Everybody seems to have a problem with a repair shop making some money on parts, what about their time? what about their business costs? why should they provide this service to you for free? and the only time you pay them is when the wrench is moving?

Different manufactures have different agreements with their dealers and from what I understand S&S is one of the stricter ones as far as price. This is to be fair for their repair shop dealers as well as their online sellers. An online retailer with a very low operating cost can easily undersell a brick and mortar shop. Then you add drop shipping an online retailer can move more parts in one day than a retail outlet in a year. I believe S&S allows a certain amount of discounting from list price but some of these online sellers are going below that and are in violation of their dealer agreement.

 

I have absolutely no problem with a shop making money from parts. When I bought the parts I knew it would be close to a year before I could afford to get any work done and I did not have a shop picked out when I bought these parts. I have no problem in fact I feel horrible but there's no way that I can have $9k to throw at my bike all at once and I understand the shops don't want to sit on parts for a year.

 

I can completely understand. I have 7400 in my 124 after the kit, machining, labor, clutch, throttle body, injectors, air cleaner assembly, and dyno. **** isn't cheap. I consider that cheap considering I had a shop do it.

 

I feel horrible about it so I might overpay the bill to try to make him happy. So far I'm at least in this for $8k but I figure on paying $9k.

 

I wouldn't feel horrible about it, I think parts sourcing should be discussed with a shop beforehand when planning a build. Some people have no problem with you purchasing the parts and getting the best deal. Others won't touch parts brought in from outside. The biggest problem is when an issue comes about and the repair shop has to either solve the problem or ends up with a lift tied up while waiting on the customer to solve the problem with their supplier. As long as your person is OK that's between you two.

The other issue in this thread is some S&S dealers are not adhering to their dealer agreement which is designed to keep the playing field fair. I believe this is what Kirby is referring to in his post.

As long as you and your mechanic are both happy with your arrangement I wouldn't worry too much about it

 

S&S has a MAP Policy, and if we see this crap we police it also.
The "amazon dealers" do not carry inventory as a rule, order as needed, very little overhead with profit margins on the moon, even at the ***** pricing.
We, however stock a HUGE amount of S&S products at our brick and mortar Authorized S&S/NYS DMV Facility.
If folks are under the guise, that an independent shop is laughing on the way to the bank......think again...
Scott

 

I am truly visualizing the entire scenario outlined in this thread and am actually guilty of it's sins. I don't really want to admit it but I feel too guilty not to air it out. For that I need to apologise.

Sometimes one really needs to listen to those on the other side of the fence and rid themselves of their selfishness..... I say this because whenever we run into an issue while working on our machines, who do we call.... Not the manufacturer but our local friend and independent... The one person that we really can be dependant on... Our IDEPENDENT "MOTORCYCLE and MACHINE SHOP"..... Sorry to all I offended and I do vow to keep it simple.

Thank you all so much for your support in the past and I truly look forward to your support in the future.....

Thank you Scott....
Thank you Kirby....
Thank you Johnjz.....

You all have helped me a lot...

 

I'm guilty too of being an internet shopper, I have found the eBay stores and Amazon sellers, in the end I bought from a Motorcycle parts outfit but I don't think they are playing by the rules either. However I install the parts I buy (doesn't justify it) and would never take them to a shop to have them installed or would ever have the nerve to ask a shop to warranty a part they didn't sell to begin with, just because they happen to be a dealer. After 25 years+ of wrenching for a living (not on bikes) I have been asked to do some crazy things so when it comes to paying another person to do work for me I show the respect to them that I expect to be treated with.

I will try to not support vendors that are not playing by the rules of their dealer agreements, but for those of us not familiar with the agreements it's kinda hard to tell. I would not know of the S&S situation had I not read Scott's and Kirby's responses on this forum when the subject has come up.

I did have a situation once where I bought from a local indy instead of a forum sponsor and it backfired on me in a horrible way. That's another story.

I think my main point is don't be guilty of a bait and switch, in other words don't get a quote for parts and labor then show up with the parts you found on the internet and expect the same service.

 

I don't think anyone is laughing on their way to the bank. Like I said before all I had money for was parts and was originally going to have an HD dealer do the build next year. That was 9 months ago. So I fell for the Amazon deal. I knew if I didn't spend the money on that it would dwindle away. Now I found a machine shop to do the build and told him that I had a engine kit already bought. He still agreed to do the build. I do feel bad and all other parts are being purchased through him. I will also throw in extra money as an apology. At this point that is all I can do. If I could do it over again I would wait another couple of years I and do everything through him and pay the full retail price. I'm already in for $8k so it would be around $10k instead.

 

Sounds like a good solution to me. Would you keep us posted on the build? I'm newer and would like to do something like this eventually too.