In defense of ALL BIKE SHOPS....
You have ANY idea how many people walk through their doors everyday saying "mmaaann, im gonna buy me a bike today" and sit down with the sales reps only to have SEMI decent credit and NOT being able to afford something after all. Sure they could go buy a new car, but cars are necessities where as bikes are definitely not.
Ever notice when a couple of younger people walk in, they dont even really care what they’re doing or care about the questions they even ask. 49 out of 50 of those people probably could never afford anything anyways.
Unless you walk in KNOWING that you can afford something, or having a pre approved bank loan, most sales people are going to just push you aside.
When I bought my first bike at ASK on Brice road they were extremely helpful. I went in for almost a week straight looking at bikes and just asking small questions, but I didn’t bother asking financial questions until I was ready to deal. I had 5k sitting in the bank waiting to put down on whatever I bought. 5k down on a 8-9k loan is DEFINATELY going to get you somewhere. At the time I was only 18, and the bike loan was my very first loan. I think I ended up with an 11% interest rate on a loan for 2 1/2 years, nothing to argue with being an 18yr old.
And besides all of this BS I just wrote.. I would NEVER co-sign for anyone other than my own wife (if I was married). I would NEVER recommend co-signing for friends or even family members. Destroyed credit takes years to fix, and you get the payments if they decide to blow off the loan.