new motorcycle dealership in manchester…


It’s not so often that you get a new motorcycle dealership that opens fairly near to where you live (in my case probably only around five or so miles away), but that is exactly what has just happened.

The actual location is down near the J&S Accessories (Manchester branch) in Openshaw – which is about two and half miles outside the city centre, 10 or 11 miles from Glossop (at the end/start of the Snake Pass) and probably less that two miles from that modern-day cathedral of football – Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

For one reason or another this store has taken an age to open – it must be at least 18 months or so since I noticed a sign that went up on the building that is now the CMC Manchester Store, to say that a new motorcycle dealership was coming soon, but in fact it was only a week or so ago that it actually opened.

Yesterday my wife and I were driving past, noticed that it was open and decided to call in for a browse. They are a Yamaha main dealer as well as selling used bikes from all the major manufacturers and I’ve got to be honest and say that first impressions of the store are pretty impressive.

The layout of the new bikes section (Yamaha) is spot on, well lit, spacious and plenty of room to look at a decent range of models – and it actually reminded me of the sort of sense of order that you get in the Williams BMW (Manchester) store. We spent some time chatting to Simon the Yamaha Brand Ambassador (I think that’s his correct title) and he came across as a decent person and one who is probably good to deal with if you’re in the market for a new machine.

One of the bikes that struck me was a new XV 950R from the Sports Heritage range beautifully finished in gloss grey although I’m sure Yamaha have a more marketable name that simple ‘gloss grey’. My wife and I looked at one of these a couple of years ago when we were looking around for another bike and as much as I could be tempted by this one, it’s doesn’t quite strike me as ideal for riding ‘two up’. There’s some photo’s of the new bike area in the gallery below and clicking on any of the pictures should open a scrolable gallery – they give you an idea of the showroom layout.

The used bike section is decent as well and there was a good selection of machines all of which were immaculately presented. My only criticism of this section (and indeed of the store) is that none of the used bikes for sale that we looked at had the mileage on the ‘sales ticket’ – which for me isn’t really that helpful. I sort of get it if the idea is that by asking for that information it starts a potential ‘sales conversation’ but for me as a punter I want that information up front, but maybe not everyone is bothered about that?

The gallery below has some snaps from the used bike area, an example of when having the mileage on the ‘sales ticket’ would have been helpful (to me) is the blue BMW R1200R – a 2015 model, very clean, very well presented but no mileage on the ticket! When I checked with one of the sales guys it was only 4,721, but he had to go and get the keys, turn the bike on etc before he could tell me (although it must have been on the documentation wallet that he had in his hand). In fairness if you are browsing on-line, the mileage of the used bikes is all clearly shown.

We also had a wander round the accessories area, and in keeping with the rest of the store it seemed to be well stocked, with decent choice and well presented. The pictures in the gallery below will give you an idea.

And almost finally, like any decent bike shop there should be somewhere to get a drink and there’s space set aside with tables, chairs and vending machines – we didn’t have time to check out the coffee from the machine, but I will be doing so on my next visit and I’ll post an update when I’ve been there again

And if you’re wondering how they get the pictures of the bikes on what looks like a decent summers day, take a look at this neat idea in the pictures below:

So all in all, it looks promising and it’s got to be good to have a new store close to home (for me) and with plenty of parking space as well. I really hope they do well, although I did wonder what the folk at the J&S store a hundred yards away think – from a buyer’s perspective competition has got to be good and I guess most folk will wander between the two. My own view is that CMC might have the edge in terms of first ‘port of call’ – what biker doesn’t like a brew and a browse around new and used bikes?

Other posts you may want to check out:

motorbikes blog – home click here

words and pictures from 2018 road trip – click here

words and pictures from 2017 road trip – click here

words and pictures from eastern europe trip – click here