Toronto Motorcycle Show - February 17-19 2023

[Priller]

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Curious to know if GP Bikes or any other gear vendors offered any show-specific discounts compared to walking in to their stores or buying from them online (GP had no HST that weekend, plus % off various items).

Since nobody else has replied, I'll chime in. I wasn't really looking for a deal, but I I didn't see many blowout signs. I did half-heartedly look for some replacement track gloves, but since nobody local stocks that stuff anymore, I wasn't surprised not to see anything.

But I was also there midday Sunday, so probably the worst time for a deal: the good stuff had already been picked over, but still too early for anything they may mark down further so as not to have to drag it back to the shop...

 

[canuckwr250]

KTM canada offered free tech pack on the 890 if you went to GP bike booth and quick shifter for the 390 as far as I know.

 

[Soulcatcher668]

...but still too early for anything they may mark down further so as not to have to drag it back to the shop...

This reminds me of years ago when I used to work at bicycle show for a local shop.
We worked long hours and it was very busy. By close up Sunday, all you wanted to do was get home and sleep.
So if the show closed at 5, 5:01 everybody was throwing stuff in boxes and ripping down the booth as fast as possible.
There was always some dumb*ss that would then come up to you and would offer you some ridiculous lowball offer on things to save us the effort of taking it back to the shop.
LOL..... they were never happy with the response.

 

[Priller]

This reminds me of years ago when I used to work at bicycle show for a local shop.
We worked long hours and it was very busy. By close up Sunday, all you wanted to do was get home and sleep.
So if the show closed at 5, 5:01 everybody was throwing stuff in boxes and ripping down the booth as fast as possible.
There was always some dumb*ss that would then come up to you and would offer you some ridiculous lowball offer on things to save us the effort of taking it back to the shop.
LOL..... they were never happy with the response.

Lowball offers are never welcome. To your point, somebody had a couple bins of budget Teknic gloves on sale. Considering Teknic went out of business about a decade ago (RIP, loved their stuff), they can't be in too much of a hurry to be rid of them. I assume they trot them out for every show to have something on discount...

My assumption is shops are carrying less and less stock, so there's less need to be rid of inventory over the winter. Even the blowout prices are higher than the Euro retailers normal prices anyway, thanks to Canada's busted distribution system.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

Lowball offers are never welcome. To your point, somebody had a couple bins of budget Teknic gloves on sale. Considering Teknic went out of business about a decade ago (RIP, loved their stuff), they can't be in too much of a hurry to be rid of them. I assume they trot them out for every show to have something on discount...

My assumption is shops are carrying less and less stock, so there's less need to be rid of inventory over the winter. Even the blowout prices are higher than the Euro retailers normal prices anyway, thanks to Canada's busted distribution system.

Speaking of which, Motovan still found the time & money to set a booth up lol

 

[adri]

This reminds me of years ago when I used to work at bicycle show for a local shop.
We worked long hours and it was very busy. By close up Sunday, all you wanted to do was get home and sleep.
So if the show closed at 5, 5:01 everybody was throwing stuff in boxes and ripping down the booth as fast as possible.
There was always some dumb*ss that would then come up to you and would offer you some ridiculous lowball offer on things to save us the effort of taking it back to the shop.
LOL..... they were never happy with the response.

I did the Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and I think 1 other show when I was working for Harley-Davidson. It's long days on your feet. Minimal to no breaks. Usually part of the rush to shut down is that EVERYTHING has to be taken down and OUT of the building within hours of the show ending.

When I was working on the Events team for Harley Canada, we had guys on lifts taking our displays down, and bikes being loaded into trucks, all within an hour of take down. The public doesn't see when headoffice staff work 3 days on their feet, and THEN still goes full NASCAR pit crew mode for a supersonic takedown and go.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times lol

 

[adri]

They steal that front wheel off a 650GS?

You're right. Looks a more modern take of my G650GS front wheel.

 

[adri]

Curious to know if GP Bikes or any other gear vendors offered any show-specific discounts compared to walking in to their stores or buying from them online (GP had no HST that weekend, plus % off various items).

LiquiMoly was like $45 for 4 liters of full synthetic I think.

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Like so many others, I was disappointed Kawasaki, Ducati and BMW were not there. I brought my two teenage sons hoping to let them lay eyes on some of the most beautiful or over-the-top performance bikes on the market and mostly struck out there. I was hoping they could just *see* bikes like the H2R, S1000RR and various Ducatis. I only saw a couple of Ducatis at GP. As it is my kids walked away saying, "ehh none of them looked that amazing".

 

[TK4]

My assumption is shops are carrying less and less stock, so there's less need to be rid of inventory over the winter. Even the blowout prices are higher than the Euro retailers normal prices anyway, thanks to Canada's busted distribution system.

Supply chain issues over the last 3 years have meant a lot less leftover inventory.
If you couldn't get it in the first place it hasn't been collecting dust on your shelves.

 

[Klaatu]

Like so many others, I was disappointed Kawasaki, Ducati and BMW were not there. I brought my two teenage sons hoping to let them lay eyes on some of the most beautiful or over-the-top performance bikes on the market and mostly struck out there. I was hoping they could just *see* bikes like the H2R, S1000RR and various Ducatis. I only saw a couple of Ducatis at GP. As it is my kids walked away saying, "ehh none of them looked that amazing".

Were they 2023 models at least?

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