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[ultrarnr]

NEW2elec, Completely agree on targeting Zero dealers. But what Damon isn't considering is the fact that every Zero dealer is selling Zero's because they feel they can make money on the brand. No one is forcing them to sell electric motorcycles, no one put a gun to their head to force them to sell Zero's or die. I own a Tesla M3 so I know all the reasons why Tesla doesn't sell through conventional dealerships. I just don't think the same dynamics apply to selling electric motorcycles. I have been at TPS and saw people come in the front door interested in a Zero and the sales people take them over to the Zero's they have and the conversation continues, never saw them go to gas bikes and try to sell them one of them instead of a Zero. TPS would like to become an electric motorcycle superstore selling multiple brands of electric motorcycles. They were talking with Alta and had them come and demo their bikes before they went out of business. They reached out to Lightning about selling their bikes but never got a response. If Damon were to demo their bikes to TPS I am sure there is a pretty good chance that they would want to become a dealer for Damon as well. Nothing has been said here about how to get a test ride on a Damon after the traveling road show is past. And I realize you can still well without them, Energica is proof of that, at least at TPS. But Damon has a lot of new tech that the industry has not seen before which may lead to increased desire to test ride before making the final decision to buy. Without convenient access to go for a test ride riders may be less likely to buy. Tesla has stores you can go to for test drives but I don't think that model is practical for Damon because you don't have the volume of sales with EMs that you do with cars to justify the expense of having Damon stores. Like I said, time will tell, maybe Damon does very well in spite of all of this or maybe they crash and burn. We shall see!

[NEW2elec]

First, thanks for the comment.  This is the type of issue discussion I was hoping to have in this section.
Some people haven't figured out yet that when they say blanket one sided silly statements that I give them the same back.

While I don't think there is any one "right" answer when it comes to starting a business, I'll just say why I think they are going in the direction they are.
Derek Dorresteyn who was a co-founder of Alta and Damon's CTO alluded to the fact that he felt the cost of setting up a dealer network put Alta in a hole as a new company.  Jay seems to be open to maybe having dealerships in the future but I think they would wait until they come out with the 2024 projected launch of (copied from the Damon website) "The Light Mobility Vehicle (LMV) category is born for consumers, ride sharing, and delivery fleets.".  Very much in the same way Tesla started out with their roadster as a fun sexy but limited sales appeal vehicle for flash and media attention.  Then expanded into models with larger appeal and profit margins.

It seems to be a common fact that it's the service center that makes the most money for the owner not the sales department and it's the used side that makes the most profit in that department not new sales.  There was a time before the Gen 3 Zeros that dealers were dropping the Zero brand for slow sales and limited service money. 
The lack of an Energica dealer (service center) in GA makes them a non option for me.  The new models with longer service intervals improves the situation but driving 6 hours to a dealer is just a deal breaker.  As I posted on another thread "if" Damon doesn't get a service agreement in GA then sadly I wouldn't get one until they did.

As for test rides, I'm not sure on that one.  I bought both of my Zeros off pictures phone calls and YT reviews.  I had them shipped to me after I had sent the owners the money.  Great experiences both times with very nice honest guys from this forum.  Just a little shout out.

I think the honest fact is Damon will dip their biscuit in Zero, Energica and Livewire's gravy as the southern expression goes.  Those companies spent money and time introducing people to electric motorcycles.  Damon is able to benefit from that.  It won't be this strange new electric concept that no one understands.  A lot if not most of the reservation holders in the Damon Lab are either current or former electric motorcycle owners who understand the spec improvements.
They are coming in and just improving on what's offered.   

By this spring or summer there should be some press reviews out there and we all can get a clearer picture if they can make what they say they can.

[Richard230]

My longtime BMW dealer was approached by Brammo in 2009 to sell their Enertia model. But when Brammo brought by a pre-production model for them to try out over a weekend, the bike failed to run, which ended that idea.  (Best Buy, an investor in the company, also tried selling the Enertia next to their mountain bikes, but that plan turned out to be a failure when the DMV wouldn't give them a vehicle retail license.)

Later (sometime around 2013, I believe) Zero contacted the BMW dealership about becoming a dealer, but that deal fell through due to a concern about needing to train one of their techs to service and repair the bikes. What the dealer really wanted was for Zero to send a tech to their shop to perform any repairs and Zero was not about to agree with that plan. Personally, I suspected that the shop might also have been concerned that a tech trained in EV technology might decide to hop the BMW fence and head for nearby greener Tesla pastures.

But then Energica came along with a bike that looked more like a traditional motorcycle and (a lot more importantly) had a factory repair facility just a few miles away and offered to service and repair customer's bikes at that location. I think that cinched the deal. The shop took on the Energica franchise and became an enthusiastic dealer for the brand. Eventually the shop moved away from the repair facility (which also moved to another location), but now it appears that their in-house EV servicing concerns have been resolved.

For a relatively small stand-alone "mom and pop" motorcycle dealership, that operates on a slim profit margin, taking on something like an untested new electric motorcycle brand without a customer and dealer satisfaction track record is a risk that most small shops are not likely to embrace quickly or easily.

[JaimeC]

Zero's early days did it right.  Unlike other major manufacturers that required their dealerships to have a certain amount of models on their floor at all times, Zero just required the dealer ship to have one or two demonstrators available for potential customers to try out.  Once the sale was made, the bikes were essentially built to order.

This saved the dealership a LOT of money for flooring costs and helped Zero since they didn't have a huge, mass-producing factory cranking out models every day.  I don't know how much of this has changed BUT it gave potential buyers a chance to PHYSICALLY see the motorcycle rather than just look at images on a web page.  It gave potential buyers the opportunity to try an electric bike out for themselves too; not just look at videos.

[NEW2elec]

JaimeC, not that it really matters but Zero's 2 demo bike policy came out of a dealer push back to the original policy of "one of each model on the floor"  They had to have a 11.4 S/DS and an 8.5 S/DS an FX and an XU in 2013.  That was also when the warranty clock started when the owner got the bike and not like it is now which is it starts when the dealer gets the bike.  A dealer in Iowa ruined that with "new" 2011 DS bikes at full MSRP still for sale in like 2016.

I've posted many times to encourage everyone to sign up for a test ride on Damon.com.  To see the bikes and ride the bikes for themselves.  Test riding doesn't force you to buy.  It does show they think you will like it enough to "want" to buy though.
If my memory serves me correctly you had made a post from an incorrect source saying Damon would charge people for a test ride which, after signing up for my own test ride, I knew was false.

I've never seen an Energica in person.  I have a HD dealer near me and even stopped by to ask if they would get any Livewires and they said no.  Which sucked because I wanted the charger installed there.  Never seen one of those either.
I did sit on a SRF and SRS a few weeks ago.  Not bad bikes.  But that new SRS color looks just as bad in person.

I just don't know what their plan is after the first test ride events.  Maybe it happens yearly?  Maybe they go on the bike show circuit?
Maybe "stores" like Tesla?

Here is a video from Transport Evolved on car dealership problems and it explains that the reason Tesla can sell directly to customers is only because they never set up dealerships in the first place.  Current US law protecting dealers.

[JaimeC]

I never said anything about Damon test rides.  You actually have to have a BIKE in order to offer a test ride though.  Last I'd heard, if you wanted a test ride you had to pay your way to get to their HQ in Canada as there isn't any other way to do this.

I did get to test ride a Livewire and I was impressed... just not enough to part with $30K.  It wasn't worth NEARLY that much.  Even at the newer, lower cost the complete lack of L2 charging is a turn off.  There are still far more L2 stations than CCS stations around here.  There also isn't any way of attaching luggage which severely limits the practicality.  It's an expensive "toy" and nothing else.

I was GOING to take a ride up to the Energica dealership upstate New York to check them out when the pandemic hit.  Now the local Zero dealership in Manhattan also carries Energica and when my Zero got destroyed by a one-eyed truck driver back in December I started entertaining the idea of checking out an SS9.  Something else has popped up though, and I'll be staying in the Zero camp for a little while longer.  Air cooling and belt drive may not be the highest performing options out there but I outgrew the need to be the fastest kid on the block decades ago.  I just want to be able to get back and forth to work with as little fuss and expense as possible.

[NEW2elec]

Maybe it wasn't you.  I'll leave that alone.

EDIT nope here it is I knew it was you.  https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=10502.0

But you do credit Covid for you not being able to take an Energica test ride in your state.

Don't you think covid messed up Damon's schedule and plans too?

Do you eat a Thanksgiving turkey right out of the freezer or do you accept it has to thaw and cook first?  Things are ready when they are ready not as soon as we want them.

If you just want to stick with Zero check Cycle Trader there are some good deals on the 14.4 base S models.

[JaimeC]

Well, unless you know of a way to travel from the US east coast to the Canadian west coast for free, I wasn't wrong.

[NEW2elec]

No one can go to Canada and take a test ride. 
Covid man covid.  Delays, not ready, turkey aint cooked.

They will let you know when dinner is ready.

I'd say spring or summer for my guess.

Side note did you get insurance quotes for the SS9 and the SRF?  Were they close?  They have the same specs but one has an R and I'm wondering if that red flags the bike.

[Richard230]

No one can go to Canada and take a test ride. 
Covid man covid.  Delays, not ready, turkey aint cooked.

They will let you know when dinner is ready.

I'd say spring or summer for my guess.

Side note did you get insurance quotes for the SS9 and the SRF?  Were they close?  They have the same specs but one has an R and I'm wondering if that red flags the bike.

Speaking of insurance premiums, I have $250K/$500K liability insurance from Progressive.  I just received the renewal notice recently. The yearly premium for my 2018 Zero S is $103, more than for my BMW R1200RS.  The premium under the same policy for my Royal Enfield is only $22 a year.