Used motorcycle parts (survey)

I am putting together a business plan for a class. I have to do some market research for my business idea (motorcycle salvage focused on European brands). I put together a short survey if anyone would like to help out with some input.

Used motorcycle parts survey

Done.

Thanks for the input so far, I appreciate it. One comment asked "what if I have more than one bike?" I suppose you could fill the survey out one time for each bike or pick the one you most want used parts for.

filled it out

curious to see the results

Apparently I need a pro account on the survey site to share results. I'll take screenshots of them in a day or two when I see how many responses I get.

It's shake n bake and I heped.

Thanks for all the replies so far, I really appreciate it!

A little more information on the business plan. The refinishing service is something I haven't seen offered by a motorcycle salvage company (there may be some that do it that I am missing). It would basically be media-blasting and powdercoating parts such as frames, brake calipers to be rebuilt, rearsets, etc. Also ceramic coating for exhaust manifolds and high-temperature parts.

If you have any other ideas or input I would love to hear it.

Do you plan to focus on local sales or internet sales?

One way that you could set yourself apart from the competition is to help people with their projects. Say someone needs a used wheel. You have a wheel from a crashed bike that's in good shape. Instead of shipping a bare wheel, why not offer mounting a new tire on the wheel? It could provide you with a little extra profit, and it would make the customer a lot happier, since they don't have to order a new tire, wait for both of them to arrive in the mail, and then take them to the shop to get mounted.

I touched upon this in my response, but your greatest opportunity will be managing your inventory in a way that is easy for customers to browse, and easy for you to keep track of. Instead of selling individual parts, maybe offer assemblies. Only sell clean parts. Include new circlips. Heck, offer affordable circlip spreaders for sale.

If you want to sell refinished parts, also consider spreading the word to motorcycle restorers. They may be able to save some money by farming out the business to you.

Consider your market; older European motorcycles are probably getting put together by older individuals. These people are probably much more comfortable communicating over the phone than over the internet. Have someone friendly, knowledgeable, and patient to answer the phone during business hours. Have contact information clearly posted on every page.

The main focus would be internet sales, both to reach a wider customer base and eliminate the need to a retail establishment with the complications that brings.

Thanks for the detailed response.

I'm still thinking debating the focus on European bikes. On one hand it seems to be something most motorcycle salvagers don't deal with (with the exception of Ducati). On the other hand many younger people own Japanese motorcycles and don't have the income to buy new parts exclusively (when they are available). There are also many more available for cheap that are wrecked, in pieces, or non-running.

Done - FWIW my thought is be focused on a niche. Japanese bikes have the high volume - euro bikes - it's harder to find parts and they are priced accordingly. Knowing the part exchanges with other bikes is very helpful

For reference purposes, this is the website of a motorcycle salvage yard in Minnesota: http://sportwheel.com/ I believe they are one of the largest motorcycle salvage yards in the country, and while they cover all makes the bulk of their inventory is Japanese bikes.

I haven't been out there in a couple years; they used to have acres and acres of old stuff (1960s and 1970s) but I think they auctioned a lot of those bikes off a while back.

oldtin wrote: Done - FWIW my thought is be focused on a niche. Japanese bikes have the high volume - euro bikes - it's harder to find parts and they are priced accordingly. Knowing the part exchanges with other bikes is very helpful

I'm not in the marketplace yet. If I decide to go forward it will be at least a year before I get started.

I agree with the focus on a niche. I could even narrow it down to Italian and British focus. It easier to be knowledgeable about the parts and exchanges when dealing with a small number of manufacturers.

I also got a question in the comments section about where I would get the bikes to salvage. I am still researching that but I am thinking mainly insurance auctions and snatching bikes off craigslist that are wrecked or salvage titled.

I am also thinking about the possibility of filling 20 or 40 foot containers in Europe and shipping large quantities of bikes over at a time. That would take a lot of working out and probably wouldn't be possible until I built up the business a bit.

E-bay put a world of hurt on most bike salvage place in the new england area we've lost 5 huge places.

The dumb thing is if they were smart they would be selling on eBay. Anybody with an inventory should be selling in any online marketplaces they can afford to. (Where afford includes time and money.)

The salvage places that are now gone around here were on E-bay however they no longer could get 50% of new for pricing as some one who just wanted to get rid of stuff could easily be found with a lower cost product. They just couldn't make money. One is still around but its just a two person operation now where it used to be 15 kids and one adult.

Amazon.com, but that'd be funny selling used motorcycle parts.

I'd just up on the forum of every motorcycle you had and post in the classifieds.

The key to success in old motorcycle parts is to sell parts people still want.

Take the XS650. Hardly anyone wants stock stuff anymore, and if they do its because its cheap. So you see Stators and Stator Coils selling for $35-40, when new they cost $200. Why? because for $250 you can buy a PMA kit that doesn't need a battery and be set for the rest of the bikes life.

Same goes for just about every part on the bike aside from the fork, frame, and engine. Everything has been modernized, improved, and made more reliable with modern technology. Why pay %50 of new prices for old junk when you can pay new prices for stuff that blows the old junk out of the water?

Done.