Heard a rumor that River City has been bought out by HD of Ft Wayne and is being closed. Anyone else heard this rumor? Won’t surprise me a bit. Once a great dealer but has went to **** with sales and CS in the last few years.

 

River City is my home dealer. Bought two bikes there. I like the staff. It had a small town feel to it, as opposed to the big flash bang mega centers. I kinda liked it for that. Unfortunately I have not been impressed with the quality of warranty work from the service department but that's not unusual I guess.

They posted on Facebook that one of the owners is retiring. They are consolidating with Fort Wayne Harley Davidson, which is on it's third name change. (Jim Bailey HD >> Lucky HD >> FWHD)
My biggest concern is what will happen to the people that work there, many of them have been there for > 10 years. I have grown used to the familiar faces. I'm not sure what "consolidate" means. Judging by their Facebook posts, they have been selling bikes briskly.

To me something seems "off" about FWHD, not sure what it is or how to explain it. Arrogance?, Lack of interaction with customers? I don't know? Unless I walk in to FWHD and see River City people in key positions, I'll probably deal with Brandt's in Wabash, which is a mega center, but they seem pretty decent. I do all of my own maint. work and I only have one bike in warranty now, so we'll see how that goes.

Here is a link to their FB announcement, You can tell by the comments that a lot of people are not happy about FWHD.

 

Just ride on down to Benson's,same good o'l boys still working there.

 

I will admit there are some good people who work there or did the last time I was there. Dale, Chris in parts and Lori in motor clothes are all good people. If I see Rusty working at HDFW I will walk out that door and never return like I did at River City. Hope everything goes smooth for all involved.

 

Taken more than a few trips in and through Indiana ... Way back in 1978 I had an XLCH that was giving me trouble outside of Wabash ... Saturday afternoon and I was looking for help/advice ... Stopped at Brandt's and Waldo came out and bent an ear ... He guessed a frozen advance place in the distributor ... Pull it around back and I'll let you use some tools ... He was correct and in no time I had it back on the road ... He wouldn't take a penny ... Needless to say I never forgot his help ... Not sure who owns/runs the place now, Waldo's rattling windows in a better place I'm sure.

 

Yep, River City is closing on 3/31. Get your rewards cashed in before then or you will lose them. Stopped in a week ago (3/17) and they were having a HOG meeting upstairs. Didn't quite sound like a HOG meeting and quickly figured out something's up. Don and a guy from FWHD were talking to about 30 folks. Went down to parts and spoke to Chris (good guy) who confirmed closing. Went back in and bought a couple of shirts with points. Had my 1000 mile service done there. They messed up and put the wrong gasket on chain inspection cover of my 2017 XL1200T, leaked primary oil pretty bad. Noticed in when parked about 30 miles north of shop. They came out within 1.5 hours, trailered in back to shop and had it fixed in about 4 hours (right at their closing time). Made a mistake, but did right by me. Not happy about single dealership in town, but some of the guys will be working at FWHD, which was a less friendly place. Other shops in town including Osborn's to get work done, I guess. Planning on doing most of it myself.

 

FWHD has not been the same since it was Jim's. I have purchased bikes at Brandt's (Wabash)and Kokomo and highly recommend them both, particularly the service departments. If you are buying a bike you probably can't do any better than Brandt's, have never figured out how they always seem to be at least $1000 less than anybody else.

 

Those of us who are old enough remember Griffith's HD in Ft. Wayne in the 60's. Hell, I'm getting old!

 

Yep!, I remember

 

Merle "Red" Griffith was a retired FW policeman, rode bikes on the force and started his own Harley Davidson dealership. He died in 1998. Met him in 1967 when I was 15 years old and started looking at Harleys. A great guy who, I believe, retired in about '84. The shop was small on North Clinton near the corner where Clinton and Coldwater split. Ah, the "good old days".