Discontinued, discontinued, discontinued… What on earth should I do?
How many should I stock up on?
You might as well work backward from how many more years and kilometers you’ll ride to decide whether to fix things or stock parts.
That’s an old man’s way of thinking.
First, regarding parts: prices may go up even for reproductions, but you can’t count on them going down.
Discontinued OEM parts are dwindling worldwide without remanufacturing, and they’re deteriorating all the time.
I completely understand the feeling of not wanting to stock parts you might not need down the road.
But when you actually need something, you can’t find it, and when you finally do, the used condition is often terrible.
I’ve been there myself—how many times have I thought, “I wish I’d bought that back then…”
Original parts especially have high value and are sold and used worldwide because of their absolute reliability.
Given the spike in crude oil prices, I expect all goods and services to jump in price next year and beyond.
Since parts are inherently expensive, a 5 or 10 percent increase translates to thousands of yen. You need to think carefully about what to buy.
If you know you’ll only ride about 20,000 kilometers over the next five years and you’ve decided where you’re headed, you could also go without stocking and just watch the condition.
When I was in my 20s and 30s, I never thought about this stuff at all, but now I realize that nobody can predict what will happen—and the same goes for motorcycles.
“Things will work out somehow” doesn’t always lead to a bright future.
You need reserves for your bike too, and when trouble hits, you can’t count on someone conveniently coming to your rescue.
Think carefully about which reproduction and OEM parts are available or not, and stock accordingly. Honestly, with Suzuki…
