Portland Ore. - Columbia River Moto-Sports Experience!

[dmulk]

Everyone,

I wanted to tell you all about my experience purchasing my new 2006 ST-1300 ABS from Columbia River Moto-Sports (http://www.columbiarivermoto-sports.com/.

I owned and purchased 5 motorcycles in the last 10 years and I have to say that working with Darrel (and the crew) @ CRMS was, hands down :bow1: the best purchase experience I have ever had.

Points of Interest:

* I did this deal while working in San Diego Ca., over the phone
* Total time spent on phone: 60 Mins +/- 10Mins
* Asked for an 06 ABS. They didn't have one, but found one in 1 Hour.
* Ordered Heated Grips to be installed
* Ordered bike on a Tuesday and they had it ready on Friday.
* Darrel promised that the bike would be prepped and ready by the time I arrived on Saturday Morning.
* I flew in all my gear, checked no bags with the intention of leaving the dealer with in one hour of arrival - I actually left 15 mins early.
* I have an eye for detail and I couldn't find ANYTHING out side the scope of the deal.
* Darrel took care to answer my many "Post-sale" questions. He was very patient and I know I can get on peoples nerves with all of the little "obvious" questions I like to ask. I never felt rushed or stupid. When Darrell didn't know something he simply said so and that he would call me back with the answer. Usually with in an hour or two. Never the next day / always the same day!
* Darrel came in on his day off and met me to make sure everything was in order.
* Darrel called me *twice* to make sure everything was working out and that I arrived home safely. (1000 mile ride)

Anyway, when I got there, at 10:00am expecting SOMETHING to be wrong. I am in IT and am a parinoid person. :) To my surprise, all paperwork was finished, bike was finished and warmed up out front. Offers of danishes and coffee were made and there was absolutely NO WAITING. Everything just got done! All and all it took 10 mins to sign everything, purchase an oil change for the ride home and put all luggage on the bike. Another 30mins was spent just BSing and chatting bikes. One of the other sales guys in there does it part time only on the weekends to get the discount on parts for his own rides...

I double checked the oil level and went through the checklist on www.st-owners.com and everything was in perfect order.

The guys knew I had a long trip in a short amount of time ahead of me, and what really impressed me was the (not 1 but) *2* follow up calls over the weekend to make sure everything was going well and I had arrived safely back in ca.

One minor issue I found after I got home, was that one of the mirrors seemed a little loose. I pulled it to find that a couple of the C clips were missing. When Darrel called me on the second follow up call, I mentioned this and he said he was sending some right down (along with the service manual that I ordered and they hadn't had in before I left). I should have these Monday or Tuesday.

I really can't say enough about Columbia River Moto-Sports. I spent a little time chatting about bikes with the rest of the sales guys there and everyone there was just so....well.... "Customer Service" oriented and cool!! The service was awesome and, moving forward, I will ONLY purchase (Hondas / Suzukis) from these guys.

Please call Darrel and include him when you are shopping. Great Price and Excellent Customer Service!!!!

Columbia River Honda Suzuki Polaris
58245 Columbia River Hwy Saint Helens OR 97051
Phone: (503) 397-3502 Fax: (503) 397-4150
Toll Free Phone: (877) 397-3502

Salesman: Darrel Farmer

Let him know I sent you!

Dan Mulkiewicz / San Diego, Ca

[Medicine Bear]

It always makes a deal go so much smoother when the dealer goes the extra mile. Glad your experience was so positive and nice to read about a good dealer out there to counterbalance all the negative reports.

Enjoy the bike - I know you'll have a hard time wiping the ear to ear grin off your face.

Fred :03biker:

[curmudgeon]

Dan, why did you buy there and not Calif.?

:worthless

Phil

[dmulk]

Two Reasons:

1) I couldn't find a dealer in Ca willing to work with me on the price of the Black 06 ABS (I didn't want the Silver 07). Everyone I called wasn't willing to budge from the Suggested Retail Price. California Premium.

2) The dealer was just really cool to work with.

Glad I made that decision. I also had a friend pick me up at the airport in oregon and escort me down to the Ca border on his BMW Adventure (Which I got to ride for 200+ miles / let him ride the ST which I think he is considering for his stable.)

It was great!

Cheers!

<D>

[motoman]

Dan:

Glad you had a good experience. Just curious, will you have to pay Calif. sales tax when you register the bike at home? :confused: And if you don't mind my asking, what OTD price did you get to make it worth all the trouble?

Personally, I can speak very highly of St. Johns Honda, which is much closer to Portland. And they even remembered to attach all the circlips. ;) :06biker:

[Mark]

So... how was the ride home?
What route did you use?
How long did it take to need the 600 mile service? :D

What do you think of the bike...
etc!!!!!

:-)

Mark

[ligito]

I've always had good customer service there but bought mine at St Johns Honda because they are so much closer for me. I was able to ride the bus and pick it up on a weekday, where as, I would have had to find someone to drive me out to St. Helens.

St. Helens is a very good shop.:04biker:

[dmulk]

Hey there guys,

Motoman: Got 13300.00 OTD (for the bike). If the bike is registered in CA with less than 7500 miles on it, it is considered new and taxes will need to be paid on it. Still, even with the taxes, it comes out to about 2000.00 less than any of the local dealers I called would do. They were all either not willing to work over the phone (which I needed because of my work situation - don't have a lot of time) or didn't have access to an 06 ABS - the color and bike I really wanted.

Mark: Slabbed it back on I5. Had to because of work. However, it really is a good thing that I did this, because when I got home, I found that my Girlfriend's water heater had sprung a leak and was starting to create a mold problem. So after about a 15 hour ride.... I got to spend Monday putting in a new water heater.... :) Needless to say... I was "frosted flakes", as one of my employees likes to say... ;)

And then there was that little matter of a storm hitting the west coast last weekend...which I totally missed....the timing could not have been more perfect! Missed the storm in Oregon by about 4 hours and the part in CA by about 1/2 a day. Really lucky!!

Bike: Love it!!!

Bike's Stock seat: Hate it! (ordered a corbin and some beads)

My Knee: Hate it! (Ordered a MCL Peg lowering kit - which I got lightening quick!!!!

My Wrist: Hate it! (Ordered a Throttle Meister from MCL - Awesome quick there too!!!! Thanks MCL!)

PS: 600 Mile service was a breeze and I hit that about mid day, on the second day.

[Styles]

Thanks for the report.

Under circumstances described, you've apparently paid the price of good weather riding at the cost of bad water rising.

Figuratively speaking, I should think that's still quite a STeal.

Styles

[curmudgeon]

Got a good deal and a long ride. What's not to like about that?

Phil

[dmulk]

Styles: Exactly! <g>

And everything worked out in the end, so things are good!

Cheers!

<D>

[motoman]

Dan:

Hope you still saved money after the airline ticket, Calif. sales tax, 15 hr ride home, and the water heater! :D

Thanks for visting Oregon and leaving some of your money here! :bow1: Come back again soon! :D

[dmulk]

Airline was free, with sales tax figured in it still was about 2K cheaper.

I had a good time on the ride. :)

I'll be back in the summer / fall to purchase a KLR so more money is coming to your economy soon enough!

Cheers!

<D>

[curmudgeon]

Airline was free, with sales tax figured in it still was about 2K cheaper.

I had a good time on the ride. :)

I'll be back in the summer / fall to purchase a KLR so more money is coming to your economy soon enough!

Cheers!

<D>

So Dan do you work for USAir? I retired from Alaska Airlines so I get to fly free on them and Horizon Air for the rest of my life.

Phil

[dmulk]

curmudgeon: Nope, just have a ton of Alaska Air mileage. Great company. I love the staff and since I fly between Oregon and Ca. a lot, they are the best.

I also like the fact that the mileage never expires and they are partners with everyone!


Were you a pilot?

My friend's dad (my friend's name is Scott Dean - not sure what his dad's first name is was a pilot for Alaska.)

Cheers!

<D>

[curmudgeon]

curmudgeon: Nope, just have a ton of Alaska Air mileage. Great company. I love the staff and since I fly between Oregon and Ca. a lot, they are the best.

I also like the fact that the mileage never expires and they are partners with everyone!


Were you a pilot?

My friend's dad (my friend's name is Scott Dean - not sure what his dad's first name is was a pilot for Alaska.)

Cheers!

<D>

Not a pilot. I worked aircraft maintenance for 38 years. Both as an A&P mechanic and Avionics tech. Last 19 years were management with the last 17 being Technical Support Engineer. 17 years with Continental and 21 with Alaska Airlines.

Phil