Why is biking so expensive?

[NewBusiness]

Hi Guys and girls,

I have been riding for over 10 years and over the years I realized how expensive motorcycles are. Having to pay nearly $500 for a set of average tires, is just ridiculous and it doesn’t have to be this way, its half the size of a car tyre after all. Or Headlight that nearly cost $500, come oonnnn. The only reason its this way is because we let it be. Do we want to pay these insane rates, I think not, than why are we supporting it by spending with the companies with such high margins? Simply because there is no alternative option, where else can we get our parts and service from?

Over the last year I made it one of my main goals to help change this for New Zealand. I want to help make riding much more affordable for everyone. I am creating a online market place for motorcycle parts that will enable us to purchase motorcycle parts direct from the suppliers. No importers, no whole sellers, no middle men, direct from manufacturer, as cheap as possible. Just think about how expensive car parts where before super cheap auto came along.

Be part of the movement to change the way motorcycling is for the future. I am looking for people who are have the passion for motorcycling, can see themselves behind one of New Zealand's largest motorcycle parts store to be. Have at least $15,000 to invest into the business, and would love every single day in the business of making motorcycling more affordable for New Zealanders. If this sounds like you, get in touch with me, I would be very much interested in having a chat with you.

[bogan]

You looking for investment from bikers? That'll be tough as we generally have no spare coin, I mean have you seen how much we have to pay for tyres?

JK, Good luck with it dude!

[Quasievil]

Send me your bank details I will deposit $15000 now to get this going woo hoo

[Oblivion]

What about $70 for a pair of factory bulbs for a Ninja 250R?

[Woodman]

Good luck.

[pete376403]

You want to buy direct from manufacturers? Apart from the fact that they may well have exclusive agreements with the current NZ distributors of their products, I doubt if they would be interested in supplying another outlet with the tiny volume that the NZ market requires.

I agree with you about the stupid cost of parts - a KLR650 headlight is well over $600, but I reckon Lyntech could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of those units they supply each year.

SuperCheap is cheap because they supply the Australian market as well as NZ so they can order the quantities that interest (mainly) aftermarket parts makers. I don't think you see many genuine Holden / Ford / etc supplied parts there.

Besy of luck with the venture, though.

[dogsnbikes]

You want to buy direct from manufacturers? Apart from the fact that they may well have exclusive agreements with the current NZ distributors of their products.

Exactly!!!

I tried too order a Hagon shock online from Hagon UK and was sent the reply that I had too order from NZ distributer which meant going through a bike shop as well as distributer doesn't deal direct with the public

[steve_t]

I remember back in the day reading a lengthy thread about something similar based out of Australia - Bike Gear Warehouse - backed by Mat Mladdin. Does anyone use those guys?

[Gremlin]

Well, you won't be the first in NZ. There's bits4bikes, bikestore and several others I can't even remember.

Yep, it's expensive, but damn, it's fun!

[CHOPPA]

I remember back in the day reading a lengthy thread about something similar based out of Australia - Bike Gear Warehouse - backed by Mat Mladdin. Does anyone use those guys?

I have used them but they have shit brands and the brands they have that are good like yoshi and hot bodies are not cheap and the website doesnt make it easy to order the items its far easier and cheaper to use Ebay

[Jay GTI]

I can only commend your idea and attitude, but like others I can see the holes. I would love to work in the industry (and probably could raise the $15k easily enough), but I’ve already thought about how to enter the market and NZ just has too many factors against it. I will clearly state at this point that below are my assumptions, so would absolutely love to be proved wrong, but just what I have found with my small amount of research…

1. The NZ market is just too small. Once you factor in the number of people who ride, the wide variety of machines we use, the variances as models develop and the fact that you’re dealing with a very small subset of a very small base population, you’re not looking at sustainable business model. A Series III Holden Commodore will be produced in huge numbers and remain relatively static in terms of development over a number of years, so when looking at stocking a headlight for one, you’ll have a much bigger market to service than you would for a headlight for 2009 GSX-R600.

2. The Manufacturer/Distributor/Dealer relationships are a serious barrier to easy parts supply. I can see why you want to side-step this process, as that’s adding effectively two middlemen, who are adding their margin to your purchase. However, manufacturers don’t generally supply direct to dealers or customers, because they need to support their distributor network. The distributors then support their dealer network. We may pay considerably more for a part in NZ than the US, but we are a much smaller market and both the distributors and dealers need to add the extra mark-up to exist. They just don’t have the turnover to compete with US prices. Admittedly prior to the web and ease of buying overseas, some dealers were a little greedy with their mark-up, due to the fact that they had the market cornered and you had very little option, but this is definitely changing. Also, in response to the fact I can just order my KTM crank from the US for a third of what it costs here, manufacturers are now starting to put pressure on traders and dealers who are supplying outside their local markets, so as to continue to support distributors and dealers locally. Dealers can’t afford to live off bike sales alone and if they go under, how does a manufacturer sell you a bike?

3. Web commerce will take over the world. Prior to the internet, you went to your local dealer, asked for your part, which they either had in stock or they would order for you. That was about it. Now you can ask your dealer, check the parts shop down the road, check Australian websites, check US websites, look at Trademe, look at ebay.com, work out what is the cheapest and Bob’s your Uncle. Local dealers will die a slow death, because they can’t afford to have the range of stock to satisfy the local market and carry the margins that the big ebay.com seller can afford, because they are based out of a warehouse in the Arizona desert with almost no rent, US minimum wage earning staff and a turnover of thousands of items a week which they get by selling world-wide.

To do this, you need to consider these things. Will you have a shop-front or be purely web-based? Web-based is obviously cheaper, but NZ hasn’t yet fully adapted to internet shopping, so how will to deal with the share of the market that still wants to go to shop and look at a product before buying? Will you consider markets outside NZ to sustain the business and maximise turnover? If so, can you compete for the Oz dollar with a web-based retailer in Oz? Could you compete with the US or UK markets? How much of the local market do you want to service? There’s a lot of bikes out there, lots of different kinds of riders and a huge array of products to suit, so do you cater for sportsbikes, dirt bikes, adventure bikes etc? If you don’t specialise, can you carry the amount of stock needed to supply the local market? Can you afford to buy in parts and products that could sit on the shelves for months, or even years? There are a couple of companies in NZ who are making a reasonable attempt at this already, can you compete with them?

I’m sure there’s lots more to it than I’ve put up and even though I’m reasonably convinced it’s not a good idea doesn’t mean I’m in any way right, but the only real advice I could add is definitely do your homework before investing your retirement funds…

[NewBusiness]

Bogan - Im really looking for partners that can share my vision. It doens't have to be this way, I have idefntiifyed many manufacturers, and some even signed up already, so this definitely going to be a exciting setup.

Quasievil - Why dont u check out some of that internet porn rather being a tosser here, you the only one that gave me a stupid reply. Geee.....I wonder if it has anything the fact that it will be direct competition to you.

Oblivion - I know what you mean I had to replace some CBR 600 bulbs and that way insane.

Thanks Woodman.

pete376403 - thanks for the support, but I think you will be suprised at how may suppliers we already got aboard.

dogsnbikes - Some of the guys in the industry are so old, soon they will be extint anyway. I will give you an example, I tried to setup a motorcycle screens supplier the other day, and told them that if we can do ditribution a certain way we can save the customer an extra $15, but nope.. their reply was "but we always have done the other way" For everyone that is old and unwilling to change, I can gurantee that their is another that is ready to sign up with us.

steve_t - thanks for info buddy

Gremlin - these guys are very limited and dont supply all the things we need. Its expensive, ya but it doesn't have to be. Sure as hell it is fun, and can be even funner if we are not worried about how expensive parts are.

CHOPPA - curious as to what you would prefer, brand or price, because lets face it you wont be able to win at both.

[Quasievil]

Quasievil - Why dont u check out some of that internet porn rather being a tosser here, you the only one that gave me a stupid reply. Geee.....I wonder if it has anything the fact that it will be direct competition to you.

Sorry dude I honestly took it as a bit of a joke, clearly not, you have my 100% apology
we do have alot of spammers etc on here from time to time.
if you can drop me some new porn sites tho it would be appreciated

good luck with your venture !

[CHOPPA]

It depends what we are talking about but 'BRAND' is very important to me. If a company has a good brand name 9x out of 10 that means they have good quality product and im happy to pay for quality (or have someone pay it for me lol)

Example SHOEI, Teknic, RK, Pirelli, BMW etc etc. Now I certainly wouldnt use any 'cheaper' brands then these type of things.

Even small things like clutch and brake levers on MX bikes. You can get cheap knock off that look exactly the same but they break so quick but they look identical.

Tyres are the single biggest safty product you can have on a bike and on the track its what makes you go fast. I dont like the idea of cutting corners.

Anybody that takes there motorcycling seriously realise there is a big difference in paying for quality gear. Take all these POS chinese bikes that came on the market, they have done nothing good for motorcycling in fact the opposite because people buy them they break and it puts people off.

I like the idea of cheap but at the end of the day things are expensive for a reason and trust me there are not the mark ups from wholesalers and retailers you would expect. R&D on good products is expensive. Cheap products often use the expensive products as R&D but they still come up short.

I buy 90% of my stuff online so id prob use your service. It pisses me off that when I go into a bike shop they dont have anything in stock now, they have to order what I want then they charge me freight!!! I could have ordered it online myself, saved there mark up and paid my own delivery

[imdying]

Might be worth looking for an international freight company to work with. If you sell in Australia too you'll increase your customer base ten fold.