Difference being that we don't rely on clothes & shoe shops to support our sport or service our bikes.....Originally Posted by BIGBOSSMAN
Unexpected Spanish inquisition
Difference being that we don't rely on clothes & shoe shops to support our sport or service our bikes.....
Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? ...He's a mile away and you've got his shoes
Unexpected Spanish inquisition
I don't know about Robert slandering you, but I would think this is clearly slander - I'd suggest that if you want to raise personal accusations like this you be better off doing it in private, rather than in a public forum - I can hear the lawyers rubbing their hands together as we speak.I am NOT ON THIN ICE AT ALL, perhaps you need to go and look at all the bullshit invoices for the product that you purchased through the USA a while ago, WITH FALSE invoice ammounts, for TAX reasons
If you are going to preach and try to pretend to perfect, you better be
Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? ...He's a mile away and you've got his shoes
Hardcore Biker
Seems like you want your cake and to eat it to.
You want the service a shop provides, the ability to try on stock (and I bet you listen to their advice while you are doing this too) and then you want the cheap overseas pricing.
How many of us are guilty of this?
Forum whore
Indeed a few years ago there were a handful of small shipments received from the US with invoices that were economical with the price until it was decided this is really not the most palatable way of doing things and everything has to stand up to its true add on costs. i.e all of the processing and port fees plus gst on those fees and the value of the goods. That inevitably reflects in a higher end price to the consumer. In truth it can often be more of a issue for the seller when they provide a paper trail to their respective government bodies.
From that position I know very well what goes on to this day. Just two days ago I sold a shock and I was competing with a company in the States that was prepared to doctor the invoice so that it landed at below the value threshold for the prospective private purchaser. I.e that would attract gst on value, a customs clearance fee and gst on that fee. In the end event we sold the shock because I was prepared to be a little flexible on price, I traded his existing shock ( Ohlins for Ohlins ) and he knows that we provide full backup and local service.
So again I state we are not operating in an environment that is a level playing field.
As most of us get older we mellow out and play by the rules. Ive got 80 demerit points for speeding at present because I didnt play by those rules. And I do have a confession to make there....I asked each respective officer if I could make the cheque out there and then and directly to any nominated iwi so I could save the cost of the middle man. I was courteous and polite to the respective officers and at no time was I rude and abusing / threatening. That has borne fruit because one of these guys is building a project bike and requires a scratch build shock.
Don't read this.....
So is buying from out of town in the same category as well, I'm in affect not supporting my province by doing so.
I think its time some businesses starting taking a look at where they are going customer service wise.
To me a bike shop should have staff that know their products inside out.
eg.....went to one of my locals to look into buying brand new bike, rep took details etc.........never heard back, went back a couple of months later to get a chain riveter...........they had no idea what I was talking about.......useless......will never go back.
Eg 2- having an arguement with shop owner about what specs a bike has that I was keen on buying, I'd done what I always do and research the shit out of it........then get nothing but bollocks from owner.
There is definately something lacking in alot of customer service in NZ, yes there are some that are outstanding but just not enough.
Hardcore Biker
I buy overseas and aslo locally, have also been in business, to start at the start of all costs in running a business is rent if you do not own your own building then you have to rent it and a big business man wants a good 10%er working for him plus maintenance plus insurance ect ect... "now you all do the figures", we will start with a modern premises, taking into account position and flow of public, worth a modest $1000,000, that is a lot of profit to make before paying any other costs, one could write a book on the pro's and con's of being in business..
There are a lot who put their finger in the pie, before the chap that does the work, so without these hard workers taking risks, where would we shop then..
Forum whore
Just adding a little further to my quickfire reply to you yesterday, and please accept that this is presented as a ''clinical comparison'' only, are we comparing apples for apples when we mention that we are in business? The point I am leading to is that businesses can be very diverse and to that end can I quote 2 very opposite examples;
Example 1 A high Street gift shop selling largely imported goods. The goods on sale are evolving all the time and there are very very few if any issues requiring spare parts or any form of backup. A relatively non complex business. An even more extreme example would be an ice cream vendor.
Example 2 A major motorcycle distributor representing one of the top brands. Parts and inventory to try and provide ''coverage'' for literally decades and thousands upon thousands of models, spec code variations, colour code variations, superceded parts, etc. Try and maintain a stock turn that doesnt send them to the wall and service a small percentage of a country of only 4 million inhabitants that still want all the trappings of the first world countries.
I am struggling to recognise many other industries that are so complex with parts and backup issues that can both span decades and have such a plethora of models and variations. And its too easy for people to say ''they are doing a bad job''
Again, this is not an apology for the way it is, I am simply offering a perspective of the other side.
Forum whore
Fair comments and I guess its relevant to say if they dont work for the sale should they have it?
Forum whore
In fairness also its very often tied in to when the goods are produced by the very manufacturer who then supplies to the distributor. Some of the lead times are very long, we as a country order very small quantities and the whole issue is exacerbated. Its just not as simple as people often think.
I was just about to post that "it's all about service". I'm prepared to pay a bit extra for that - if the local service is good, and the retailer actually acts like they give a damn about my custom, then I'll be their customer. However, as many on here have posted, the service and attitude at many bike shops is abysmal - many act like they're doing you a favour, or even as though you're a nuisance to them.
And if I need a part - something like brake parts that should be standard stock - why should I have to wait three weeks for them? Or seven months (my worst example), when they can be had over the Interdweeb in a week? And that's not usually the shop's fault - it's the importer. Their dealers are obviously in a position where as customers they're getting shit service from the importer, but aren't (usually) in a position to take their custom elsewhere.
To me, the bottom line is that it's all about if you're a shop, or are offering a service, you need to take care of your customers, or they'll go elsewhere. Yes, you have to make a decent margin or you'll go out of business, and part of looking after your customers is ensuring economic viability so that you're there for the long term. It's also about decent service at a decent price, and supply and demand. It's a bit crap if there's a demand that's not being met, because of supply problems or an arrogant attitude.
Hardcore Biker
i think someone should have all parts for any bike sold new in last 5 years in the country at all time wouldnt really be that hard and would save heaps of fluffing around surface shipping bike parts from japan is just stupid .
I buy most stuff from the dealer and have had amazing luck even owning a 18year old jdm model kdx mt eden mc have ether had the parts in stock or in store in two days,
I'm a big supporter of buying stuff localy but do buy bits and pieces over the net occasionaly. I think another reason people buy stuff online is that if your working its bloody hard to find time to actually go into a shop.
Robert and Shaun please cut the personal attacks and holyer than thou crap i dont think any one wants to hear it.
go have a fight or somthing
"The world is a strange sad place. Ride as often as possible and try not to think about it".
Hardcore Biker
i think someone should have all parts for any bike sold new in last 5 years in the country at all time wouldnt really be that hard and would save heaps of fluffing around surface shipping bike parts from japan is just stupid .
I buy most stuff from the dealer and have had amazing luck even owning a 18year old jdm model kdx mt eden mc have ether had the parts in stock or in store in two days,
I'm a big supporter of buying stuff localy but do buy bits and pieces over the net occasionaly. I think another reason people buy stuff online is that if your working its bloody hard to find time to actually go into a shop.
Robert and Shaun please cut the personal attacks and holyer than thou crap i dont think any one wants to hear it.
go have a fight or somthing
Fair cool. No more from me.
Unexpected Spanish inquisition
That would be wonderful in an ideal world - unfortunately of course we don't live in one. Have you actually thought about what you said here?
Any idea of the total number of parts involved in a bike even as relatively simple as yours?
Seriously....if the importers were to carry parts at that level you would be subsidising the cost of the redundant parts (and boy, with stock levels ike you are suggesting there would be a huge pile!) with your purchase price which I would conservatively guess would double. If the price of the bike didn't go up, you could bet your arse that the parts prices would - no business is going to be able to afford to carry that much dead or slow moving stock, especially when you extrapolate that out to all the various models/years etc.
You are very fortunate that you have one of the few Japanese bikes that has remained virtually unchanged throughout its inordinately long model life, your bike was the same 89-94, then the next model (95 on) barely changed up to the current day (I believe production has now ceased, though there are still a few new ones in dealers showrooms). Even the very early model KDX's share parts with the later ones. Frankly, for a model with that kind of model life the importers would have a lot to answer for if they couldn't provide good supply of common parts.
I think you would find that parts availability for less common Kawasaki models would be much in line with everything else.
Even Harley Davidson don't carry as complete a parts range as you are suggesting, and some unkind souls would argue that they haven't changed since Adam was a cowboy..... (awaits posts from aggreived HD owners, lol)
Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? ...He's a mile away and you've got his shoes
Highway Biker
Just make sure they have safety ratings as a lot of the cheap copies do not pass euro standards
check out www.vroom.co.nz
Forum whore
I really see little point getting into specifics of each industry. Through my work I have come into contact with many many industries. My experience is that they all face a unique set of problems.
How about the auto (car) industry?
They have far more models, more colours and more parts.
Parts and issues can span many decades.
Their parts are larger and more numerous requiring more space to store them and greater holding costs.
Yet I find parts are significatnly more readily available for cars than bikes.
My son has a jap import 4WD Nissan Primera. I don't believe they were ever released over here, either way they are pretty rare. It has had an engine transplant from another model import wreck. Despite needing many parts to build/rebuild this car, the only one we have had to wait for is a single engine mount. And that was here ex Japan in 5 days.
Not 7 weeks like the ER6.
Hardcore Biker
it wouldnt be that hard to set up if you did it progessivly as a new model was introduced it wouldnt need to be a set for every dealer just say one for the north
island and one for the south just so that if you needed somthing then it was already here ,yes it would cost but not a huge amount in the scheme of things.
With a bike like an er6 which is aimed as a do everything use evey day current model bike its just not good enough for someone to be expected to wait 7 week for parts. I would be ashamed to be offering that sort of service.
and yes i am lucky that my kdx has relativly common parts but it is a jdm model and parts like the waterpump seals are unique to this model bike which im pretty sure wasnt sold new here and they still have them in stock
About the only parts the same from a 89-94 kdx to a 95-06 kdx bottom end if the engine carb and piston and even then some bits are differnt plus rolling changes made during each models life
"The world is a strange sad place. Ride as often as possible and try not to think about it".
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