I miss the days when you could order parts today and have them arrive tomorrow or the day after.
Things changed dramatically with COVID and the war.
Dealers are struggling because new bikes are hard to get.
Parts don’t arrive, delivery is delayed, and work gets held up.
I can’t even imagine what’s coming.
You have to order parts ahead of time, no matter what.
Depending on the season, you can’t even choose which tire brand you want.
Either it’s out of stock or the delivery date is unknown.
A lot of the time they tell you the delivery date is next year.
OEM parts are discontinued and on backorder more often than before.
Once you open something up to check inside, it’s too late.
This gasket is discontinued? This O-ring too? The oil seal as well?
It’s rough.
The blessing of ordering by part number alone
Being able to order by part number alone used to be a given, but that’s no longer the case.
Oil seals, O-rings, and bearings are standard parts to some degree, so you can source them through distribution channels.
But when you’re ordering multiple motorcycle parts from Company M, Company A, and so on, it becomes a management headache.
Using OEM parts as alternatives is the same issue.
You think it should work, but then it’s discontinued too? Or it’s out of stock?
It’s incredibly tedious.
Can’t take on work casually anymore
Once you take on a job, you’re stuck wondering what to do. It actually happens.
Maybe I shouldn’t write too much about this?
Slide metals for older Kayaba and Showa transition-period forks are discontinued. I searched everywhere, but since there’s almost no compatibility, the only thing I could find was overseas reproduction parts.
Carburetors are the same.
Small OEM parts have gotten incredibly expensive,
and I’m often shocked at how much they cost.
For carburetors, aftermarket OH kits catch my eye, but you have to be careful.
The price is tempting enough that I’ve researched reviews and tried them.
The result was what I expected.
OEM performance means they reliably supply a stable product.
You can’t have variation or issues that need workarounds.
The day when OEM parts disappear and cause real problems isn’t far off.
Without parts and materials, you can’t do anything
Honestly, I think the number of bikes we’ll have to give up on will grow massively.
Bikes called classics with plenty of used inventory will survive.
Niche models will honestly need serious money to survive.
If you want to keep riding your current bike, you need to stock parts.
If you don’t want to worry, riding a current model is your best bet.
If you don’t like that, you’d better save up or you won’t survive the future.
