HD Suzhou Grand Opening

[TB-Racing]

G'Day,

Did anyone go?

[bikerdoc]

yes. Mate and I rode there left Saturday, stayed overnight, and rode back Sunday. Since Friday was wet, and so was Saturday the numbers that rode were not as expected, though still quite a number were there. Photos to come...

[TB-Racing]

yes. Mate and I rode there left Saturday, stayed overnight, and rode back Sunday. Since Friday was wet, and so was Saturday the numbers that rode were not as expected, though still quite a number were there. Photos to come...

G'Day,

Pictures would be great, HOG Shanghai website shows no pics yet?!

Anyone going to the "HD Sportster Party" over at Bubba's PD this Saturday?

[TB-Racing]

G'Day,

Some HD Suzhou party pics are up: http://www.hogchina.cn

[TB-Racing]

G'Day,

Took the bike for a ride, had a lunch meeting in Suzhou SIP today and visited the HD Suzhou dealership, neat set-up in a free standing building and a lot of inventory (bikes) on the floor. Much better stocked compared to the Shanghai HD -Tongpu Lu- store. Anyone visited the new HD Pudong store yet? They opened 10 days ago, seen pics but had no chance to visit the new shop yet.

[bikerdoc]

G'Day,

Took the bike for a ride, had a lunch meeting in Suzhou SIP today and visited the HD Suzhou dealership, neat set-up in a free standing building and a lot of inventory (bikes) on the floor. Much better stocked compared to the Shanghai HD -Tongpu Lu- store. Anyone visited the new HD Pudong store yet? They opened 10 days ago, seen pics but had no chance to visit the new shop yet.

I also was impressed with the HD Suzhou operation, lots of bikes on the show room floor, plenty of accessories and I'm not just referring to clothing. Better than that, they have a two bay motorcycle workshop out back that's neat and tidy, a sales consultation lounge and a nice HOG bar/lounge up the second/first floor above the showroom. Jimmy (an American Tawainese) who bought the HD franchise speaks very good English and seemed very approachable. He is currently having a customising workshop space that can take around a dozen motorcycles at a time, for more detailed modification and customising work. Showed me the plans and artist renderings of the site, though since I don't know Suzhou I couldn't tell you where it is. The other bonus with Jimmy's setup is that he is getting his staff to learn English and all of them must learn how to ride a motorcycle. He has a 125 or 150cc Japanese motorcycle that the staff can practice on, which I observed a couple of the staff members practicing on the Sunday after opening.

As stated above I have some photos, and have been editing them over the last several days and once completed will upload them to MCM.
Can't comment on the HD Pudong outlet.

[bikerdoc]

Photos of outside the HD Suzhou dealership...

HD_Suzhou01.jpg
Outside the dealership on Li Gong Di

HD_Suzhou02.jpg
Two traffic police HD883 (more on these later)

HD_Suzhou03.jpg
Sales lounge on the left hand side of the sales show room when entering from the front door

HD_Suzhou04.jpg
Left side of ground floor showroom

HD_Suzhou05.jpg
Standing in left hand corner looking towards right side of ground floor showroom and front door

[bikerdoc]

HD_Suzhou07.jpg
Suzhou traffic police bought 8 HD883 Sporters from HD Shanghai and these two examples were loaned to HD Suzhou for their grand opening. The license plates were removed for the opening, so that they couldn't/shouldn't be ridden around by just anyone attending. I cannot recall if the ignitions keys had been kept by the traffic police as well or not.

HD_Suzhou08.jpg
Suzhou traffic police uses these and the other six 883 Sportsters for ceremonial purposes only and for events such as parades. They are not used for general traffic policing duties. All eight of the Sportsters are ridden by female officers.

HD_Suzhou15.jpg
This was a bike belonging to one of the riders attending the HD opening

HD_Suzhou16.jpg
This was a bike belonging to one of the riders attending the HD opening. Note the long wheel base Ford transit van in background complete with trailer. The van can hold 3 bikes, and the trailer which is hydraulic can carry two. The owner said they are more than happy to drive to collect an owners HD bike if needed, and they have a fully equipped shop with repair facilities. A new large 8 bay customisation facility is under construction where HD Suzhou will specialise in custom work on Harley's.

[bikerdoc]

HD_Suzhou09.jpg
HD Fat Bob
Early in the evening around 6pm there was a display of various HD models complete with several female models of which a couple were foreign models. One could have one's photo taken with this motorcycle accompanied by one or more of the female models.

HD_Suzhou13.jpg
HD Softail with white wall tyres

HD_Suzhou10.jpg
A customised HD

HD_Suzhou11.jpg
HD Road King

HD_Suzhou12.jpg
HD Road King

[bikerdoc]

HD_Suzhou_Party01.jpg
Party was held at Harry's Bar Suzhou Industrial Park on Li Going Di, which is the third of its kind to open in Suzhou. It is just around the corner from HD Suzhou well within walking distance. There was a great attendance with plenty of happy attendees. Food was a plenty and there was so much variety and lots of beverage on tap which was included for all those that made it. Excellent time had by all from my observations.

HD_Suzhou_Party02.jpg
The first band was a six piece band (as far as I could tell all foreigners) from Shanghai that had been hired for the nights party and they were brilliant, playing a real mix of modern, contemporary, rock. The dance floor was moving.

HD_Suzhou_Party03.jpg
In between sets for the band, there was a Chinese B-Boxer who was absolutely outstanding. Bloody brilliant at his craft and he really wowed the audience for sure.

HD_Suzhou_Party04.jpg
B-boxer performed several times between the bands sets. Did I say how brilliant he was? He was!

HD_Suzhou_Party05.jpg
The bald headed guy is actually a P L A soldier who rode a Yammie 750 twin, kind of a custom, complete with military white plates. I had seen it in the latter part of the afternoon, and can remember thinking momentarily at the time that the plates were most likely the typical fakes. What was different was that the bike in question had both a rear plate and a front plate which had been attached not on the front forks as is the usual placement, but on the front screen. This solider was actually quite a hard-case and was having a great time. He ended up at 'our' table and he bought us a 3.5L mini-dispenser of beer. Sorry as a non-alcohol drinker I have no idea of the correct name, but here's the picture below...