Chicago HD does not charge freight or prep. Marty is the sales manager.

 

If you are in the western suburbs of Chicago, consider Pierce HD. Smaller shop but good people to work with. The ride out to Dekalb is quite nice.

 

Talk to Wib or Gary at Woodstock HD.

 

There were a few mentions of some of the dealers I wouldn't recommend. As in other posts, Doug Jackson outright refuses to accomodate the motorcyclist's rights organizations so Woodstock is out as far as I'm concerned regarding anything. Even though an old roommate of mine did activities for their HOG chapter for sesvral years. When the point in that town was Bob's, the "independent harley owner's" group was the big kahuna, not the HOG chapter. I hadn't had a sit-down with Claude, but Dougie's a punk! The Palatine store was decent when Barry "Mustache" was around, now that it's a Wildfire store, memories of Ozzie running away everytime he saw me with ABATE event flyers still remind my checkbook anytime I or anybody else needs a new bike or parts/service for one. I ofetn eat at the burrito joint next door and "wave"! Many times I had to back in service to Jim and show him the raffle donations from Randy and Jack at SoundForce right across the street, reminding him I always put a donor's list in the chapter as well as the state newsletter. Blackmailing a Harley dealer that does so many "nuke the whales" charity runs to support bikers leaves a question mark!

 

Interesting information so far, even if some is conflicting, guess there are a lot of different ways to look at things. I should have my cash in hand by the end of next week, just got to find someone to take me to the DMV yet. I may have to buy a 250cc something just to haul over there to take the test then resell, anyone with a Sporty or other lighter bike want to make a quick $200.00 bucks?

Anyhow, back to the point,so to date I have been to four H/D dealers and one metric dealer ( had to see whatthe Goldwingoffered). Here is the breakdown of what I have run into.

The Good:

Heritage H/D - I walked in the door and Kurt was standing there wiping down the bikes, he sees me, gets a big smile on his face, and spends the next twenty minutes showing me whatever I want and getting answers to a couple of questions. He admits he is new to the store and a fairly new H/D rider. Prices seemed a bit high, but I have a feeling they might deal. Did not get a look at the service department, that will be a must before I do buy as I want to use the same dealer I buy from for my service. As I am leaving there are a couple of folks over at the service entrance and they smile and give me a wave. I felt very good about the place overall.

Wildfire H/D - This was the first dealer I walked into. For the first ten minutes it seemed I didn't exist and then Jon Stasi walks up and spendsalmost anhour talking bikes with me. We start out in the used bikes and end up in the new touring machines. He knows his bikesand even offers to act as an adviserif I find a bike I like somewhere else. Prices clearly marked on the bikes ( seem to be MSRP ), he loads me down with every piece of liturature he has in the store. Service department seems clean and organized, they even have a dyno booth. I have since sent him an email describing what I am looking for and asking him to give me his best deal. I will see what he comes back with.

The Bad:

Illinois Harley Davidson - Back in the day, longbefore they moved to their new digs I left a lot of my paychecks at this dealer. The owner ( Bobbystill owns the place doesn't he? )and I have met many times at a mutual aquaintance, although I have not seen him in 15 years or more. I walked around their used "lot" and the new bikes, the store was darn near empty of any other customers, but none of the sales staff could be bothered to get off thier stools to see if I needed any help. Not exactly what I call customer focused. As I was leaving the girl at the door wished me a nice day and did give me a copy of the Illinois Rules of the Road when I asked. If I do go back there I will look up Bobby and try to deal direct with him.

Woodstock H/D - Again the store was all but empty when I walked in and I think I could have pushed a bike out the door and no one would have noticed me. Too bad too because they had a couple of nice looking bikes on the floor.

The Really Screwed Up:

Otto Brothers Honda - "Please don't sit on the motorcycle! ! ! !", "Oh you used to ride a Harley, well you are stepping up to a real motorcycle here." Fugetaboutit!@!@!@#@

 

They changed last fall. Went from Suburban to ??(something else) and now to City Limits.
Pretty much the same staff I think. They have property a little south and across the street. A mega big building is coming soon they say.
MikeM

 

Interesting about Woodstock. I bought my bike there. Everytime I go in, there is always someone at the door to say "Howdy", and they are usually busy.
Maybe you just caught them on a bad day.
MikeM

 

WOODSTOCK HARLEY-DAVIDSON IN WOODSTOCK, IL

 

I agree with you on Heritage HD, always friendly and willing to help. Have you been out to Zylstra HD in St. Charles, corner of Randal and North Ave. The show room is huge, lots of bikes on the floor. Small bike museum on the upper level, kinda cool to look at while you're there.

 

The former sales mgr at Illinois (Tiny) is now the GM at Zylstra, much closer to home for him. Yes, Bob is still the owner at IL. Dave retired and I totally agree about the staffing in the used showroom, for years it was the museum (now perimetering the ceiling in the main showroom) I would venture to guess anyone working the used showroom to have been stroked too many times by museum tourists. I put my bid in to run the sales dept when Tiny left, it's up to Tim and Bob.