Well there’s only one dealer in Canberra and about a 400km radius. He doesn’t have a Rocket on the floor either at the moment because he just sold it. You can’t really blame for not replacing it, given the growing talk of a new one.
It is a fact that the Rocket shares its rear tyre size with only one other bike - Suzuki C109. The Exedra Max is actually the only stock tyre option there is for that bike. At least the Rocket has 2 - Metz and Avon. Interestingly, while plenty of Rocket owners opt for the higher profile Exedra Max,many C109 owners prefer the lower profile options. Two factors. 1. everyone seems to hate whatever their bike comes with. 2. The Rocket has the torque to make the higher profile actually an advantage, whereas the Boulevarde benefits from the slightly lower gearing.
Anyway, the Canberra dealer certainly couldn’t be expected to stock tyres that only fit 2 niche bikes unless he had some indication from customers that they would actually buy them. He stocks the Exedra Max (and generally at least one Avon and one Metz) because people have asked him to. Simple as that. On the odd occasion he is out of stock he can get one in overnight. And I can assure you that on more than one occasion he shocked the pants of travellers who found themselves needing one urgently.
You might pay a bit more but you know he has one if you need it or want it and you know the price he quotes (rrp anyway) includes removal and refit of the wheel, fitting the tyre, balancing and disposal and the job’s generally done, without the need for a booking, while you go for a coffee. But he’ll only be able to do that if people keep buying them from him. If not the day will come when you will need to wait 2-3 days for delivery, book in for fitting (maybe just on a loose wheel), pay $50-$100 and then have to refit your wheel.
