G'day, folks...

That time has come again, when the black stuff that keeps the shiny bits up
top needs to be replaced.

I have an '04 Vulcan 800 Classic (VN800B) requiring a 140/90-16 rear tyre.
The factory-standard one was a Bridgestone Exedra G702, which I'd like to
get back to.

I have on it at the moment a Pirelli T66 (MT66?) which does its job well,
except for the fact that it's lasted 25% less than the original (got around
20,000Km out of each of the Bridgestones I had before but the Pirelli's on
its last legs at just over 14,000Km).

Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no fruit WRT
Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so I'd like
to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of where I could
get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and would prefer to
pick the tyre up rather than paying for freight, so recommendations of North
Perth probably wouldn't be too helpful.

On a mostly unrelated note...

Has anybody ever heard of or used bike-parts.com.au? Seems a bit of a shonky
operation, with no contact information whatsoever and every "buy now" link
shuffling off to cyclegear.com in the USA. To make things worse, absolutely
none of the "buy now" links work - they land a 404 (page not found) error at
the remote end.

--
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom

"Bob Milutinovic" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4f047d5b$(E-Mail Removed)...
> G'day, folks...
>
> That time has come again, when the black stuff that keeps the shiny bits
> up top needs to be replaced.
>
> I have an '04 Vulcan 800 Classic (VN800B) requiring a 140/90-16 rear tyre.
> The factory-standard one was a Bridgestone Exedra G702, which I'd like to
> get back to.
>
> I have on it at the moment a Pirelli T66 (MT66?) which does its job well,
> except for the fact that it's lasted 25% less than the original (got
> around 20,000Km out of each of the Bridgestones I had before but the
> Pirelli's on its last legs at just over 14,000Km).
>
> Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no fruit WRT
> Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so I'd like
> to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of where I could
> get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and would prefer to
> pick the tyre up rather than paying for freight, so recommendations of
> North Perth probably wouldn't be too helpful.
>
> On a mostly unrelated note...
>
> Has anybody ever heard of or used bike-parts.com.au? Seems a bit of a
> shonky operation, with no contact information whatsoever and every "buy
> now" link shuffling off to cyclegear.com in the USA. To make things worse,
> absolutely none of the "buy now" links work - they land a 404 (page not
> found) error at the remote end.
>
> --
> Bob Milutinovic
> Cognicom
>

They certainly sound dodgy with this first ad.

BRIDGESTONE Exedra G702 Street Motorcycle Tires 140/90-16 TT REAR
Price: $100.79






Then when you click on that, up comes
Features and Benefits Uni-directional pattern for reliable performance on
dry and wet surfaces Designed primarily for Japanese cruisers, the Exedra G
series provides long mileage, good stability, crisp handling and riding
comfort G700 series is the popular original equipment choice on many of the
Japanese cruisers such as Yamaha Royal Star, Kawasaki Vulcan and Suzuki
Intruder


Product Details
Brand: BRIDGESTONE

Our Price: $154.59



Price had gone up $54 just by clicking

Wonder what would happen if you actually went through with a purchase?

The prices on everything there goes up $50 odd when you click on

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 5 Jan 2012 03:23:32 +1100
Bob Milutinovic <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no fruit WRT
> Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so I'd like
> to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of where I could
> get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and would prefer to

Have you tried Chivos in Granville? (02) 9682 5950

Zebee

On 01/05/12 3:23 AM, Bob Milutinovic wrote:
> G'day, folks...

G'day Bob.

> Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no fruit
> WRT Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so
> I'd like to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of
> where I could get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and
> would prefer to pick the tyre up rather than paying for freight, so
> recommendations of North Perth probably wouldn't be too helpful.

A bit further away than North Perth, I have had good service from this
mob in the U.S.

http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/

The US prices are sufficiently good that the shipping still leaves them
ahead of the local prices.

regards,
CrazyCam

"CrazyCam" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:je2mpu$s02$(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 01/05/12 3:23 AM, Bob Milutinovic wrote:
>> G'day, folks...
>
> G'day Bob.
>
>> Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no fruit
>> WRT Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so
>> I'd like to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of
>> where I could get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and
>> would prefer to pick the tyre up rather than paying for freight, so
>> recommendations of North Perth probably wouldn't be too helpful.
>
> A bit further away than North Perth, I have had good service from this mob
> in the U.S.
>
> http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/
>
> The US prices are sufficiently good that the shipping still leaves them
> ahead of the local prices.
>
> regards,
> CrazyCam

I recall you mentioning this a while ago Cam, at the time I thought it would
be better and still do.

"Zebee Johnstone" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 5 Jan 2012 03:23:32 +1100
> Bob Milutinovic <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>> Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no fruit WRT
>> Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so I'd
>> like
>> to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of where I could
>> get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and would prefer
>> to
>
> Have you tried Chivos in Granville? (02) 9682 5950

Thanks Zeb, I'll give 'em a call in nthe morning.

--
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom

"CrazyCam" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:je2mpu$s02$(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 01/05/12 3:23 AM, Bob Milutinovic wrote:
>> G'day, folks...
>
> G'day Bob.
>
>> Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no fruit
>> WRT Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so
>> I'd like to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of
>> where I could get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and
>> would prefer to pick the tyre up rather than paying for freight, so
>> recommendations of North Perth probably wouldn't be too helpful.
>
> A bit further away than North Perth, I have had good service from this mob
> in the U.S.
>
> http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/
>
> The US prices are sufficiently good that the shipping still leaves them
> ahead of the local prices.

Thanks Cam,

I've already got details from another US-based vendor to have the tyre
landed here for about USD$190 (using cruisercustomizing.com's price-match
deal against motorcycle-superstore.com's lower tyre price - the latter
doesn't ship to Australia), but thought I'd give the locals a chance first.

Call me a patriot (despite my wog heritage), but I'd quite happily pay up to
20% more for a product from a local vendor than get one from overseas.
Anything more than 20% though and I'll order online like everyone else.

At the moment, I have absolutely no idea what these tyres are going for in
Australia (long time since I bought the last Bridgestone, old age, lack of
sleep, too much sex, etc., etc., etc...) so I've no way of knowing if that
~$190 is worthwhile or not.

--
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom

"George W Frost" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%S0Nq.1343$%(E-Mail Removed) nd.com...
>
> "Bob Milutinovic" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:4f047d5b$(E-Mail Removed)...

<snip>

>> Has anybody ever heard of or used bike-parts.com.au? Seems a bit of a
>> shonky operation, with no contact information whatsoever and every "buy
>> now" link shuffling off to cyclegear.com in the USA. To make things
>> worse, absolutely none of the "buy now" links work - they land a 404
>> (page not found) error at the remote end.
>>
>
> They certainly sound dodgy with this first ad.
>
> BRIDGESTONE Exedra G702 Street Motorcycle Tires 140/90-16 TT REAR
> Price: $100.79
>
>
> Then when you click on that, up comes
> Features and Benefits Uni-directional pattern for reliable performance on
> dry and wet surfaces Designed primarily for Japanese cruisers, the Exedra
> G series provides long mileage, good stability, crisp handling and riding
> comfort G700 series is the popular original equipment choice on many of
> the Japanese cruisers such as Yamaha Royal Star, Kawasaki Vulcan and
> Suzuki Intruder
>
>
> Product Details
> Brand: BRIDGESTONE
>
> Our Price: $154.59
>
>
>
> Price had gone up $54 just by clicking
>
> Wonder what would happen if you actually went through with a purchase?
>
> The prices on everything there goes up $50 odd when you click on

As I originally noted, clicking on any "buy" link takes you to a
non-existent page on cyclegear.com in the USA.

Hmmm... Interesting... Manually going to cyclegear.com and finding the
requisite tyre, I find they're actually cheaper than the previous sites I'd
seen - and they ship to Australia: $USD154 (actually USD$153.98) including
shipping.

That still doesn't explain the strange bike-parts.com.au site. The domain's
registered to Erobotics Pty Ltd, ACN 138-022-705.

--
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom

"Bob Milutinovic" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4f059a2b$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Zebee Johnstone" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 5 Jan 2012 03:23:32 +1100
>> Bob Milutinovic <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>
>>> Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no fruit
>>> WRT
>>> Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so I'd
>>> like
>>> to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of where I
>>> could
>>> get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and would prefer
>>> to
>>
>> Have you tried Chivos in Granville? (02) 9682 5950
>
> Thanks Zeb, I'll give 'em a call in nthe morning.

Well, now I have something to work with - Chivo's quoted $230 for the tyre,
which I have no reason to suspect is an inflated ('scuse the pun) price for
an Australian retailer (based on that price, I can only suspect other bike
shops would want $250+).

So the US-website-purchase route seems to be attractive enough to go with.

--
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom

On 01/06/12 3:37 PM, Bob Milutinovic wrote:
> "Bob Milutinovic" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:4f059a2b$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> "Zebee Johnstone" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 5 Jan 2012 03:23:32 +1100
>>> Bob Milutinovic <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Doing the rounds 'round a couple of the bike dealers yielded no
>>>> fruit WRT
>>>> Bridgestone (everyone seems to have gone Pirelli these days?), so
>>>> I'd like
>>>> to ask you learned and informed folk for recommendations of where I
>>>> could
>>>> get the Bridgestone from. I'm located in Liverpool NSW and would
>>>> prefer to
>>>
>>> Have you tried Chivos in Granville? (02) 9682 5950
>>
>> Thanks Zeb, I'll give 'em a call in nthe morning.
>
> Well, now I have something to work with - Chivo's quoted $230 for the
> tyre, which I have no reason to suspect is an inflated ('scuse the pun)
> price for an Australian retailer (based on that price, I can only
> suspect other bike shops would want $250+).
>
> So the US-website-purchase route seems to be attractive enough to go with.
>


Sad, but....<shrug>

regards,
CrazyCam