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An independent Bike Repair Shop told me yesterday that replacement parts for Asian Bikes are generally available for only 10 years...unlike Harley which are available for a long time. Any truth to this as im trying to decide between laying down alot more money for a Harley versus a Honda equivalent . Thanks
More like 5 for bikes and 10 for cars. But after 5 you can still get parts fairly easy. I have 2 bikes one a 06 Nomad the other a 1981 Yamii xs850sh triple 850. I can still get parts for that, but sometimes not the same day as I want them.
For older bikes it's best to find a dealer that was around when the bike was new.
HD pan head, shovel head, and Knuckel Head parts are not as easy to find anymore either.
The 79 Suzuki I spent a small fortune on before getting rid of it would disagree. Online vendors are your best friends. They probably don't make the parts anymore, but that doesn't mean you can't find them.
I have a 1984 Honda V65 Sabre that I've always been able to find parts for. The day will likely come when I can't always do so, but that's true of any vehicle.
Honda and Kawasaki are pretty good about dealer parts for older bikes, Yamaha less so. Depends on the model of the bike, friend of mine needed an ignition switch for a small old Honda and had a hard time finding one.
For example David Silver Honda parts in UK has a lot of good NOS parts, but they could not supply that particular ignition switch.
Exactly, it really depends on the dealer but don't expect Honda to keep producing replacement parts ages after the bikes were sold. I had a 79' Honda 400, which could be a pain to get parts for, luckily i rarely needed any. I currently have a 85 Honda Nighthawk which hasn't been THAT bad to get parts for. Ebay/Craigslist seem to be your friend, and the dealer next to me has a pretty good supply leftover from the 80's when they became a Honda Dealership. The parts guy mentioned that it's difficult to order in "new" parts from Honda now, but if they had them in stock for ages, they're still there...He did say they could probably assemble a couple old 70's BSA's from the parts they STILL have for those bikes lying around the back of the shop.
Exactly, it really depends on the dealer but don't expect Honda to keep producing replacement parts ages after the bikes were sold. I had a 79' Honda 400, which could be a pain to get parts for, luckily i rarely needed any. I currently have a 85 Honda Nighthawk which hasn't been THAT bad to get parts for. Ebay/Craigslist seem to be your friend, and the dealer next to me has a pretty good supply leftover from the 80's when they became a Honda Dealership. The parts guy mentioned that it's difficult to order in "new" parts from Honda now, but if they had them in stock for ages, they're still there...He did say they could probably assemble a couple old 70's BSA's from the parts they STILL have for those bikes lying around the back of the shop.
Does it make sense though that the more popular the bike is, like a Honda Shadow VTX series, the more parts will be available whether from the HOnda Factory, Repair Shops, private parties, and/or motorcycle graveyards around the country ????
You'll have more parts available definitely. Never thought the Shadow was considered part of the VTX however, as i always placed those seperate...VT750C/VT1100C...VTX 1300, VTX1800...I would assume that my nighthawk was probably built in high numbers, and sold in them too...but after 25 years the parts can be hard to come by.
Also, motorcycle parts tend to be priced similar to high end car parts...they cost significantly more than the parts on an old chevy, but slightly less than the parts on an airplane.
Another minor point is parts are made for the 5 years after the last of a model was made. An example is my Kawii Nomad. From 1999 to 2004 the 1500 Nomad was made, and so after the year 2004 parts were still made. In 2005 the first 1600 Nomad came out and the last was made on 2008.
My 06 won't start that 5 year count down for 5 years after 08, or about 2013.
With my old 81 yammi xs 850 sh, that count down ended ages ago, but with a little waiting I can still get most thing, sometimes not new. After market parts are still around too.
My 81 has parts from all the Big 5 that's HD, Honda, Susukii, Kawii, and Yamii which it is. It also has parts from Audi cars, VW cars, and even RV parts. I couldn't get a new fuse box for example, but fitted 1/2 of a Audi fuse box to the bike since the oem fuse box fell apart like dust in my hands. I had other choices to buy fuse boxes for marine applications, but the Audi box was for free from a junked car.
Rubber parts are the hardest parts to get new. Used rubber parts are not the best, but sometimes one must make do. Probably if I hunted more I coould get new rubber parts and I did for the rubber boot intake manifilds and foot pegs.
Even the part numbers get recycled. I wanted a new rubber gas cap seal. The older than the bike dealer parts guy went off looking for the box after looking up the part number. He came back with a new part, but it wasn't a thing like what I brought in to compare to at all. Right part number on another right part for something else.
I had pre paid, but knowing this part wasn't even close the parts guy looked up the cap in chrome and went off looking for that part to see if it had the rubber seal. He came back and in his excitement blew the dust off the box in my face! I didn't mind a bit when he opened the box and there was a brand spankin nex cap with a new key, with that seal.
He mentioned "It's too bad you will need to carry 2 keys." But I didn't listen much to that, since i wanted that seal and for that price got the whole new unit. I just swapped out the locks to my one key too.
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