General Chat

[Alistar B]

I just checked and i received that email too!
Its not far from me so ill try to swing by in the next couple of days and see what is going on.

[Willbar]

Its always sad to here that someone has had enough of there business and just close the doors, god knows how many times I have felt like just closing the doors and running away from the public.
Things are very tuff in retail at the moment , people are just not spending at the moment unless it is realy required, and then when they are spending they are hunting the globe for the best products, price and service.
I too am guilty of purchasing from all round the world, but for instance I recently purchased a genuine KTM lock for my road bike from overseas, cost here for the lock and the mounting bracket was around $550 but it cost me $180 including freight from the states.
I find purchasing from overseas at the moment is good value for money as Australia dosent seem to be able to compete on price and even range. I still buy lots locally but unless I need it straight away, I check on price and availabilty from Australia first then I consider overseas pricing and freight and delivery time .
At the moment I am about to replace my conrod with a better quality one than which was available when I did it last year in my 525 bottom end, I have been buying the bits over the last 10mths, and have had them sitting there ready to go and thats what I normally do, I have bits and pieces for all sorts of jobs whether its wheel bearings or oil filters or iridium plugs, I generaly buy a few so I have spares ready to go. Things I generally purchase here are oils, tyres and tubes, brake pads and throttle cables, wheel rims. I buy australian made products firstly when I can afford them, but even my road riding jeans which I purchased from star rider who are a very small company have there products made overseas, but riding gear mainly comes from Overseas as does engine parts and suspension bushes and seats and plastics etc.
I am certainly not Robinson Caruso when it comes to purchasing from overseas but until Aus distributors start passing on the savings from the strong Aussie dollar local sales are going to continue to fall and Aussie jobs will be lost and Aussie businesses will continue to suffer.
The internet is a great tool and it has made the world a much smaller place so we have to exspect consumers to use it for purchasing. 
These are just some of my thoughts on the matter and wish the guys at Riders Edge the best of luck in whatever they choose to do in the future . Will

[Ken R]

Just phoned for the cost of Piston & Gasket kits for the EXC4 - Crikey! $761.75.
Not having needed to buy stuff for a while it was a shock for a single cylinder bike. Which site should I look at to compare costs?