If you can get to Peterborough it's well worth your while.
I shopped quite a few dealers before I purchased my 1150 GS Adventure. Each salesperson from each dealership had to withstand a withering barrage of my beginner's questions. Predictably I guess, most couldn't take it. Invariably, I'd be given the cold shoulder and the "come back to us when you're ready to buy and you've had some other tosser answer your endless annoying questions" attitude.
Sorry boys; this is my first bike ever, --a huge purchase, ...and maybe, just maybe I'm scared shitless of accidentally buying myself a "hole in the road to pour money away down". Well, I may be green, ...but so is my money (does this expression make any sense outside of the USA?). If I don't ask, I'm sure I can't expect to learn. So he who has time to teach me gets a crack at the sale at the end of the rainbow. Isn't that what salespeople are supposed to want? Seems like it would be simple math. But too many dealerships didn't seem to be able to be bothered.
Enter Balderstons. An hour and a half north of my London address.
I struck out for the place early one Saturday AM in August, via rail, to check out a 2002 GSA that spec'd out OK for me on the net. Balderstons salesperson TJ Skrobot personally picked me up at the Peterborough station, and drove me to their BMW dealership. So far, so excellent. But this being Saturday, and TJ preparing to commence his family summer holiday at the conclusion of that same workday, I thought I'd have about a snowball's chance in hell of getting the slightest degree of attention from this busy BMW dealership. Mr. Skrobot, however, sat with me literally all day, and courteously, patiently, good-naturedly answered every single one of the billion nervous deer-in-the-headlights questions I had for him about the bike. To my own shame, I didn't come to a decision on the bike until 5 PM that day! But the Balderstons team never showed the slightest degree of impatience with me during my entire tedious day-long deliberation.
It's a f*@&):!n' good thing the bike was cherry! People, I was chuffed to bits to be able to reward Balderstons for their helpfulness --with a big fat sale! And my reward for my excessively thorough purchase-process/torture Q & A?: a big fat pig of a GS Adventure which has been a joy to ride, and (touch wood) anything BUT a headache so far.
I second the motion; Balderstons is the best!!!
Frank Gresham