There are some who will pay a reasonable price but most won't.
The proof to this is the ever declining number of shops retailing BSA parts
Harley riders will pay, in fact they seem to think that it is a badge of honour to have fitted the most expensive parts on the planet to their bikes
Down here there are almost as many Harley shops as pubs , not quite on every street corner but not far off yet HD makes up 3% of total motorcycle registrations although the past couple of years that have been doing 15 to 20% of new registrations
When we had 2 British bike shops I would ring both when I needed parts
They both asked the same question "for you or some one else ?"
When I said it was for my bike I generally was given an arrival time because the stuff they current had was trash.
Asked why they keep it always got told the number of riders who are willing to pay for quality parts accounts for less than 5% of their sales.
On top of that just about every member of any club seemed to think they deserved a discount because they were club members.
Even on this list who has asked "Who makes the best quality XYZ as compared to where can I get a cheap XYZ .
I got a stash of unit singles stuff & regularly copped a tyrade of abuse because I was asking $ 40 ( oz) for a piston, complete with 2 sets of rings a pin & 4 clips.
I would then draw their attention to the fact that a piston for my current model SR 500 was $ 75 bare so the BSA piston was a bargan.
The usual replay was yeah but they were $ 11 when new so you are a ( long list of expletives ) robber & I can get a used one from C & D autos for less including freight from the UK .
How has asked "Who makes the best WM20 tanks ?"
Who has asked where can I get a good set of girders from ?"
Nope the question is always are these cheap part from India/China/Philipines/Tiawan any good ?
['Who has asked "Who makes the best WM20 tanks ?"
Who has asked where can I get a good set of girders from ?...']
Nobody, but they have enquired about the serviceability of the parts from others that have bought them..In the case of the petrol tanks and forks only Indian manufacturers are making them, so there's the answer to the question of who makes the best ones, good or bad...
People are usually considering these parts as a substitute for originals they either can't find or can't afford (particularly in the case of girder forks)...With girder forks at £800- £1000 a set and with many of those needing refurbishment the full cost is getting difficult to justify as the percentage of the value of the bike...and there are those who don't have the budget for them anyway which is a dilemma..
Many original M20 components are now being sold at prices that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago, even the smaller fasteners etc. (how about £40 for a set of 4 sump guard nuts?...I can make exact replicas for less than that.)...For those who have a project with many missing or damaged parts it is now hard or virtually impossible to complete the job within or even near to the value of the finished machine using only original parts...
So, for those that don't have a problem with replica parts that work they are obviously, and sensibly following up on these possible cheaper options and that is why the questions on the serviceability and prices of these parts occur frequently on the forum...It doesn't mean everyone is a 'tight ass'...though some certainly are!!
I used the Indian manufactured B Series tank on my B33 simply because it was the best available option in terms of condition and fit and was available for the same, or less than the few untested, dented and corroded originals I've come across at jumbles...I consider it was a good choice in that case...My enthusiasm for the BSA tanks isn't shared by the girder forks, which after close examination I consider not fit for purpose in a number of aspects...
I generally buy the best thing I can get for my bikes and am known for it...but that isn't always the part with the highest price ticket hanging off it...If classic bike rebuilds have any future at all it is going to involve the use of more and more pattern parts as there isn't a never ending supply of the originals....Enjoy the luxury of NOS and good original parts while you can, if you have the money...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Appreciate your responses and opinions.
To be fair, there's no problem with my M20's fuel tank.
I am now dealing with my BMW R51/3 and looking for a solution for it. Its fuel tank will probably be disqualified.
The truth is that these days the gas tank is undergoing patching repairs, and a pressure check will reveal whether we have succeeded or not.
And if we do not succeed, then I would like to be ready with an opinion whether to purchase a replica, and where.
By the way the advantage in the tanks of our M20's is that you can dilute any fuel refill with one liter of diesel. I have been doing this for years, the motorcycle works very nicely and I believe that maybe the diesel helps a bit in preventing the rust on the sides of the tank.
Who knows.
email (option): michasteinmann@gmail.com
We will have to dissagree on this point.
However if there were enough people willing to pay a fair & reasonable price for good quality replacement parts then there would be people willing to make them as there is sufficient demand to allow for a reasonable living or profitable side line.
However as very few British bike owners are willing to pay a fair & reasonable price then no one will bother to make good quality replacement parts.
I used to gt tanks made locally
However the tinsmith who made them no longe makes tanks for British bikes
He makes them for just about every other country and in particular Honda & Harleys
He stopped doing British bikes because he got fed up with arguementative & abuse people demanding he make them tanks cheaper than they were listed on the web.
It takes about a full 40 hour week to make a tank from scratch and down here the average weekly wage is $ 1500
The median wage for unskilled workers is $ 650 week
People think $ 500 is too expensive
The down side of this is he knows the right curves & dimensions for most British tanks but that will die with him unless sited like this one measure up originals and post the dimensions, which for a tank are very complex.
That means eventually the only option will be poor quality parts made by quite skilled people but done from illustrations in sales catalogues .
The same goes for rear stands, girders, main frames guards and even wheels rims & spokes.
This will eventually lead to "restored" bikes that are unsafe to be ridden and the resulting serious injury or death.
People like you have been repairing motorcycles for decades so can tell what is safe or unsafe but too Joe Average who retires and decides he . or she would like to get an old bike to ride so they buy one that has been slapped together by Charlie Cheapskate using the rock bottom priced parts sourced from anywhere on the planet in order to make a cash profit on every bike than passes through their hands .
Or Joe himself who does not have the skills required to work out if a part is fit for purpose & assumes as it is nicely painted it is good to go .
And FWIW, some one down here just paid $ 440 ( Aus) for an original pull start knob for a 1962 Victa 18" lawnmower
The going rate for original wheels are around $ 1000 a piece of $ 300 for reproductions & a mower has 4 of them .
And these parts go on mowers that were made in much larger numbers than M20 ever were .
So £ 10 a piece for huts sounds quite cheap in comparison.
['So £10 a piece for nuts sounds quite cheap in comparison..']
The fact is that not all parts are the same...Some can easily be made at a viable price today, some can't...The more manual labour is involved in the process the less chance of getting a product everyone can afford because of todays labour rates..
I think you're making an erroneous comparison to justify the £40 asking price for 4 original sump guard nuts...I can (and have ) made exact replicas out of the correct material and had them plated for about £2.50 per nut at todays manufacturing prices, even taking into account the low volume of production...
However, my particular point there was that building a bike from original parts throughout if you start off with an incomplete machine is not really an option for many and hard to justify with prices at the level of the example I quoted (the nuts)...
Thus the interest in replica parts from India etc...Because people can't afford or can't financially justify spending more on parts than the final machine costs, or they can't find a good original part,or they are unable to pay for multiple hours of labour for a skilled craftsman it doesn't automatically mean they are all tight asses...As I said, these sort of sweeping generalisations about groups of people never apply...Just take a look at some of the extremely expensive rebuilds that are out there..
I agree though, we don't see eye to eye on this subject really in multiple ways....Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com