no showroom at all.

I kind of worry about how professional or committed these guys are....am I wrong to worry? Or are you better off with this sort of small place where you get to know the people running the place very well? And are the bigger firms only better at ripping you off??

Opinions welcomed!

[JohnR93]

I thought you meant Dealers who sold small scooters
There are a plethora of bike and scooter shops reasonably close (within 20 miles) to where I live in Blackburn.
Both small units on industrial estates and showrooms for both scoots and bikes.
I guess the nearer to large conurbations the more you'll get.

[macamxthe1st]

Rearrange this well known phrase or saying. " Plaque Avoid The Like".

Geoff.

[MrGrumpy]

Rearrange this well known phrase or saying. " Plaque Avoid The Like".

Geoff.

That good eh?
Its tricky - in our entire area there is one dealer who sells the big 4 Japanese makes, who I used to avoid like the plague, but do seem to have gained some rather more friendly helpful staff, though they are still damned expensive, another dealer 25 miles away who are very good dealer with who do Yamaha (+ some cheap stuff) but their location is extremely awkward to get to. Other than that apart from the WK dealer, there is a a guy who sells Peugeot, LML plus Enfield and Pulse/Lexmoto, who I've never dealt with, and a really dodgy bloke who sells almost any sort of scooter (officially a Kymco and TGB dealer) who I wouldn't trust my (electric) lawnmower to! Beyond that there are the aforementioned dealers scattered around Durham plus a posh bike dealer, or a longer trek to Newcastle or York, which isn't an attractive idea in the winter and servicing requires a day off work.

[KEEFYBEE]

I know what you mean John, I'm a fellow Blackburner, I've dealt with Cunninghams at Darwen for the 10 years I've been riding on scooters. Family run ,they've dealt with pretty much all the manufacturers in the 50 years they've been trading. I can give them nothing but praise in both the sales and service department . My X Evo is now coming to the end of its scootering journey having covered 41000 miles, so I can pretty much guarantee I'll be going there for its replacement.

[Bluebottle]

Blackburn has more than its fair share of dealers - and good gear shops too.
Rocket centre, Race Leathers, HG etc

[horobags]

dont mention Youles, in 'good dealers' in blackburn.

[KEEFYBEE]

Horobags....I know lol

[spaceprobe]

Buying a SYM was a labour of love, when you find a dealer if they have anything in stock it will only be 50cc and 125 machines. I went up to South London to test ride a Joymax. Very shifty looking dealer, I had wallet in hand but he did not seem interested in selling me a bike. I then ended up going to Southampton to get the Maxsym, however I am so glad I did, an amazing bit of kit. Without wishing to upset folks I suspect if SYM UK got their act together and to also sort out their dealers the Burgman 400 would get knocked off its perch. Then buying any maxi scooter in the UK is not easy.

[Data]

It is if you buy a Burgman! Loads of dealers, and that's the secret, that and the fact it's a good bike! Totally agree about the Sym dealer network. It needs more of them and needs more refined, more resourced dealers than some it already has because the product is superb.