| Author | Message | ||
     Cataract2 |
Why, I ask why, when I go to a place to have my tire swapped out does every single place want me to buy the dang thing through them? Probably how they make their money I suppose but they sell the tire that I can buy at a normal place for $150 at $160-$170. Is there any independent place here that can do it for a reasonable price and not try to rape me? | ||
| 99buellx1 |
The reason for wanting you to purchase it from them is basically from a liability stand point. The intstaller cannot be sure of the product that you are putting on unless you have received that item through them. And they dont want to be held responsible for any accidents that may happen because of faulty product. | ||
| Daves |
You already answered your own question. Other things you may not have thought of, Building the tire changer is in,buildings are not free Wages for the person changing the tires, nobody works for free Liability if they wreck your wheels,wheels aren't free Heat Electricity The cost of the tire machine itself The cost of the balancer machine I don't feel that 10-20.00 per tire extra is "raping" you. Actually, that's a pretty good deal. Solution? Buy your own changer and balancer and do it yourself. Not trying to be a smarta$$ but it does cost money to operate a motorcycle business. | ||
| Lake_bueller |
I don't think the argument is necessarily regarding the cost of getting the tire changed. The argument is over the cost of a tire from a dealer. You can purchase the exact same tire at about 50% less on-line than from your local dealer (chain or independant). Yes....I purchased my own changer and static balancer. All said & done, it cost me $120 for the entire set-up. At that cost, I have to change about 3 tires to pay for the equipment (savings based on lower tire prices and no installation charges, not to mention gas to get tire to dealer for changing). BTW....that's about the only thing I don't buy from Dave. He gets all of my parts orders (even the little s$!t I could buy for cheaper on ebay). | ||
| Dragon_slayer |
Yes, a lot of businesses spread their profit and overhead over both labor and material. It's a package deal. When customers of mine tried to break up the deal to save money (we are talking hundreds of dollars), most of the time it just created major hassles for me and the customer. And sometimes cost more over the long run and no one is happy with the final results (lose-lose). Are you sure a ten to twenty dollar savings per tire is worth the lost of customer service? | ||
| Daves |
Takes a lot of tires to change to pay for a tire changer and balancer like we have if you aren't making anything off the tire sale too. Tires are tough to be competitive on for sure. I see them on the net for less than our cost. The net places must buy in huge numbers and get a better price than dealers do. I'm thinking they have less overhead to pay for. | ||
| Cataract2 |
Well, the rant is more over the fact that yesterday they told me they would do it. Today when I called he was all ready to do it until I mentioned I had the tire already. His want to do it died instantly and I was told to call back on the 3rd. That's what I'm pissed about. | ||
| Whodom |
I think the simplest solution to this is learn to do it yourself. It's not that hard and doesn't necessarily require any tools other than a couple of tire irons, a homemade rim protector, and a homemade balancing stand. The more $$ you spend on tools, the easier and faster it is to change the tires. If you want convenience, be prepared to pay your dealer what he's asking. | ||
| Raceautobody |
would you bring your own eggs to a resturant? Al | ||
| Medic_2512 |
I went to my local Buell dealer to buy a new set of tires. The price they gave me was $245 for the rear and $240 for the front plus $140 to mount and balance both new tires. That is with me removing the wheels off the XB and bringing the wheels to the dealer. } Total was $625 plus tax. I then went online to one of the tire websites and purchased the same tires onsale for $229 for both tires with shipping included. Then had the Suzuki dealer mount and balance both for $30. Total $259 with a saving of $366. Now i know dealers have to pay lots of overhead and bills but charging prices like that is excessive. The result i`ll never go near that Buell dealer again and left a bad taste in my mouth for Buell allowing dealers to operate and charge their customers like that. | ||
| Ricky |
The result i`ll never go near that Buell dealer again and left a bad taste in my mouth for Buell allowing dealers to operate and charge their customers like that. Buell and HD corporate don't have a clue what is going on at the dealerships unless someone tells them. | ||
| Medic_2512 |
I should appoligize first to all the Buell dealers out their that do a great job everyday. I know Buell Corp. doesn`t know what every dealer is doing and its hard to control them reguardless. But i`ve been ridding for over 20 years and owned many bikes that i`ve always had serviced at the dealer as well as owning several Buells and it seems that Buell dealers seem to have sooo many more problems that other dealers when it comes to pricing, repairs, bad mechanics, sales and parts poeple don`t know anything about Buells. This is just my personal observation from owning 30 plus bikes from ATK, KTM, Suzuki, Buell, Yamaha, Truimph, Honda, and kawasaki. Maybe it comes from the Harley part of the company? It looks like Buell is on the right track with reducing certain dealships, but i think they have a long way to go. | ||
| Tank_bueller |
I took my wheels with old rubber, and my new Syncs to a place about a half mile from the Chrome & Leather Outlet (Harley dealer) where I bought the bike. When I picked them up, he told me I should have waited, it only took 20min and they were done. Kind of pricey at $24 per wheel, but the knowledge and service is worth it in my opinion. Not bad for a small shop which also happens to be a Ducati/Aprilla dealer....... . . . . . ......yes, you read that right. I took my Buell wheels to a Ducati dealer. They were happy to hook me up, and I am a happy customer  | ||
| Pbransonii |
Guys, I have to agree with the eggs and restaurant comment. BUT, if the restaurant was charging me $18 for a couple eggs over easy that I could get down the street for $2, guess what, I'd take the $2 plate. I think there should be some middle ground. On my Connie, I can get a rear Avon ST online for about $100 plus shipping and then worry about getting it mounted or I can go to the independent dealer I've dealt with so often he almost knows when to order my tires before I even call him for $140 including mounting and balancing. He even lets me use his shop to take the rear wheel off myself if I do it in the winter when he's not busy. Now that's what I call a deal. He isn't going to let everybody use his shop for free, but that's what you get for building a relationship. Plus he's a great all-round guy who has built his shop into a great business by treating people right. (If you want to meet him, his name is Larry Britton and his shop is Motorcycle Supply in Manhattan, KS.) Paul | ||
| Tramp |
raceautobody put, by far, the bets, in his post above. for me, I just use a kawasaki dealer who offers tires, including mounting (i bring 'em my wheel) dirt cheap. i mean really cheap, mounted and balanced. usually around $125 for a dunlop or metzeler front, and $140- for a rear, mounted and balanced. I keep the old tires for friends' pit bulls. Some shops provide this service as a loss leader, the big BMW/Triumph shop i worked in did a similar deal. They had a nice mexican man who just did tires all day, so they weren't wasting BMW Tech dollars on loss-leader tire changes. Theory is: customer's walking around the parts & accessories area while waiting, and with reallllly good merchandising, they're hooked. Good luck with it, and Merry Christmas | ||
| Metalstorm |
I bought my Scorp Syncs online then I called Golden Gate HD/Buell to see if they'd remove the old tires & mount the new ones. The guy I talked said they were pretty busy then asked if the wheels were off the bike & if I already had the tires.. I told them they were & I did & he said "Cool! In that case we can squeeze you in, come on over." It took about an hour & I was charged 1/2 labor being that the wheels were already off. I thought that was fair considering that if I had done it myself I would have seriously messed up my rims. I havn't yet changed a motorcycle tire myself and I sure don't want to learn on nice powder coated wheels. | ||
| Tramp |
Metalstorm said: "I havn't yet changed a motorcycle tire myself and I sure don't want to learn on nice powder coated wheels" * * EXCELLENT point. If you ever feel like going a half-hour south of the city, there's a place in San Jose called something like "Roadrider Sports" or something like that who sells top-name tires CHEAP, mounted. I collected a huge stack of tires taken off of customers' rides, (they had little wear and the customers wanted the latest upgrades), where I worked in the bay area, and by the time I moved back to NY, I'd collected a huge container (1x2x1 pallets) of take-off itres and shipped it home for about what a pair would have cost me, new. I had nice tires for years, man.} | ||
| Dave |
Plus ya can always take 'em to some HD dealerships and have the powder coating gouged at no extra charge. DAve ...at least I'll personally know the idiot working on my bike  | ||
| Loki |
Does not matter any more to me as... 1)I no longer have a Buell dealer that is local 2)A local indy can get me my Metz for the online/cat price point | ||
| Metalstorm |
I have to give Golden Gate some extra props then. They didn't hurt my wheels. Tramp, thanks for the suggestion. I wouldn't mind getting some tires & wheels with which to practice on & learn. Maybe this summer when my income swings back over to the positive side of the fence I'll take trip down there. (Message edited by Metalstorm on December 24, 2005) | ||
| Daves |
Medic, That is some crazy pricing! I don't blame you for not going there for your tires. | ||
| Iamike |
C-2, The way I look at it is to either pay their price for everything or do it yourself. I have done most of my tire changes for years because I can't stand having to bring my bike in, drop it off, etc. When I was on a trip last year I misjudged how much was left on my rear and had to have it done in Alburquerque. They actually have their shop open on Sat. & Sun. They got me in right away and back on the road. It cost $260, which I was none too happy about, but at least I was back on the road. That was better than sitting out in the middle of no where, AZ. | ||
| Tombo |
I change my own tires. Not only do I save money, but I do it on my schedule and don't have the hassle of dropping the bike off and picking it up again. There is nothing I can think of that I would bring one of my Buells into a shop for. My HB manual tire machine cost me about $80 and makes the job pretty easy. Static balancing also works well. | ||
| Mikej |
"Rant about getting tired changes done" I get tired changing rants too. | ||
| Kdan |
I found a local motorcycle tire guy who charges very close to internet prices and $10 each wheel already off of the bike. Plus he's an ex-racer who knows a thing or two about many different brands of bikes and likes to bullsh!t about mods and suspension settings and stuff...The way I see it, he's almost paying me to buy tires there. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Two first hand data points... 1) Local Cincinnati dealer (not Eastgate Buell) who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty managed to mount two fronts in a row with long slices in the rubber. They replaced both at no charge, and claimed the slices came from the factory (these were factory tires). That being said, they also managed to bend my front rotor (which they did NOT replace free), so I don't have a lot of confidence in them. Had I brought in my own rubber and this happened, the finger pointing would have began immediately and would have been ugly. 2) F&S Buell in Dayton (who I bought my 9sx from) has, in addition to the factory tires, "wholesale" tires they will sell. I think I know who their wholesaler is (long story), and F&S sold me a new rear Scorp Sync for $5 less then what the wholesaler would, pretty much the same prices I could find online. They charge a bit to mount ($25 or something with the wheel off the bike?) but will do it while I wait and let me pester their poor Buell tech with questions while they do it. So I can see why a dealer would not want to bother with 3rd party tire mounting... if you have no other way to make money it might be worth doing, but if you have a real shop it's probably not worth the hassles for the $5 profit margin. All it takes is one allegation of a scored tire, scratched rim, or bent rotor and your profits for the year on that activity are shot. I have a local wholesaler that will sell me the tire for near online prices and mount it for like $18, but they won't quite do it while I wait, and I have to let the wheel dissapear into the deep dark bowels of a big shop where who knows what happens to it. I was glad to see my local dealer get at least close in price for the tire, and am happy to pay the extra $10 to have it mounted by the shop. The person doing the mounting is generally the most junior shop person, but when he is doing it, he is 10 feet from the Buell tech, who keeps an eye on him and answers questions. BTW, anyone else seen them try and mount a scorpion sync? They had a bear of a time getting my last rear on. I don't know if was the tire, or their machine... |
