WHO?: Tire Mounting and Balancing

[Suf Daddy]

Who is the best to trust to do it right?......... near the Northshore or Southern NH?

[Karaya One]

Did you buy the tires there?

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by Karaya One
Did you buy the tires there?

Working at a dealership, maybe you can gimme some insight on this. Why is it so many dealerships have this policy? Seriously, I can't figure that out. I can understand that at certain times of the year (early spring, for instance), they could use the excuse that they're too booked with their standard patrons. But I would think that the prospect of gaining more service customers would be more attractive than they make it seem. Not only that, but encouraging people to go out and get their own rubber would mean less stock to carry thus lowering your 'dead costs' AND the headache of stock...

[Honclfibr]

Originally posted by Suf Daddy
Who is the best to trust to do it right?......... near the Northshore or Southern NH?

There's a guy, Jim Pidgeon, up in manchester that does all my tire mounting and balancing. He's got a snapon mounter/balancer, does good and reasonably inexpensive work, used to work for one of the local motorcycle shops, now he does motorcycle repair work in his spare time. And I'm not sure if it's "official" but my chain always comes back looking more well adjusted and lubed than when I dropped it off

Recommended to me by someone here actually, his contact info should be in the archives, but if you're interested and can't find it, lemme know and I'll dig it up...

[Karaya One]

I was at a dealership, but now work for a distributor. This gives me a very unique insight into life "behind the counter".

Tires are perhaps the stickiest issue now for dealerships / repair shops. At one time, tires were a nice way for a shop to make a few bucks on both the sale and mounting but those days are long gone.

Now, with the advent of internet tire sales the margin made on tires is often under $5.00, if you want to match the ad the riders brings in from Cycle World. And this is a good day! How do you keep the lights on selling tires at that price?

So, you now have shops that approach this two ways - Don't mount a tire not bought there. This is the approach of a local shop who has this sign behind his counter " I don't bring eggs to the restaurant, so don't bring me your interent parts!"

Or - you embrace it like others. " Tires bought here - mount and balance = $20.00. Tires bought somewhere else - $40.00 "

Getting the best price on-line ONLY works if you mount it yourself. And hope your local dealer is still there when you need a hard part. With profit margins on new bikes running less than 10%, its tough enough to sell new. And with people buying more and more parts on-line, how does a small brick and motor succeed?

The more I see this side, the more I recognize how the internet has hurt smaller shops. They don't want to stock large quantities of goods due to the 'net, and can't hope to compete with those prices anyway. They have two choices - go BIG like Brockton, or focus on outstanding customer service which many have.

In retail, you expect three things. Price, service and availability. 99.9999999% of the time you will only get two. Dealers have to work hard for two of those, but a third is hard to come by and its usually #3.

Long story short - patronize your local dealership. You will need them one day. And if that Yamaha dealer pissed you off, move on to the next. There are plenty of honest, hardworking shops out there who will bend over backward for your $20.00 profit.

These people are NOT getting rich. But they share a common thread with you - the love of the sport.

[Suf Daddy]

Originally posted by Karaya One
Did you buy the tires there?

Considering Honda of Beverly was like ~$190 for the rear tire.
So I said hey let's try ronayers.com on your internet. I thought the tire was ~$140 so I figured $20 more to the local guy.................($160)
Nope. "less than our wholesale..............."
the nail in the coffin was the web site said $112 for the Diablo.
$120 shipped. Then there is the free coupon for the front.....

-Suf Daddy

[Suf Daddy]

QUOTE:
Or - you embrace it like others. " Tires bought here - mount and balance = $20.00. Tires bought somewhere else - $40.00 "

I'm cool with that..................but are they gonna have a positive attitude when working on my "brought the parts"?

-Suf Daddy

[Karaya One]

I would shop around. I didn't say all dealerships were honest. The ones still based in reality will work with you, and be straight as to the price of their tire.

And that Diablo is about $10.00 over cost over the 'net. How does a dealership stay open selling evry bit at $10.00 over cost?

That Diablo price WAS less than what he pays fo it.

[Karaya One]

As for the positive attitude, depends upon the shop. If enough shops stood up and said no, I'm not mounting it things would change.

[Suf Daddy]

I figured I'd give the $20-40 to the local guy. Avoid the wait
My feeling was: Wholesale is wholesale (similar cost to all dealers.) But they had to order too.
Sure this dealer probably has another middleman in their supply chain, so expect more.
..............~$70?
But the counter attitude take it or leave it just doesn't make me want to leave my life in their back bay.

Haggle with the price.............I'm sure their buying power is less than the MEGA internet warehouse but they would have gotten mounting and labor which I'll bet is a more profitable than the tire margin. ---------maybe I'd have an impulse buy while at the counter?

In the original example the price difference was $190 - 120 (including shipping) $70 is a lot of gravy I think on a $120 tire.
Keep in mind the sale price of the tire itself was $112 Tire Pirelli Diablo 180mm
http://www.ronayers.com/browseparts....ring=3_1430000

So why is that the local guy can't get close like within $20, are the local ditributors screwing the dealer on both price and the fact that the customer now go aorund them for less because of the price markup?
I wasn't haggling over $30...............................

-Suf Daddy

Originally posted by Karaya One
The more I see this side, the more I recognize how the internet has hurt smaller shops. They don't want to stock large quantities of goods due to the 'net, and can't hope to compete with those prices anyway. They have two choices - go BIG like Brockton, or focus on outstanding customer service which many have.

In retail, you expect three things. Price, service and availability. 99.9999999% of the time you will only get two. Dealers have to work hard for two of those, but a third is hard to come by and its usually #3.

Long story short - patronize your local dealership. You will need them one day. And if that Yamaha dealer pissed you off, move on to the next. There are plenty of honest, hardworking shops out there who will bend over backward for your $20.00 profit.

These people are NOT getting rich. But they share a common thread with you - the love of the sport. [/B]

[KB]

Originally posted by Honclfibr
There's a guy, Jim Pidgeon, up in manchester that does all my tire mounting and balancing. He's got a snapon mounter/balancer, does good and reasonably inexpensive work, used to work for one of the local motorcycle shops, now he does motorcycle repair work in his spare time. And I'm not sure if it's "official" but my chain always comes back looking more well adjusted and lubed than when I dropped it off

Recommended to me by someone here actually, his contact info should be in the archives, but if you're interested and can't find it, lemme know and I'll dig it up...

HOLY CRAP you know Jim Pidgeon. He's a great guy and will do your tires for like 20 a piece. Is he still up behind the Chinese place on south willow?

Ha that's great I haven't heard his name in years.

Oh yeah back to the tire thing.

Make your own bead breaker out of some scrap 2x4,s buy some spoons and rim protectors and do em yourself. It's mad easy and it'll save you money and get you working on your own bike.

Doing your own tires will lead you to brakes, oil changes all other stuff that you normally take to the dealer for. Once you see how easy it is you'll never bring your bike in for much else except major engine service.

Good luck,
KB

[Honclfibr]

Originally posted by rmbbikes
HOLY CRAP you know Jim Pidgeon. He's a great guy and will do your tires for like 20 a piece. Is he still up behind the Chinese place on south willow?

Hehe, yeah like I said he was recommended to me by someone here, I think it was Need4Speed???

Yeah he's up on south willow just past the mall, dunno about a chinese place, I turn right after the dunks.

Definitely a good guy. Seems to know his shit, too. Last time I was there for a tire he was busy pulling the valves out of some old BMW boxer engine, said something about weak design or somethin...

[PinHead]

I happen to be an owner of a pair of Dunlops from Cook's
Excellent service !
Funny how I needed them directly after bike week

[Suf Daddy]

WOW: Look what Mike G came up with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bike to the BIG DOG bar and get all our tires done on the SPOT.
-Suf Daddy

Joined: 29 Mar 2003
Posts: 72
Location: western suburb of Boston
Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 4:40 pm Post subject:

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check the "tire nazi" if you need tires--reasonable prices, and he comes to you in a truck. www.azmctires.com phone 781-888-4737 or 508-875-1027
MikeG
http://www.azmctires.com/

[Stoneman]

Tell me more about this Pidgeon guy. I'm in Manch every day M-F, and I'd like to hook up with him. Can any one just roll up to his house (I'm guessing by the descripts of where he is he works outta his house - residential area & all)?

[Honclfibr]

I think you'd want to call ahead at least. From what I gather he does motorcycle work on the evenings and weekends, I'm pretty sure he's got a full time job somewhere...

But ya, he works out of his house. The two times I've needed tires I just rode the bike up to his house with someone following me with my tires, then got a ride back up a few days later to pick the bike up.

[BLaZNKrON]

I went to my dealer the other day to get a price on a set of Metzler M1's. He wanted $239 just for the rear tire. Then they wanted atleast an hours labor just to mount them. I just laughed at him and walked out the door. Came home, went to swmototires online and ordered a front and rear tire for $204 shipped to my door. Screw buying stuff at the dealer. I was thinking of taking my rims off and taking them to some Harley guy I grew up near and see if he can hook it up.

[Karaya One]

Yeah!!!!

Who needs dealers anyway? We can just make and service all the parts for our bikes in our garage!

Who needs factory trained mechanics, warranties and genuine parts?

And when the supplies of used bikes dry up since all the dealers that were selling new ones are now gone, I guess we're going the OCC route!

We can all live like Mad Max!

Shop around!

[Karaya One]

The only time parts are made for me is when they aren't available. There is no kit for mounting a California Companion to a Honda CB1000. I looked.

I deal with dealers all day, every day. There are 2% who I don't care for.

The other 98% are just trying to make a living, and none of those will try to screw you just because they enjoy it.

Shop around. If you don't support your dealer, where do you expect them to go? Is anyone getting rich selling bikes? Most of the shops I deal with are small, and they often live week to week. They never became involved in bikes, going to school, and opening their own shop just to see how much they could screw you out of the price of a tire.

They do it because they love the sport and the people they meet doing it.

I try to buy all my gear at Motomarket, I buy my tires through Cycle Acc's + More, my lubricants at Baer's Yamaha-Kawasaki and my Honda parts at Cycle Design.

I could save a ton of money buying on-line, but MAW doesn't fix bikes or even offer to. Dennis Kirk could give two shits about a stator problem or a shaft seal leak. But, who will? Your dealer. And they will often come and pick up your bike, too.

Will Bike Bandit do that?

[Collision pro]

Yes...but... They need to eat too!!!! When you buy a coffee or tea do you go online to check prices??

[PinHead]

I get mine from Cooks !

[Suf Daddy]

Here's how I see it.

$~70 mark up on a tire.
Now, If I save $70 here $10 there and squirrel some 'mo money maybe I can have some cash to buy a NEW bike from a dealers lot. OR have money to ride, buy gas, parts and insure a bike which supports the LOCAL economy.
OTHERWISE, it sits in the basement unused where I may have to sell it to some person from Texas on ebay where NONE of the money spent will help the local economy AND the local DEALER.....

Now, if the dealers cost is more than an interent warehouse WHY CAN'T the dealership buy from the SAME internet site and then mark them up $30? Hmmmmmmmm THAT would be less than the now ~$70 markup I face.

Sorry for being a cheap prick but how do you suggest I make my $$$'s go farther? Anyone who wants to make up the difference on the dealers markup I/we have to pay feel free to e-mail me your VISA number........

It boils down to SHOP AROUND. Yes, and my shopping around went to the internet. Maybe shop around isn't good for the local dealership......................

Maybe the distributor is SCREWING the dealer.................

If the dealership gets the "below my cost" tire from the internet source said dealership can mark it up $30, make a sale and I pay $30 more for it to a local guy I expect to service me later in life.

Win win RIGHT?

So why is it $190 for the tire(~$70) markup from the local dealership (Who has to order too..............see if I can get my hands on it, the convience would be worth the $30.......Hint Hint)
when I go to get one?

Sorry, but I don't need the fool and his money are soon parted "STATUS" for paying too much...................usually accompanied by the sweet sarcastic.." Thanks.......AND come again!"

Don't get me wrong... I was n't haggling over $30.....it WAS ~$70.
-Suf Daddy more on another thread................

[Karaya One]

Having had the oppurtunity to see all three sides - customer, dealer and now distributor it amazes me how everyone thinks the dealers are making a fortune. I know the dealers aren't, and I sure as hell know the distributors aren't.

Parking lots full of AMG's at those shops, and each employee gets a free bike each season.

Nothing about just keeping the lights on, taxes, insurance, flooring, employee salaries, their benefits, paying to stock all those shelves of gear, etc etc etc....

I just want to see you ship that bike over the 'net to get fixed. That's the dream!

[Suf Daddy]

Let's focus on this then:

"Now, if the dealers cost is more than an interent warehouse WHY CAN'T the dealership buy from the SAME internet site and then mark them up $30? Hmmmmmmmm THAT would be less than the now ~$70 markup I face."

Doesn't this business model support the concept of keeping the lights on and the overheads cost involved?

Now price "competitively", and business at the dealership (should) pick up and the volume will help drive down all the associated costs?

Hence the customer faces a cheaper price LOCALLY?

Did I miss something?
-Suf Daddy

[R7]

I buy tires all the time online and bring them to my local dealer for mounting. If i carry in the rims, it's $18 each, bring them the whole bike and it's $35 each. They charge the "book" time or flat rate, whatever you want to call it, weather you buy them there or not. A good honest dealership (like Razee's in North Kingstown) is thankfull for any business you bring to them and will treat you fair.