Asking for information from riders

[twistedgrip]

Good afternoon to all.
I'll be right up front as to what I am looking for. I know most of y'all are POLARIS/YAMAHA/HONDA/KAWASAKI/ARCTIC CAT owners but I'm here asking anyway. My wife and I own a motorcycle/ATV/UTV accessory shop in Arkansas and are looking to add a line of ATVs and UTVs to our store. I am the mechanic, I have worked on everything with handlebars and know cheap crap when I see it. All of the major players have already been asked to the dance but there are still some "wallflowers" hanging out. I REALLY don't like the idea of selling chinese anything but find it increasingly hard to keep from doing so. We have been in business for 8 years and have developed a solid customer base (mostly HD owners) and a good reputation with our customers. I ride Hondas ATVs myself, have ridden just about everything, owned a Polaris and Arctic Cat dealership about 10 years ago(that was collateral damage to a failed marriage) and ride a nice Harley Davidson Street Glide. I'm looking at KYMCO, made in the republic of Taiwan and BENNCHE which is made in China by HISUN. KYMCO is my pick at the moment.
As you may have picked up on, we are not millionaires, we don't have $300,000 in liquid assets, we won't even ask for the $500,000 line of credit that is required for many of the big boys. This leaves the off brands.
Asking for informed, educated opinions now. I know trash talk when I hear it and recognize BS when I smell it. But I am not afraid of FACTS. That's why I'm here. I can't afford to go backwards by selling junk just so I can make a little money.
Now, let me hear your thoughts. I'll be checking back regularly to read what all there is on here. I may just need to keep doing what I'm doing.
Thanks
Twistedgrip

 

[Blue Coyote]

My wife used to work for a 5 line dealer so I have some knowledge on this. Besides low build quality, sub par design and materials, the biggest issue was the lack of support or parts. Every day people would come in looking for parts for a POS, saying it was the same as a Yamaha, Honda, etc. Any it was not, and had to refuse to deal with them.
The market is flooded with these things. Kymco looks like it is rising above the swamp in the ATV world. What ever you decide on, look for the dealer service support (not just sales), parts availability and shipping times. Not being able to service what you sell is a sure way to kill business.
Why not become the premier service and accessory dealer. Good dealers are hard to find- read any forum and there are many dealer service horror stories. Do something better than rest, not look to sell the bottom stuff.

 

[crazywatson]

I rode with some Kymco guys at ralley on the rocks a couple years ago. They brought out a bunch of units and they held up ok accept 1 broke on the trail and they left it behind to move on and go back later. But for the most part they seemed to hold up well. They had the development crew with them and they were from I believe North Carolina. They worked closely with the Asian guy who was there with them and seemed to be heading in the right direction of development. They seem like the most promising line of cheaper utv. Phister is another one to look at. Allot of people say there 170 copy is better then the Polaris. They also have a good selection of parts from what I hear.

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[twistedgrip]

I was hoping for more responses but need to make a decision soon so…. right or wrong, here I go. I have read everything I can get my hands on about them and very little negative press, in fact the only negative article I have been able to find is about their pricing. I'm still open for comments if anyone has pertinent information.
I will add that if anyone is looking for some good riding keep Arkansas in mind. We have two national forest that have trails all over each of them. Hundreds of miles of trails. Polaris and Arctic Cat both bring new product down every year to ride the trails to see what they can tear up. Beautiful scenery, clear creeks around every turn, good people, campgrounds scattered all over. Make a road trip and come check out Arkansas.
Twistedgrip