Streetbike are in an awkward position as a result of the speculation about when the subsidy will come in. The bikes they have in were all ordered by people who were willing to purchase without the subsidy. At the time there wasn't any indication of when or if it might happen. The only thing we had to go on was the statement on the website from the old government.
Around the same time that the bikes actually got delivered, word was out that the subsidy was coming soon and information would be released imminently. That didn't happen as expected and I'll eat my hat if any kind of subsidy is in place before March.
It's a shame on the government for raising our expectations yet again and not delivering in any kind of reasonable timescale. If they could have just been honest about it and said that it will take more time, then everyone would have been on their bikes for Christmas.
Therefore, I don't feel it's down to Streetbike to try and drop the price on a batch of bikes that are already only giving a very small margin. In fact if Streetbike hadn't been so open about the information they were getting from their sources on the subsidy, the deals would have been done. Instead they're sitting on about ten bikes that are in limbo which isn't great for them. I think they've been very honorable throughout all of this, IMHO.
That's why I've decided to progress things rather than wait any longer. I don't think most people could have lived with themselves if they had bought just before Christmas only to have the subsidy announced along with the news on car and van subsidies on 17th December. As it happens, the changes to those grants come in with the new registration in March and I'm now convinced the motorcycle subsidy will follow suit.
If I keep running my VFR until March I'll have spent £500 on fuel, at least another 500 on the next service which includes valve clearances and another 250 or so on a new set of tyres. Also, the more miles I put on the bike, the more difficult it becomes for Streetbike to stick to their original quote. I spoke to Jason today and they're happy to go with the deal we agreed before Christmas despite me putting another thousand miles on the clock since.
I'm sure that I could come to a new deal with Streetbike in March and they'll hold the DSP for me until then. The subsidy will offset the depreciation on my VFR and cover my running costs until then. Streetbike will give it some new boots and a service and I'll probably break even. In many ways, the sensible thing to do is just wait. However, there's a niggle in the back of my mind that the government will disappoint again. Either they won't get their act together in time to implement in March or the amount of subsidy won't meet the expectations set by the previous government. They've already reduced the subsidy for cars, especially hybrids. It might only be worth about £500 on the DSP bikes, or those bikes might be under a threshold that means they get nothing. The DSP bikes are already at the same retail price of the Honda NC750S DCT I bought back in April. A very comparable bike in terms of performance but with the added cost of regular servicing and petrol.
The DSP bikes are an exception though. Most new bikes in the range are going to cost £10,000 for a 2015 model and upwards. I would like to see at least £1500 off bikes at that level but I think the Tories will use the spending review and austerity measures to bring it down. They don't really seem to care about the environment and they certainly aren't going to care about upsetting a small handful of bikers.
I'd be interested to hear others' views on this. In the meantime Jason is checking with the workshop how much needs to be done to prepare the bikes for sale. The panels are on order and the technicians will be back on Saturday so normal service will resume next week. The firmware needs to be upgraded. There's also a question about whether or not any work needs to be done to the wiring loom. If I'm lucky I might be able to pick mine up next weekend.
I don't know about everyone else but I like to get on with things once I've made a decision. The planets only stay aligned for so long. I still have an opportunity to buy a Zero but things might change by March. Some unforeseen expense will have cropped up or whatever. I might change my mind and just keep the VFR as it's such a great bike and petrol keeps coming down in price so why not make the most of it? Nope, it's now or never for me. Or now or some other time when batteries get cheap, Zero do fairings, integrated quick charging that isn't half baked, the big boys enter the market, etc, etc.
Author
Topic: Streetbike's 2014 DS Police Bikes (Read 10405 times)