I recently rang 5 BMW dealership about buying a set of front brake pads. I was told they were $130 a set. So that makes ir $26o all up.

Now when I had a look at a USA site the same pads were $45 (USD).

I reckon it is time we BM riders started to lobby BMW to reduce their overpriced parts.

Hi mate..we tend to do a lot of shopping on the net at such places as...

http://www.motobins.co.uk/

http://www.motorworks.co.uk/vlive/Home/index.php

and also motorworks etc etc and Fleabay.....you will find the prices and time of delivery quite reasonable.

Just do what most of us Aussies do and that is buy from Motobins UK. The dealers will eventually figure it out or go down the tube.

To be fair to dealers, they have been trying to sell standard stuff for decades at inflated prices. Who would buy oil, tyres, brake pads, cleaning products etc from a dealer when we all know that these items are not made by BMW. As soon as you put another link in the supply chain then the price goes up.

Peugeot 405 TD, Rover 75Cdti [BMW diesel engine], BMW K100LT. Oil changes needed over the Christmas. All seem to use same oil so doing oil change the cheapest price was at the Peugeot main dealer, 4 x 5l needed. Both Halfords and BMW more expensive.

For everything else its a case of buy on line. You look at brake calipers, they dont say BMW.....but Brembo. Manufacturers buy in everything so you can cut them out without loss of quality. In fairness to most supplers they do work hard to avoid getting a bad name for parts. Sites like motorworks and motobins are great to deal with.

92KK

Over the last few years I have bought heaps from both the 'bins and the 'works. Easy to deal with including on the phone. As I run a F, K & R they get heaps of business from me. Currently waiting on some airhead parts.

I believe Motorworks will not ship to US & Canada due to insurance problems. The 'works also have second hand parts as well. And it is still cheaper with postage from UK to Aus.

Dave.

larrikin wrote:
I reckon it is time we BM riders started to lobby BMW to reduce their overpriced parts.

don't think that they would even concider listening to crackpots like us larrakin ...they wouldnt be missing any custome from me at all .and as a group we would make little difference locally ...but always best to keep in touch and when possible buy from them small and known parts that won't break the bank ,,,besides they are handy for some many things .

perhaps we are extreemly lucky that we can still buy new parts for our machines ...have you tried to purchase some thing new for an equivalently aged jap bike recently....or for that matter current triumph parts here in oz ?

astounding really

even the locals buy replacement parts ex blighty or usa and save about 1/2 the price

the internet is a wonderfull thing and this forum ( like many others ) lets us see different alternatives ..bless you all ..

Australia is a very small market compared to the US and therefore is much less competitive. I remember when I lived in Australia a Ford Capri manufactured in Geelong was selling in the US for $3000 USD [i]less[/i] than the identical car sold for in Australia. Even with shipping and duties a car made in Oz cost less in the states than in the country of it's manufacture. That is the power of competition talking.

Every car I priced in Oz cost about 40% more than the same car in the US. New Balance running shoes I was buying for $90-100 in the US fetched nearly $300 AUD. BOHICA lads.

Ford in Australia was selling to ford in US at a loss and by doing that they were able to transfer the profits to Ford US and pay less tax. The Taxation dept knew what was going on and would not do anything about it because the pollies said not to as it kept jobs here. Nissan,GM and Toyota were at it as well.
Non Australian companies bleeding this country of money and the spineless pollies did nothing.

Dude, I could fly from Australia to almost any Asian city for less than it cost to fly across Australia. When I lived there trains from one state could not operate on the tracks in other states because they all had different guages. The trains in Queensland were these tiny little narrow guage things, so freight from Victoria or New South Wales had to be unloaded at the Queensland border and re-loaded on the tiny Queensland trains. There is no mystery why that Capri cost so much more in Oz than in my home in California.

Ford turning a loss on each car? No. They made money, just less money. That is what competition does for you. The Australian market is smaller than the Southern Califoria market. When competition is limited, firms can charge more and make more per item. The US has a much larger market and more choices available, so pricing is more competitive.

There is no way one branch of Ford could lose money on a product and somehow magically transfer a profit to the US if there was no profit made. Ford in the US counted a higher profit from the cars sold in Australia compared to those sold in the US, but be assured they made a profit in both markets. What harms you is your small population.

I just think we pay more because our economy is so strong partly due to the $27 billion in coal those tiny little Queensland trains carried to port last year. ........

PS... thats aussie dollars......

Hello All

I was looking at getting some parts in for my bike and i looked at this site in the USA as they sell full kits

Has anyone dealt with them before ??

http://www.beemerboneyard.com/

Hi Matthew,
I have bought stuff from them and found them prompt and efficient in sending stuff to NZ. I bought foam grips which I put on top of my BMW foam grips because I wanted to expand the diameter of my grips as I have big hands and they were excellent. I also bought some high strength magnetic drain plugs for the transmission and final drive which I will report on later.
Regards,
K-BIKE

G'day All, A while ago a rear wheel bearing on my old R65 seized.The local BMW dealer was asking about $70 for one bearing & seal. Two bearings with seals were obtained from the local bearing dealer for about $28. Could not believe the difference in price. Just another example of dealer overcharging??? The bearings were good quality ones.

Cheers Tom Grabau

Matthew-Brisbane wrote:Hello All

I was looking at getting some parts in for my bike and i looked at this site in the USA as they sell full kits

Has anyone dealt with them before ??

http://www.beemerboneyard.com/

Depending on what you are buying getting parts from USA can be expensive on postage. BBY is good on prices but the postage makes expense. Try http://www.motobins.co.uk/ in UK I have bought a lot of gear there over the years and they are always very good on prices and service and the postage isn't near as expensive.
Apparently the US have around $10 on all large items (over 1 lb I think it is) which is an "International security charge" so I am told by the Australian post office.