Anybody else tired of discontinued parts?

[swampthang]

While looking on service honda for some parts for my wheelers I realized that prolly 95% of the parts for trikes are discontinued. I guess that gives the green light for price gouging on ebay. Whats really bothering me is if parts keep getting harder to obtain whats going to happen to our sport? My question here is what would it actually take to recreate these parts? Surely with all the members on this site world wide theres someone or knows someone that has the capability to reproduce parts. What machines would you have to have? I Know theres machinist on this site that can build some amazing things ive seen it.

[jmax857]

i think for the most part, these parts have been in a warehouse since the 80's. as far as i know when honda builds a bike, they build a surplus of parts to go with them, leaving them with years of replacement parts.

[jeswinehart]

What exactly are you looking for ?

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/forumdi...mp-Development

[honda200x1987]

You are absoltuely correct, I have spoken with a honda rep on this subject before. When there was new model year ATC made there was a surplus of parts made then that's it unless they are in high demand. A few new parts are being made as we speak and only because the same part is being used on a new model year four wheeler. for instance the 2009 TRX450R clutch lever cover is the exact same part as the 1986-87 ATC200X. as shown here.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-H...item3a5f90bafb

i think for the most part, these parts have been in a warehouse since the 80's. as far as i know when honda builds a bike, they build a surplus of parts to go with them, leaving them with years of replacement parts.

[Twilight]

Call Honda, see if theres a mold or superceeded part and work from there.

The dealer north of me had all the 250r plastics and 350x plastics until last year. You never know whats out there until you call.

[Dirtcrasher]

We CAN reproduce many parts. It's the jigs, tools and die, injection molds and machining that aren't cheap.

I have no fears, I've upgraded to all TRX450R running gear, have crate motors to spare and I'll have inverts down the road.

I can make my own grommets from a better material (polyurethane) or change the way things are mounted to work.

I've tried making replacement parts, no one wants to pay. Sooner or later the die hards will upgrade or leave the sport.........

[honda200x1987]

Here is another fine discontinued part that is being reproduced by a member here! I think alot of u would want one because most are cracked... I want one and it's in the new product research & development section. http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...-bearing-cover

[swampthang]

I see the prices on some parts on ebay (ex:250r engine cases) and I wonder judging by price are they in that high of demand that you can sell them for that price? You would think an aftermarket company would produce something like that in small number to see if theres a market. Also items such as plastic(ex:Tri-z side panels) and headlight pods,when i see guys shelling out the big bucks for these things i see there value why doest a company?

[Dirtcrasher]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much tooling to reproduce a 250R case.

I blame the lazy people that ran bad bearings and a loose chain for the discontinuation of the left 250R case..........

People keep ruining parts and just buying a used or new one with no lesson learned - typical America style

[vintagemotorsports]

dirt crasher is right , most of you guys simply dont understand the cost involved in retooling a part to reproduce it , and as far as buying or getting any tooling from honda forget about it they will never sell tooling to an outside source EVER. they simply destroy all there tooling . and steve is right we have all tried to reproduce parts the right way and everone complains how high the prices are . I have some real good contacts to make spot on repro parts and i have been concentrating mainly on the US90 for now but have plans down the road to expand out to the more popular sport models but in this economy you need to be real carefull where you spend your money or you will be out of business in no time . its a matter of time all these parts will be dried up and i guess we will all deal with that as need be , till then support members like dirtcrasher (steve) and others with there talent to machine and produce parts and they will prosper enough to keep going .

[jmax857]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much tooling to reproduce a 250R case.

I blame the lazy people that ran bad bearings and a loose chain for the discontinuation of the left 250R case..........

People keep ruining parts and just buying a used or new one with no lesson learned - typical America style

i agreee, but at the same time there are mabny parts that dont outlast the life of the bike, for example do you know how hard it is to find a clutch cover for a tri-z that doesnt have a crack? imagine how hard it will be in 5 years.... or even ten. im stocking up on z parts because i know down the road i wont be able to get them, and at the very least they will be worth more money.

[swampthang]

Yeah thats what i figured about the 250r cases so thats no shocker. It just sucks how many Rs ive seen for sale that have a banged up left case. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE tighten your CHAINS for crying out loud! As long as theres guys trying to reproduce the smaller parts I think we will be fine for a little while down the road.

[Mosh]

We have people on these forums producing parts left and right. Mostly for the common machines.

But here is the whole problem.
I can pull up thread after thread of snivlers hassling the guys producing these parts claiming "they are junk" " take too long to make" or " too expensive.
Right here on this forum

Then you have those guys that say they will buy them, then don't and the parts makers is sitting with a bunch of parts and money tied up.

So I would figure, eventually we will lose the community suppliers as well.

[oldskool83]

gotta start running 4wheeler parts, keep the 3wheeler parts to a minumum, want a all orginal 3wheeler, park it in the garage.

[scuba]

It is like 15 years ago when I was trying to restore an old car, a 72' GS-350. You couldn't find parts back then, unless you came across one in the salvage yard. And then you would strip it for everything you could haul off. Now a days you can pick up a book and order anything from the smallest screw to a numbers matching motor out of a catalog. I have faith that in time we will be able to do the same for the ATC world. Maybe not for all rides, but at least for the most popular models ........