thats a good bramd ,,Originally Posted by Robert Taylor
Stephen
Royal Enfield user
thats a good bramd ,,
Stephen
"Look, Madame, where we live, look how we live ... look at the life we have...The Republic has forgotten us."
Rider in training
Very exciting Robert.
I suspect your about to spend a lot more hours at the workshop ...
L-Plate Rider
not knocking what you do as you seam to do it very well, and offer a good product and service, but don't cry povity (you know how to charge) I've had nearly a 2k service bill for ohlins work from you , & had ohlins on three bikes now, you charge what you think its worth and people pay it , you'll pay this machine off in no time,
why is it i pay $231.02 for a rear spring from you and can buy one retail in the states for $99 usd , (Nzd landed here for 135 mark ) as I've done both,
you must be buying at a whole sale rate as other shops around the world are from ohlins, and should be able to offer a more completive prices . to stop people going off shore.
Sorry to sturr you up, but I've had a couple beers tonight and this has bugged me for a while now.
yes everybody has a right to make money , its simple economics. but the figgers don't even come close to each other.
things for bike maintenance, If it moves and it shouldn't - Duct tape,If it doesn't move and it should - WD40,and if it falls off and you want to reattach it - Cable ties
In the riders seat
Why don't you try sending your stuff offshore then and see what the service level, turn around time and costs are like?
So you know what Roberts margins are? very few places would pay a 35K machine off in "no time"
Yeah because of course you paid GST and any applicable duites on importing the same as Robert does? and of course Roberts buying volumes and rates would be the same as in America
Really you're just showing your ignorance about a retail market and the costs of importing for someone with their own business in this country
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
Just a Dog
Also showing HIMSELF to not be who he says
A girlfriend once asked " Why is it you seem to prefer to race, than spend time with me ?"
The answer was simple ! "I'll prolly get bored with racing too, once i've nailed it !"
Bowls can wait !
Forum whore
At no time did I plead poverty and Warwick ( Kickaha ) has answered in part with some sobering realities. Later today ( when I have some time ) Ill come back with some hard figures and business realities that many people are blissfully unaware of. For the record I am not poor and up until now everything I have I have worked very hard for. But also I am not wealthy and never will be. There are other forms of very satisfying ''wealth'' and to me they include knowledge accumulation and doing a job well. Also never giving up when you have challenging problems.
But, candidly the ''distortions'' have been done to death a million times over by the infamous Kiwibiker knocking crew and ( really ) I dont have the stomach to at length explain why to many who ( frankly ) are not so predisposed to understand and think that owning a small business in NZ is a license to print money.
Indeed the example you quoted is a classic case of no clearance charges being applied and no gst applied on all charges. Also the exchange rate against greenbacks was clearly at best advantage at time of purchase. BTW we purchase in Swedish krona, not North Mexico dollars.
On the face of it spending 35k on a sophisticated piece of equipment doesnt make 100% sense economically, but we have always been about endeavouring to do the job as best as possible ( and putting it right if the customer is not completely satisfied ) . Rather than cold heartedly maximising returns by placing a line in the sand that says ''thats as good as youre going to get'', when clearly it can be better.
Anyway I will come back with all the whys and wherefores of spring options inventory.
Forum whore
Frankly, for any reputable suspension service company providing a solid and proper level of service springs are the very biggest headache.
As for ourselves ( Kiwi Suspension Solutions ) we have approximately $45000 to $50000 inventory in rear shock springs and front fork springs alone. Seemingly, we always have too many springs but at the same time never enough. But 95% of the time we have 95% of the most typical springs ( Ohlins ) asked for, and often required somewhat more urgently than waiting for an offshore purchase.
I can well recall a farcical and frankly dreadful situation about 3 years back that unfolded. A private road race team that had a couple of riders on CBR600s were having dreadful tyre issues at certain circuits and the situation came to a head at the Timaru round where one of the riders crashed heavily because of mainly tyre issues. This could easily have been prevented if the suspension ''tuner'' was actually providing a credible service by having spring options to hand. Which he didnt. I make no apology in stating that if we provided such a dreadful level of backup we would hang our heads in shame, there is NO EXCUSE for saying you can do the job properly when in fact you cannot.
These are the isues we face with stocking springs, in no particular order:
1) Huge inventory relative to our tiny market, as above. The level we have is ( seemingly ) a bare minimum.
2) But inevitably also you end up with dead stock that for the most part you will die with. There are tax writeoffs but then you dont set out to create dead stock, its a business reality
3) Cost of holding stock i.e such factors as cost of warehouse space. Also most small businesses run an overdraft. Cost of stock equals overdraft equals interest paid to keep that stock. We are not a backyard operation running out of a tin shed, and not having the required alternatives instantly to hand.
4) Our tiny population and therefore customer base means a much lower stock turn than in the first world heavily populated countries, that exacerbates the issues expressed above. The ratio of stockholding against return is a much less palatable number. As is the cost of just opening ones business doors in such a low population base environment.
5) Large distributors ( such as the US ) can order very large numbers and hence get a significantly better buy price. I know what they pay and frankly also their margins are very thin and only sustainable in big volume.
6) Not only do we have the cost of holding stock to provide a CREDIBLE AND QUICK SERVICE we also pay clearance charges and gst on the value of the goods, freight cost and clearance charges. It is therefore a huge bone of contention with small business people like myself that so many offshore internet purchases attract no clearance charges and gst. This is a major distortional factor where we get unfairly maligned as'' ripping people off ''.
7) The very real distortional effects of currency. A US$99 spring is a relatively heavy item to freight and I would reasonably surmise that to send by United States Postal Service ( if you can convince the company to do it in that way ) would add US$25 to 30. So FOB ( free on board ) ex the supplier its say US$125. ( I imagine more than a few have unwittingly had items sent by UPS / Fedex, followed by a heart attack at the cost of same )
So at a high of 86 cents US rate to NZ$ that converts to NZ$145. If you dont get nailed clearances and gst ( which morally you should as a level playing field ) then you are laughing. But add clearance charges, conservatively say at NZ$15 then add 15% gst on top and it baloons out to $184
But the exchange rate is no longer at 86 cents, its at around 76 cents. So pre clearance and gst its at NZ$164, with $206 at clearance and taxes incl.
At 70 cents $178 and $222 respectively
At 65 cents $192 and $238 respectively
At 60 cents $208 and $256 respectively
At 42 cents ( and it peaked at around that low in the early part of this century ) $297 and $359 respectively. So respectfully to the questioner if we head that way sometime in the future ( hard to imagine given what a basket case the US is ) then maybe redirect the same question to the US suppliers...........
Even if my clearance figure / freight estimate is a little off or there is none charged the above should serve as an eye opener in how currency fluctuations and then adding clearance fees and local taxes can significantly impact on end price. Remember also that the quoted price in the States is not the end price. Added to that will be freight and local state taxes.
I remember vividly being in a pub a decade or so ago when I was still a motorcycle dealer. A customer of mine was decrying the cost of motorcycle tyres but conveniently also forgot to mention that he was given a then standard 20th following month payment terms ( ie we as the dealer were both bank and credit facility ) I asked him if when he returned to the bar was he going to try and negotiate a lower price for his beer and also seek a monthly account so that his money could remain in the bank earning interest?
8) Lastly we as a company run a very liberal spring exchange policy ( historically probably too liberal ) Internet spring rate calculators are extremely generic and not so accurate. For instance how is that load displaced? What surfaces do you predominantly ride on? What tyres are you using?. There are many more factors beyond rider weight that impact on spring rate and preload required. One of the biggies is also rider preference. So if a customer is not completely satisfied we undertake to exchange the spring at no further cost sans courier recovery costs. Once a spring is fitted used and tried it instantly becomes second hand so you end up with a significant percentage of springs that are sizably devalued.
Try getting an exchange spring out of the States if the delivered spring is not quite correct.
Very recently we completely revalved and resprung at the customers total cost a set of twin shocks for a CR250 Elsinore. The guy bought the Ohlins twin shocks out of the States on the pretence of low price and was told by the selling company that they were sprung and valved correctly for him. Which they very clearly werent, the bike was too stiff even for road racing and he would have required a season ticket to a chiropractor. In the end event post rectification those shocks now owe him at least NZ$400 more than if he had bought them off us, correctly valved and sprung. More than often we are sorting out such dissapointing purchases out of the States.
It may sound like a broken record to harp on about local investment, commitment and backup infrastructure but it is clear that especially with products requiring technical knowledge and setup the internet is not a holy grail. But we always endeavour to remain as price competitive as possible but without prostituting ourselves to economic imprudence ( within the economic and unforgiving business realities in this country ) or a lower level of service to do so.
Last edited by Robert Taylor; 2nd June 2012 at 17:36.
Highway Biker
Thank you for your enlightening reply Robert
Unfortunately you are preaching to the converted.You will always come across knockers that have absolutely no idea of the costs, expense,personal financial commitment and risk(as opposed to a CEO of a listed company who is useing someone elses money) nor the amount of hours involved to run a small business in good ole NZ.
Personally I prefer to purchase off someone with experience in what they are selling and knowing should something go wrong there is backup service available rather than buying a cheap lemon.
<- A new way to take a rubber!
So... why can't Robert make a living? must he eat bread and water and live in a leaking tin shed for you to be satisfied? No-one is holding a gun to your head (or maybe they should?)
Forum whore
its hardly a new concept is it having seperate damping functions in seperate legs? my ol '89 r100 gs has that!
Forum whore
Thats correct and a few makes and models before that. There is very little thats new but is often proclaimed as new
L-Plate Rider
Hi Robert,
Would that comp damping curve on the shock you tested in the dyno be a digressive damping curve?
Also between Race tech and Ohlins, whos springs are usually the closest /most consisent to the indicated numbers?
Forum whore
Yes that one is heavily digressive and has an automotive style dump valve installed.
With respect to springs both Ohlins and Race Tech are pretty consistent / accurate. Its also about ''end conditions'' on springs, thats another lengthy subject.
Royal Enfield user
They can be rather subjective ....not just for motorcycle springs ,,either
Stephen
"Look, Madame, where we live, look how we live ... look at the life we have...The Republic has forgotten us."
L-Plate Rider
When you say dump style are you meaning with large ports?
"end conditions"Im all ears.
Thanks
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks