The spare parts needed to keep a Honda CRF300L going while riding the green lanes around Leicestershire and Derbyshire can be expensive.
But Carle, our colleague with the strange obsession for getting covered in mud and extracting his CRF300L from wherever he last fell off it, possesses an uncanny ability to find a deal.
The first item he needed to replace was the rear shock. Then came a Sunday ride out to Humberside to collect a less-than-half-price set of tyres that had covered all of 10 miles before being swapped. These came via eBay, Carle’s happy hunting ground for low-cost motorcycle parts and accessories.
But when you need spare parts such as clutch plates, eBay might not be the best idea.
Honda Spares UK
A trip to the local Honda dealer resulted in a quote of £148 for a set of clutch plates. Expensive and worthy of an expletive or two, but not unreasonable. However, remember it is against Carle’s religion to pay the list price unless he absolutely has to.
Confident that he could improve on the Honda UK price of £148, Carle went internet shopping, and this is where BikerzBits in Thailand comes in.
BikerzBits
As the name suggests, BikerzBits is an online Motorcycle spares and accessories store. They are based in Bangkok and sell parts for most of the motorcycles and scooters manufactured in Thailand, which is a bigger range than you might think.
Most of the parts on their website appear to be factory originals, blended with the same parts the manufacturer bought to use in production. YSS suspension units are a good example.
As their source for genuine spares is the Thailand market, only some makes and models are covered.
However, if your idea of a fun weekend is exploring new and exciting places to fall off into the mud, and your bike was manufactured in Thailand, then BikerzBits are worth getting to know.
Knackered Clutch
The genuine Honda clutch plates from Thailand cost £65. On top of that, there was £35 of shipping and PayPal fees.
It might have been cheaper to pay via credit card. Still, with respect to BikerzBits, when dealing with an overseas company for the first time, it might be advisable to have PayPal as a buffer between the online shop and your credit card details.
That said, BikerzBits have a solid reputation on the CRF Forums and lots of very happy customers.
Nonetheless, explaining random credit card charges from Bangkok to other family members could prove entertaining.
Financial paranoia aside, the clutch plates duly arrived, resplendent in their Genuine Honda packaging and with all the correct markings. A saving of £48 compared to the UK price, thanks to having the time to wait a week for the parts to arrive.
Basket Case
When stripping the CRF to fit the clutch, it quickly became evident that a new inner clutch basket and compression plate were also required.
After a seven-day wait for the parts to arrive and being halfway into the clutch replacement, the frustration of not having all the parts prompted a second call to the UK Honda dealer in the hopes of getting the parts quickly, even if it meant paying a small premium.
Following the UK Honda dealer quoting £220 for the basket and pressure plate, compared to the £78 from BikerzBits, Carle opted to bank the £142 saving and ordered the parts from Thailand, even if this meant dealing with the frustration of a CRF in pieces.
Frustration then pulled a double shift as the parts were out of stock. However, patience is a virtue, and after an eight-day wait, the parts were dispatched and arrived in Carle’s hands three days later. Once again in genuine Honda packaging and with all the correct markings.
The kit from BikerzBits also includes the three clutch springs, which the UK kit does not.
Points to Ponder
Whereas this is a good news story, ordering parts from overseas has a few extra considerations.
Perhaps the most obvious is that a good-looking website and attractive pricing don’t equate to trustworthy people. A healthy dose of suspicion and doubt never hurt anyone.
VAT is also a consideration. For example, assuming the parts are for you and not for resale, the Government’s online information talks about personal allowances for goods bought overseas. Another document talks about the need to pay VAT on motorcycle parts.
After more digging, I came across an article on the Government website that states:
"You will not have to pay anything to the delivery company to receive goods worth less than £135 unless they’re gifts over £39 or excise goods (for example, alcohol and tobacco)."
The full text can be found here. Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad: Tax and duty – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Even if you do import parts worth more than £135 when the parts cost 65% less than they do over the counter in the UK, paying VAT on the value of the goods (not the shipping and PayPal fees) still makes whatever you are ordering less than half the UK price.
Naturally, no one would consider placing sequential orders to always stay below the £135 per limit now, would they?
