WORST bike shops

[ynot slow]

How about the fact as I see it,coming from a reasonable sized town in the Naki to Palmy the shops in Hawera,Stratford as an example deal with farm and road customers so having an assortment of clothing for example is near impossible,as with helmets,they need to stock base model off road,open,full and flip lids,if they stocked all sizes and models shit talk about inventory and dead $$$ on the shelf.Anytime I needed items and not in stock it was next day.

Any parts I've needed have been overnight,i.e ventura headlight protector.Oil filter was in stock,items like this should be in stock at most franchise dealers.

I don't mind waiting a day if the helmet I want isn't in stock.

[pritch]

Jesus, all I want is a dark visor insert without having to buy a whole new fucken bastard shoie visor, forget about those inserts some slopie prick sells on trade-me, they're fucken made in fucken china shyte, 25 fucken bucks, jesus was I a fucken mug or what, the fucken thing was a fucken joke, shoddy as all god-damned fucken hell. Don't even think of buying cheap fucken visor inserts off fucken trade-me, that's my advice

Welcome to KB. I look forward to more of your work

[crazybigal]

I have no problem with any of the bike shops here in wellington but many times i have voted with my feet! (not going to bag people or shops on here)
I have to say i get most of my parts from GP honda tauranga as they look after me so well its not even worth wondering into a local anymore.
One thing i will say is if Suzuki NZ and Bulewing Honda didnt rip people off with their parts prices id stop buying my more expensive bit overseas.
I wouldnt expect shops to stock everything under the sun as we all know times are tough and cashflow is tight, thats business in this country full stop.
just my 5 cents!

Don't take this as overly defensive mate...but think about this for a mo. If every shop in Welly (or any other city in NZ for that matter) tried to stock a 15t front sprocket, a power commander, and a tail tidy for each and every model bike they sold...they'd go broke. All well and good that the UK dealers do/can. But don't forget...the population of London is approx 11 million people.

Most dealerships will be only too happy to try and source anything you want, but alot of the time even the wholesalers won't stock it. There are probably 10 current model CBR600's stalking NZ's roads with tail tidy's on them. Most of the bigger UK shops probably sell 10 of them a week.

I've worked in five different shops both here in Welly and in Brisbane over the last 22 years...and I know how they work. When I was at Boyle Kawasaki...we had base and head gskt's for every current two stoke moto-x bike the big 'K' made in stock at all times. Because that's what we specialized in. Farm dealers here in NZ will have most bits for common quads.

At Wellington Motorcycles we try to keep most regularly needed bits in stock for most of the things we sell. But even though we're big by NZ stds...it's simply not possible to have everything, all of the time.

So go easy on your local shop/hang out people. Simply ask them to get you what you want. And if you keep buying your shit offshore via the internet...don't bitch and moan here when there are no more shops left in business to tune your bike.

Times are tough. Support the locals. They really do want to help.

[Sully60]

One thing i will say is if Suzuki NZ and Bulewing Honda didnt rip people off with their parts prices id stop buying my more expensive bit overseas.

And finally someone can see past the shit and understands the problems the guy on the counter has to deal with.

There really doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason to pricing of parts but it's the importers of parts which always seem to do ok.

An example from two of the genuine parts brands I have sold (these are relatively old figures but still the same importers)

Windscreen for an 02 YZF-R6, retailed at about $130 inc GST not bad?

Muffler Packing for an 02 CRF450R retailed at about $520 inc GST

So take from that what you will but the dealers are generally only passing these parts on at the recommended retail and therefore only making what could be described as reasonable margins on genuine parts.

It's a chicken and egg situation as you said, some dealers obviously didn't help themselves by having low standard of service but how do you train people or hire competent staff when their income is so low you hire people at $8.50 an hour (that's what I started on in the trade in 1999)


I tried on many occasions to source GP from overseas dealers (Peter Stephens in Melbourne was the usual target) and whilst the pricing difference was enough to make it viable cost wise, the franchise protection rules prevented them from selling the parts to us (directly anyway) so we where stuck with Blue Wing, great.

The roadbike owners in this country also have to remember that these bike are actually quite a small percentage of their market. Buy a TRX500 quad and you could probably rebuild it out of parts in a week. They sell plenty of these and the parts to keep them working.

So why would the importers stock large numbers of parts for machines that make up such a small part of their numbers and that don't effect the productivity of their target market buisnesses?

I mean before McDonalds went to make to order did you expect to walk in and buy a Vege burger out of the production bin?

I didn't make it this way, I'm lucky enough to have learned enough in my time in the trade that I don't rely on dealers that much any more. I do feel for those who feel they aren't getting the service they expect and end up spending their money offshore. I'm sure they'd much rather support the local economy but why would you if your're paying premium prices and not getting good service?


Rant over, breathing now!

[Crasherfromwayback]

but how do you train people or hire competent staff when their income is so low you hire people at $8.50 an hour (that's what I started on in the trade in 1999)

They paid you THAT much??

[Sully60]

They paid you THAT much??

Yep, no shit.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Yep, no shit.

Fark...we were gonna offer you 5.50.

[Sully60]

Fark...we were gonna offer you 5.50.

I'd pay that to work in the same shop as you

[Crasherfromwayback]

I'd pay that to work in the same shop as you

lol...I'll teach you everything I know. That'll take about two seconds!

[bistard]

lol...I'll teach you everything I know. That'll take about two seconds!

You guys need to get a room!!!
FAGS!!!!!!




How are the "Crocs" Craig????

[Sully60]

How are the "Crocs" Craig????

You should know, I left them under your bed last night

[Trudes]

this thread is finally getting good!!

[jafar]

A couple of mates went to Wellington Motorcycles last week to do a trade, trade was successfully made & the dealers staff made them feel welcome & even found them some overnite accommodation,all this right on top of Waitangi day !!

Well above the call of duty IMHO & very much appreciated by the guys. 10 out of 10

[Crasherfromwayback]

You guys need to get a room!!!
FAGS!!!!!!




How are the "Crocs" Craig????

Bit rich coming from you mate! Not only did you used to 'work' with him...you know what he wears!

Bloody poofta!

[MarkH]

Most dealerships will be only too happy to try and source anything you want, but alot of the time even the wholesalers won't stock it.

So go easy on your local shop/hang out people. Simply ask them to get you what you want. And if you keep buying your shit offshore via the internet...don't bitch and moan here when there are no more shops left in business to tune your bike.

Times are tough. Support the locals. They really do want to help.

I try to support the local shops, but as you say - a lot of time even the wholesalers won't stock the part you want. So what are you supposed to do if you shouldn't take your business to the overseas internet based companies?

I tried to buy a Givi windscreen for my scooter - the retailer had 2 bits of bad news: 1. they didn't have it in stock, 2. the wholesaler was also out of stock. They told me that the wholesalers had the screens on order but the shipment wouldn't arrive until November, this was in August! So I bought my screen from overseas and actually paid more for it - but it only took 1 week, not 10. The Givi screen made a HUGE difference to my enjoyment of riding my scooter, no way I wanted to wait 10 weeks!

I tried to order a service manual for my scooter locally, they told me they couldn't get one, within a week my manual arrived from overseas.

I also asked if they were able to get hold of parts like:
- Malossi clutch
- J.Costa Variator
- Leo Vince Exhaust
The answer was no, apparently there isn't enough demand for after-market parts like this. So if I want to buy any of these things then I guess I'll be ordering them from overseas.

I say - fuck 'em! If I give them a chance and they can't supply what I want then tough titties if my money goes to some offshore company! I am living in Auckland and if a few bike shops that don't do a good job of providing goods & services end up going out of business then no biggie, there will be other shops I can go to.