After a mild start to the week, temperatures in the Northeast and Midwest, key gas consuming markets, were expected to cool to below-normal later this week and next week.

For instance, temperatures last week in the Northeast were 10 degrees warmer compared to the same period last year. That helped push sales of seasonal merchandise. Is all sales strength due to the weather? That's hard to say.

Current chilly temperatures in the Northeast U.S. also helped boost prices, although these are not expected to last.

The drop in prices correlates with unusually high temperatures in the Northeast.

Still, brimming stocks should keep any rally in check, late week cold notwithstanding.

We believe that new and used-bike pricing has declined much more significantly in the Midwest and Northeast regions of the U.S.. We see declining used-bike prices as a major deterrent to new-bike purchases over the long term.