On the bright side, Cycle Sports carries the full Honda line, for folks who want the best…read moremotorcycles money can buy, plus Kawasaki, so you can get something funky and powerful, yet unrefined, with an annoying buzzy engine and unsettling direct-from-the-factory rattling noises. Sarah, in the parts department, is the real deal. Don't let the pretty face fool you - she knows her stuff, and will give you a lecture on the merits of Arai helmets that makes JFK look like a rookie orator.
The problem is, the Cycle Sports sales model goes something like this: "Find an ignorant customer who knows nothing about motorcycles except that he likes them. Then, sell him the biggest, most expensive motorcycle you can - don't worry about whether it fits his needs - and rob him blind in the process." The place is so greedy and sleazy that even veteran used car salesmen can't hack it there. This probably explains why most of the sales staff are baby-faced young men who know little or nothing about motorcycles.
Despite some warnings from friends, I visited Cycle Sports to buy a bike. I wasn't in the door ten seconds but two salesmen were on me like Dobermans. After they fought over who got the customer (I swear, with apologies to Dave Barry, that I'm not making this up), I explained to the remaining sales guy that I was an easy sale, because I already knew which bike I wanted and planned to pay cash. We walked over to it. I asked what kind of price they could give me. He spit out a number: List price.
Chuckling, I told him I was thinking of a somewhat lower number and explained that I was born at night, but not last night. The sales guy, with peach fuzz on his upper lip and all of nineteen years of life experience, replied earnestly that list price was a heckuva deal, and Cycle Sports was the only dealer in the state that even had this particular model. I asked for the sales manager, expecting to play a little good-cop, bad-cop...but the manager told the same story, and was sticking to it!
I drove up to Beaverton Honda-Yamaha and bought my bike - which they had in stock, of course. It took about 15 minutes to work out a reasonable deal. I should've just gone there in the first place. Cycle Sports couldn't care less about you, your bike, or your business - they just want your money.
