The 'Most Ridiculously Priced Part' Thread

[radman]

Kidney transplant, $160,000, parts and labor.

 

[Geezer]

Kidney transplant, $160,000, parts and labor.

Does that price include the extended warranty?

 

[wheatonFJR]

BAH! Little did I know that there are two different size o-rings required for the front caliphers. Dammit! Calipers in pieces and I'm stuck. Farkuckt! Lesson learned: Never, ever trust your farblondzhet parts guy. <_< My bad for not checking the parts fiche ahead if time.
As an aside, the inboard pistons were a total kappora! They moved, but not very well. No wonder the inboard pads are shot. mg: Feh!

(Yes, at times like this, it helps to break out the Yiddish.)

I found my pads to be severely unevenly worn...I wonder how many others are discovering this during the GP Suspension group buy? From now on, I'm checking them every tire change.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Kidney transplant, $160,000, parts and labor.

Does that price include the extended warranty?

That's kinda the whole point...extending the warranty...

 

[twowheelnut]

I found my pads to be severely unevenly worn...I wonder how many others are discovering this during the GP Suspension group buy? From now on, I'm checking them every tire change.

Indeed, that is what I found. Now for the real joke:

I went back to swap the sets of gaskets. The parts guy took the order, said they'd be in Wednesday and I said, "Great, see you Wednesday," and started for the door.

As I step away, he says, "Hey, you have to pay for these before we order."

"Um, 'scuze me? It's an even swap, no?", I choked.

He replies, "Um, no. This set is $50.52 each. Wow, Yamaha must really be proud of these!"

Being prolly more shocked than me over the price, he did discount them 2 bucks...

So, I have $80 worth of $.05 rubber o-rings in each caliper. I think I finally found the Holy Grail of widgets!

 

[2bd1]

You seem to be blaming Yamaha for the price and they may or may not be fully to blame.

Yamaha sets a suggested retail price, your dealer sets the actual selling price. Many dealers have computerized management systems that have a pricing function. The system is parameter driven and takes the pricing information from the supplier and depending on the price of the part bumps it up or down from suggested retail, or up from dealer cost, or just leaves it at suggested retail. Sometimes the set up of the parameters results in an unacceptable outcome. It should never be considered a set it and forget it system and a good parts manager will monitor his profitability and customer satisfaction. Complaining to the counterperson is a bit like shooting the messenger.

When I was at the motor company there were around 130,000 part numbers in the system its just not possible to have a human look at each and every one. So Yamaha corporate uses a similar, yet more complex pricing system that takes incoming parts from all over the world and assigns the dealer cost and suggested retail based on the purchase cost. Setting selling prices is a bit of an art and relying entirely on math without looking at the result has its dangers. See dealer situation above. For a long time I pressed my boss for the need for a pricing analyst to lend some badly needed human interaction. We finally got one and they worked full time on rationalizing parts prices- make the rights the same as the lefts, make all the color variations of the same part the same, basically try to make the part reflect the perceived value and market conditions. Alas, they moved on and corporate was without a pricing analyst for a long time. I understand they just hired a new one and he's been on the job for a short while.

By the way, the prefix on the part number is generally the first model the part was used on. In this case it appears that they were originally used on a TZR250, which I think is a road race bike. Racing parts being what they are, that may have something to do with this situation as well.

Cheers!

 

[Bounce]

ogling a certain orange and black adventure tourer

you know they have treatment facilities for people with extreme cases of OCD like you're starting to exhibit.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Yamaha sets a suggested retail price, your dealer sets the actual selling price. Many dealers have computerized management systems that have a pricing function. Complaining to the counterperson is a bit like shooting the messenger.

Good post -- thanks.

I once ordered (without checking the price) some special plastic windshield screws for a Yamaha (not FJR). When they came in and I saw the price -- "That can't be right?!" I mentioned it to the parts mgr and he 'adjusted' the price.

Also, some common motorcycle parts can be found at different prices from other companies. For instance: the front brake lever (Nissin) for a Gen I FJR can be gotten from Suzuki parts at a much reduced price. The 'getting' (knowing what fits -- or, the part no.) is the problem. In the brake lever case, the parts guy had time (in the morning) and just looked through the boxes.

"Parts is Parts"

 

[Joe2Lmaker]

Complaining to the counterperson is a bit like shooting the messenger.

Good post -- thanks.

I agree

 

[Harald]

This isn't directly related to motorcycle parts, but then again, when has that stopped anyone around here?

Amoung the many different electronic gizmos I repair at work, one is the handset that Flight Attendants use when making announcements on MD-80 aircraft. These particular handsets cost almost $8000.00 each. That's not a typo. And it's in US dollars. Just think, for the price of one of those handsets I could buy a nice used FJR. And to go completely off the deep end; the coiled cord for these handsets cost about $1200.00. Ouch! :dribble:

And you wonder why airfare is so expensive?

 

[twowheelnut]

You seem to be blaming Yamaha for the price and they may or may not be fully to blame.

Blame? No, more like complain. The MSRP on that item is around 50 bucks. Google some of the parts sites and you'll see that most hover around $50. My dealer sold them to me under MSRP. So, yeah, I'm complaining that Yamaha is charging a stupid high price for these.

 

[Old Michael]

R & D?

 

[Lake Powell]

This isn't directly related to motorcycle parts, but then again, when has that stopped anyone around here?
Amoung the many different electronic gizmos I repair at work, one is the handset that Flight Attendants use when making announcements on MD-80 aircraft. These particular handsets cost almost $8000.00 each. That's not a typo. And it's in US dollars. Just think, for the price of one of those handsets I could buy a nice used FJR. And to go completely off the deep end; the coiled cord for these handsets cost about $1200.00. Ouch! :dribble:

And you wonder why airfare is so expensive?

The coffee makers on my aircraft, are $18,000.00 a piece, we have 2 on board.

Ironically, the coffee sucks......

 

[twowheelnut]

R & D?

Rita and Desiree? Yeah, that's prolly it. Those Japanese engineers are horny little buggers! :lol:

 

[Lake Powell]

You seem to be blaming Yamaha for the price and they may or may not be fully to blame.
Yamaha sets a suggested retail price, your dealer sets the actual selling price. Many dealers have computerized management systems that have a pricing function. The system is parameter driven and takes the pricing information from the supplier and depending on the price of the part bumps it up or down from suggested retail, or up from dealer cost, or just leaves it at suggested retail. Sometimes the set up of the parameters results in an unacceptable outcome. It should never be considered a set it and forget it system and a good parts manager will monitor his profitability and customer satisfaction. Complaining to the counterperson is a bit like shooting the messenger.

When I was at the motor company there were around 130,000 part numbers in the system its just not possible to have a human look at each and every one. So Yamaha corporate uses a similar, yet more complex pricing system that takes incoming parts from all over the world and assigns the dealer cost and suggested retail based on the purchase cost. Setting selling prices is a bit of an art and relying entirely on math without looking at the result has its dangers. See dealer situation above. For a long time I pressed my boss for the need for a pricing analyst to lend some badly needed human interaction. We finally got one and they worked full time on rationalizing parts prices- make the rights the same as the lefts, make all the color variations of the same part the same, basically try to make the part reflect the perceived value and market conditions. Alas, they moved on and corporate was without a pricing analyst for a long time. I understand they just hired a new one and he's been on the job for a short while.

By the way, the prefix on the part number is generally the first model the part was used on. In this case it appears that they were originally used on a TZR250, which I think is a road race bike. Racing parts being what they are, that may have something to do with this situation as well.

Cheers!

There's some truth to that, I ordered a R-1 shift arm for my FJR to reduce the shift lever movement.

I also ordered a clutch slave cylinder to reduce clutch lever effort.

Small machined arm with bolt (about 2" long), $76.00

Much larger machined and painted slave cylinder with actuating piston and seals and o rings in place, $56.00

Bend over........

 

[JimLor]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the $32 air filter or the $16 oil filter.

 

[twowheelnut]

Well, you just did.

 

[dcarver]

You seem to be blaming Yamaha for the price and they may or may not be fully to blame.

Blame? No, more like complain. The MS RP on that item is around 50 bucks. Goggle some of the parts sites and you'll see that most hover around $50. My dealer sold them to me under MS RP. So, yeah, I'm complaining that Yamaha is charging a stupid high price for these.

I wonder how much of the cost is due to insurance based upon fraudulent claims?

 

[twowheelnut]

Blame? No, more like complain. The MSRP on that item is around 50 bucks. Goggle some of the parts sites and you'll see that most hover around $50. My dealer sold them to me under MS RP. So, yeah, I'm complaining that Yamaha is charging a stupid high price for these.

I wonder how much of the cost is due to insurance based upon fraudulent claims?

I dunno, but that asshole you quoted should learn how to spell 'Google'.

 

[twowheelnut]

Aaaaaah-HA! I have discovered the culprit behind the stupidly insane prices: Brembo. Gen II's have a much more, um, reasonable kit cost of $15 or so. My Strom's are even less at $8. So, the premium for have that stylized 'b circled' logo stamped on the calipers has it's downsides... Those Eyetalians sure do like to make pricey stuff - merda santa!

Hey Brembo: :****: