The Joy of Chasing Parts

[twowheels]

Here's a little anecdotal tale for riders everywhere.

Even as a GasGas dealer that tries to stock a variety of essential/tuning parts, it is sometimes necessary to source a particular item from the competition. In this case I was after a particular needle jet (hat tip Jakobi) that is sold only at Suzuki dealers. My plan was to pick it up from one of the three local shops I regularly pass while around town.

The first didn't have it. The second didn't have it, and said the last one he sold was in 2009. The third didn't have it.

I expanded my search out of state, and then to nationally recognized shops. Not one of the first TEN shops I called had it, and none could get it to me before Sunday. Pricing varied by ~40%.

When I did finally land one, I bought the two that were on hand, so if the jetting is as good as its made out to be I can share it with one of my customers who will be racing the same event this weekend.

Happy riding guys! I'll see you at the track, I'll see you on the trail.

 

[john01]

LOL and they say getting GG parts is hard . One of my grandsons has a TTR 90 Yamaha and I can't find plastics for it.

 

[blitz11]

Can you get them from Sudco? I tried to download their catalog, but it is ~236 MB!! With a catalog that big, they oughta' have clutch springs for a '68 CZ!

I've given up on local motorcycle dealers. No stock. It's been a problem since the 1970's.

I am glad you scored the needle.

 

[twowheels]

Can you get them from Sudco? I tried to download their catalog, but it is ~236 MB!! With a catalog that big, they oughta' have clutch springs for a '68 CZ!

I've given up on local motorcycle dealers. No stock. It's been a problem since the 1970's.

I am glad you scored the needle.

Sudco and Carb Parts Warehouse are the hot ticket for pilots and mains and even single-taper needles, but there is a whole bunch of multi-taper needles captive to the OEMs.

KTM has the NOZs, Yamaha the N3s, Kawi the NFs, and Suzuki the NEs. The dimensions are coded, but my guess is that N is a generic OE descriptor, with O/3/F/E identifying which particular brand, then some diameter and clip position info. Some are listed in the JD Jetting sheet, but not many.

Without making this a jetting forum, I just wanted to share my adventures in getting a fairly common item originally spec'd for a fairly common bike (RM250). Just because it's Japanese doesn't make it easy to get parts for,and just because Gassers are Spanish doesn't make it difficult.

 

[john01]

Hey Steve if you don't mind let me know how the needle works out please. My 2010 300 is running good with a CCK but I'm willing to try something else. Thanks.

 

[skid jackson]

my local zook dealer got one for me in three days....
seemed fair to me ......

 

[twowheels]

my local zook dealer got one for me in three days....
seemed fair to me ......

My goal was to have it in hand today, which didn't happen, and of the dealers I called, only the one actually stocking the part could get it to me in time for the weekend. If I don't have a particular part on hand it gets ordered at the very first opportunity (my shipping bills bear this out) but I would imagine that almost everyone I called was going to wait for a weekly stocking order.

New Hampshire is a little out of the way for me, but I'd suggest you patronize that guy so he doesn't shrivel up and go away

 

[lankydoug]

I ran an automotive repair shop for about 20 years, chasing parts was a daily habit. I could write a very thick book of the stories about what went wrong or how a $3 part cost me $100.... what ever it takes to get the fix done and the car out the door.

 

[Jakobi]

Keen to hear your before jetting and what you end up with after, but alas keeping on topic.

My experience was somewhat similar. Basically the Suzi dealer made some calls. Not a single NEDW in Australia, but they were on order from Japan. A few weeks later I got it.. Took another few weeks before I could be bothered putting it in the bike.

 

[Bailey28]

I'm loving it!! Thanks Steve Beane for getting these parts for us too.

I'll tell you guys that when I had Jap bikes, the one place that would always come to the rescue no matter what was Ron Ayers. I love the microfiche, and the low prices.

Pretty soon we will be buying our needles from Jakobi.

 

[blitz11]

Revenue is revenue. Is there a sufficiently large market for sudco to stock multi-tapered needles? Sudco and Carb Parts warehouse are probably large enough operations to have some influence over keihin and mikuni. It's a thought.

I also like the sound of "Afterhours Cycle and Tapered-Needle Repository." It has a nice ring to it.

You could be the nation's leading Tapered Needle Kingpin.

 

[jhendr3702]

I'm loving it!! Thanks Steve Beane for getting these parts for us too.

I'll tell you guys that when I had Jap bikes, the one place that would always come to the rescue no matter what was Ron Ayers. I love the microfiche, and the low prices.

Pretty soon we will be buying our needles from Jakobi.

i ordered the "jakobi needle" from ron ayers this week.. along with a couple of others.. his needle was in stock, as was the one of your suggestion.. the one i picked, of course , was not..
I am a parts mgr at a gm store.. parts sometimes are not that much fun.. one thing gm has done that is cool, is a website locator.. dont know how that would work in the mc world... all gm dealers stock parts by the gm number..we open the page, put in a part number.. it seeks by other gm dealers and delco suppliers by closest first, then goes to the gm warehouses.. no more calling..

i also think we need to nominate someone to keep all our discarded needles for us and re cycle... Steve ????

 

[blitz11]

A coworker had some cam lobes go flat on his jeep. ran like crap.

The independent garage couldn't find a cam, OEM or otherwise.

i called a local Chrysler dealer, and they found one in Colorado. (we're in Minneapolis). They shipped the next day, car back in 2.

Bar codes, bar code readers, databases and computers can be wonderful things.

On pins and needles in Minneapolis,

blitz

 

[jhendr3702]

A coworker had some cam lobes go flat on his jeep. ran like crap.

The independent garage couldn't find a cam, OEM or otherwise.

i called a local Chrysler dealer, and they found one in Colorado. (we're in Minneapolis). They shipped the next day, car back in 2.

Bar codes, bar code readers, databases and computers can be wonderful things.

On pins and needles in Minneapolis,

blitz

oh i agree 100% on the bar codes and readers... we opened a new gm store last year.. zero parts on the shelf.. myself and one other guy checked in and put up close to 100,000 in inventory in less than 3 days.. no way that would happen with out that.. we actually checked the order in in about 4 hrs, complete...

 

[motogroove]

The first didn't have it. The second didn't have it, and said the last one he sold was in 2009.

That's my favorite piece of useless information.
How many could he have sold since 2009 if he actually had one to sell?

 

[coopernicus]

Allright, time to enter my ramblings on this topic: I've been helping a friend get his 2010 300 jetted right so I've followed all of the jetting threads. I've bought the Suzuki needles and tried my dealer first: Not in stock and had not sold any of them including the only needles they have ever stocked for that bike. Then they proceeded to say that they don't stock anything but needles that were stock to begin with (unless it were damaged, why would someone buy a stock needle especially here in Colorado at high altitude?). I then tried to get them online from one of the big outfits: They have a feature on their website that tells how many needles are in the country so you can find it out...I believe that outfit is somewhat near Steve. They did not have them and it had to be ordered and then shipped out from their warehouse. That being the case I just ordered them online from my local dealer as they give a web discount and I did not have to pay shipping. Got them in 3 days (NEDH and NEDI). Friend broke his ankle and has not been able to ride so that jetting experiment stalled (currently N1EI working fine on the top clip). As for Sudco stocking the triple taper needle: Probably won't happen as it is likely proprietary and the OEMs have the specs locked down. Someone can copy it locally but nobody with a big supply house will touch it for fear of legal action for such low volume and margin. One last note: If you want to find out what Japanese bike (or some KTMs) used what jetting for many model years, look up Pro-Circuit jetting specs in Google and you should get a document that has all of the stock needles for 250 mxers. Look at that list, look at all of the GG jetting threads on needles, and go to your major brand dealer (or online) and order up the part if your local GG dealer cannot do this for you!! So much jetting fun to be had that will be a "fond" memory once we get DFI!! But then again, we'll have nozzle sizes, shapes, periodicity, and flow rates to fool with!!!

 

[noobi]

I am a parts mgr at a gm store.. parts sometimes are not that much fun.. one thing gm has done that is cool, is a website locator.. dont know how that would work in the mc world... all gm dealers stock parts by the gm number..we open the page, put in a part number.. it seeks by other gm dealers and delco suppliers by closest first, then goes to the gm warehouses.. no more calling..

I work at kawasaki/suzuki store sometimes. Kawasaki NZ and Suzuki NZ have that system in place. You can look up a part and if the distributor doesn't have one, then you can search to see if another dealer has one. It work well because NZ is a pretty small country. The store I work at has a fair amount of 'dead' stock, which other dealers can get from us if the wait for parts from Japan is too long. I got a piece of yellow plastic for a DS80 once. It was old.

On another note, working there also gives we the ability to p&a almost any part I want. I priced up some genuine gasgas parts, it was about $200, priced up the exact Japanese equivalent, and it was $300, one of the parts was an airfilter cage, cant get a genuine one of those for a kawasaki...

 

[jhendr3702]

I work at kawasaki/suzuki store sometimes. Kawasaki NZ and Suzuki NZ have that system in place. You can look up a part and if the distributor doesn't have one, then you can search to see if another dealer has one. It work well because NZ is a pretty small country. The store I work at has a fair amount of 'dead' stock, which other dealers can get from us if the wait for parts from Japan is too long. I got a piece of yellow plastic for a DS80 once. It was old.

On another note, working there also gives we the ability to p&a almost any part I want. I priced up some genuine gasgas parts, it was about $200, priced up the exact Japanese equivalent, and it was $300, one of the parts was an airfilter cage, cant get a genuine one of those for a kawasaki...

that is cool noobi.. did not know they did that.. and yeah, from my exp, the gg parts are cheaper or in line with everything else.. the good thing is you dont need them (gg parts) very often either..

on another note.. I have discovered a great GG dealer about 100 miles from me.. Tony @ Cycle Shack in Lubbock TX... very neat guy.. got some stuff on the way to me as we speak..

 

[bchatt]

Oh yeh, NZ is a great litle country. Check out the GGNZ web page - they are still listing the '09 range.... but don't worry, the '10s will be here soon....

 

[Jakobi]

Oh yeh, NZ is a great litle country. Check out the GGNZ web page - they are still listing the '09 range.... but don't worry, the '10s will be here soon....

Hahah! Noice one...

Again back on topic of parts availability and the joys of chasing... away from jetting.. anyone who stumbled across my boo boo thread related to the rebound adjustment screw in a sachs fork cap.. Dealer after dealer after dealer.. Importer.. International dealers.. Gas Gas Spain.. Errkk.. I ended up ordering of GasserParts as I was under the impression they had them in stock. A couple weeks have passed and still not here.

Ended up setting me back $50 to have a local mechanic put in an hours time adding some silver solder, cleaning it up, and running it through a die. Almost as good as the new ones I'm still waiting on! As far as sourcing parts or info goes, this Sachs brand has been the hardest. Real shame as they don't make a bad product performance wise. Its just everything about them is a mystery!