Used parts/salvage

[EvanB]

I mostly lurk here but I am looking for some input. I am working on a business plan for a class and need to conduct some market research. My plan is used motorcycle parts sales with a focus on European bikes. I have looked around but haven't found many used parts specialists for Moto Guzzi or other small Euro manufacturers. I made a short survey for input, thanks for any help!

 

Used parts survey

 

Mods: If this is against the rules, please let me know.

[EvanB]

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.

[V11CSGoozer]

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.

Sounds good. The refinishing service might get you a ton of work from bike owners in general.

[EvanB]

I 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.

[jrt]

Throw a Falcone on there...I'd be pretty interested in that.

[luhbo]

...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....

 

Good that you mention this in time. The Europeans actually are redoing their outer frontier policies anyway (Africa and stuff, you know). Your containers should come on these lists, too, I think. Cultural heritage or so ...

 

Might be a tricky business anyway: London Bridge

 

Hubert

[68C]

I thought the trade was in the other direction, from the US to the UK.

 

The American annual vehicle test is tougher than in the UK so bikes soon become uneconomical to repair and get sold off to exporters.

 

Here in the UK there are far more bikers as a percentage of the population than in the US, so there are more dealers, specialist suppliers and restorers within a geographical area. Twenty years ago I spent a month on a training course with Gulfstream at Savannah, I was doing up an old ’64 kickstart Sportster that I had bought home from a job in Pakistan, I thought I had a good chance of getting parts near the school. I was surprised to find there were only two bike shops in such a large city, a Harley dealer and a garden machinery shop that also sold Jap bikes. The Harley dealer pretty much ordered in any parts he needed with little on the shelf. My course mates also explained how I was used to having riding buddies just around the corner and several bike clubs nearby whereas Americans may ride fifty miles to the nearest club meet. It’s all so spread out. This all means buying and selling used bikes to a local market is harder.

 

The guys bringing containers of bikes into the UK are doing it for money and not sentiment, they buy in a crate from a trusted US supplier sight unseen. Once here they keep what is reasonable and scrap/melt the rest – naturally they don’t want the market to get their hands on really cheap bikes and bits.

 

Most of the bikes I have seen must have come from the dryer parts of the states as they are usually paint faded and dusty but pretty much intact and obviously not ridden in years.

 

There is a similar situation with Japanese cars, again they have a tough vehicle test and being right hand drive the cars are sellable in the UK.

 

I wasn’t sure if you actually intended to do this restoration business or if it was merely a business project you were doing for University.

 

 

 

Oh, here is the website of a local dealer who imports oldbikes. http://www.spikeisla...orcycles.co.uk/

 

 

EDIT: Don't know why link came up like this, I tried editing it but still useless. They are spikeislandmotorcycles.co.uk

Checkout their '68 V7

[Guzzirider]

There is a huge demand for used Guzzi / Italian parts in Europe so my question would be where would your source your bikes from?

Every bike that comes up for auction is normally bought for good money because traders know they can strip them down and make a profit on the parts. Would you be happy to bid against European breakers, pay more than them to secure the wrecked bikes then pay to import them to the States?

 

I wish you well and am sure you could succeed but you may need to think carefully about how you source your bikes.

[EvanB]

For the moment I am only doing this for a class. If I complete the business plan and it looks feasible I may proceed with it in a year or two.

 

I still need to research more about sourcing the bikes. Shipping them from Europe was just one idea and I need to look into it more.

 

As far as the American annual vehicle testing being tougher than in Europe I suppose that depends on where it is. Here in Ohio we don't have any testing for motorcycles or cars in most of the state, emissions or otherwise. Other states have emissions testing for vehicles over a certain age, in some states, motorcycles are exempt from what I have read.

[luhbo]

... Here in Ohio we don't have any testing for motorcycles or cars in most of the state, emissions or otherwise. Other states have emissions testing for vehicles over a certain age, in some states, motorcycles are exempt from what I have read.

 

How does motorcycle trading work across the USA then? Could you bring a bike to Ohio, get it road legal there and then trade it to California for instance?

 

Hubert

[gstallons]

You will have to obtain the motorcycles for free to in order to make a profit on the amount of charges/expenses that will pile up on you before you sell each bike.

[EvanB]

... Here in Ohio we don't have any testing for motorcycles or cars in most of the state, emissions or otherwise. Other states have emissions testing for vehicles over a certain age, in some states, motorcycles are exempt from what I have read.

 

How does motorcycle trading work across the USA then? Could you bring a bike to Ohio, get it road legal there and then trade it to California for instance?

 

Hubert

 

If a bike is road legal in Ohio and you sell it to someone in California they will probably have to have emissions testing on it depending on the age. Generally if a motorcycle is legal in one state, it will be legal in any other state as long as it passes whatever emissions testing (if any) is present in the state it will be registered in.

 

In the case of bringing motorcycles over from Europe, if I ever did it, they would only be for parts so I wouldn't have to deal with getting them road legal.

[luhbo]

That reminds me of some similar business back in the 80ies with Morocco. They virtually weren't allowed to import used cars or spares there, so some blokes specialised on Daimler travelling. They organised Daimlers (and similar cars) and drove them over the border where their partners immediately cross transplanted everything useful with worn out parts. Only thing important was: the frame number HAD to make it back out over the border, otherwise you had to pay the extraterrestrial import taxes - what could be somewhat difficult from inside a medieval Moroccan jail.

 

Hubert

[Skeeve]

How does motorcycle trading work across the USA then? Could you bring a bike to Ohio, get it road legal there and then trade it to California for instance?

 

Hubert

 

If a bike is road legal in Ohio and you sell it to someone in California they will probably have to have emissions testing on it depending on the age. Generally if a motorcycle is legal in one state, it will be legal in any other state as long as it passes whatever emissions testing (if any) is present in the state it will be registered in.

 

In the case of bringing motorcycles over from Europe, if I ever did it, they would only be for parts so I wouldn't have to deal with getting them road legal.

 

As a resident of the PRK ["Peoples Republik of Kommiefornia,"] I can tell you that there's no emissions on bikes prior to the 2006 model year, and there's no followup [as there are with cars every other year] and if it has more than 7501 miles on it when you bring into CA then it is a used vehicle and they can't enforce any of CA's inane laws ex post facto [nor collect CA sales & 1st registration taxes on it, more importantly.]

 

Bringing motor vehicles of *any* sort Stateside & trying to register them here is a PITA, unless they're more than 25 years old: if the latter, you've got a bye from Federal EPA & NHTSA regs as a "classic or collector vehicle." [i only know this because I was recently looking into the absurd prices for my 1st car, a VW Kombi, and discovered that about the only option to find one at a decent price would be to import it from Brazil where they were still made after VW closed up shop in Wolfsburg, et al. Decided that if I want a proper air-cooled motor in my van I was better off buying American and am now looking for a Corvair Greenbrier [which the VW T25 "Vanagon" copied the looks of 15 years later! Those Chevy stylists were really ahead of themselves... ]]