Possible new Super products...

[snakebitten]

I gotta be honest. I have to make a fair amount of bucks to sustain the burn rate that my family has grown accustomed to. (code for "spoiled"). And I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm grateful for the amazing blessings living in this country has afforded me.

I say that to say this: not one vendor owes me an apology for trying to make a profit. To support their family. Or their employees families. And while I will jump on a good deal when it fancies me, I am far more likely to buy based on service and product quality.

I am amazed at the expectations of the consumer today. Borders on entitlement. Crazy.

Folks need to try to live on tips sometimes. Might change the way you feel next time you decide what it is worth to have some college kid, or single mom, or old widow serve you your grits.

Rant over.

 

[cosmic]

I want a tail tidy finally. There's one for every other bike on the market but the s10.

©

 

[autoteach]

@Autoteach - I understand part of your rant, but not why you failed to answer any of my questions, but quoted my post. I asked to gather more info. I have some ideas on a tank bag ring mount, but am not sure how applicable it would be for weights beyond tankbag weights. Yes, I'm a vendor. But I'm not going to invest a lot of time trying to bring a product to market only to find out that no one is interested because it's over most people's price point. That seems to be what Jaxon is running into with your comments. I note that he's gotten better about public pricing, with prices listed on his web site now.

The questions you asked were not aimed at me. They were aimed at another forum member who stated a want or need. What I am doing here is trying to organize forum members to express wants or needs that a manufacturer of adventure parts would make if the market is there.

 

[EricV]

I enjoy developing a part. But I haven't done anything to offer for the S10 since the front two brake line kit. I no longer sell those because I realized that no matter what I see as obvious or normal, someone can still mount them differently and suffer a failure. I warrantied one leaking hose. That killed all the profit for the 8 sets of hoses I sold, plus a bit more. I decided the liability for that product wasn't one I wanted to maintain.

This market is customer driven. In some cases what I want will also be what others want, but certainly not always. The same is true for everyone else. The trick is what might be unusual enough that it's not out there already, but still has enough appeal to sell in a volume that costs out for the development efforts and vendor costs.

Sure, this is a tiny segment of the larger market. Unlike Jaxon, I don't have an established business with a significant monthly overhead. Make no mistake, I do have monthly costs that Ii still have to pay that are solely business related. That's both an advantage and disadvantage when working with vendors. They don't want to invest their R&D with my projects if they don't think I'm viable enough to sell large quantities of them.

Just a little peak into the realities of getting what you want onto your bike.

 

[tinayafatlard]

I want a tail tidy finally. There's one for every other bike on the market but the s10.

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I agree! I finally just made my own.

 

[EricV]

I suspect the market is small for a tail tidy due to it being an off pavement ADV bike. Speaking only for myself, I do ride in mud, rain, etc and don't like it spraying all over the back any more than it already does in those conditions.

On the flip side, there are so many generic license plate brackets/tail tidy kits that you can roll your own fairly easily, as long as you're willing to do some cutting.

 

[cosmic]

Gosh, that one Is beautiful. Did you have to cut anything?


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[EricV]

Gosh, that one Is beautiful. Did you have to cut anything?


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I'm sure Tinayafatlard will speak up, but the whole rear from under the rack, what the tail light is bolted to to the tip at the bottom is one piece. BRACKET, LICENSE 23P-21685-10-00 1 $35.49 $24.06 The Good news is that $24.06 price is the retail from Parts Shark, so it's not too expensive to replace or buy a second one to cut down if you want.

 

[tinayafatlard]

Gosh, that one Is beautiful. Did you have to cut anything?


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i cut off the part im holding in the pic. I used a fender eliminator for a gsxr 1000 and did a little bending to it and inverted it. Theres a thread with the part number somewhere. It was a way to kill a rainy saturday. I was a little nervous to start, but after seeing how inexpensive a replacement was i had to do somthing about that hideous mud flap. I thank JamieV for the idea. He posted a step by step of his fender chop and eliminator idea.

 

[cosmic]

Tnx Eric & Tinaya. I recall i had a small conversation with Jaume about this mod, but never had balls to do it. At this price point i just might try something out. What is the actual part number and the manufacturer for the Suzuki holder? Looks like Puig...

 

[EricV]

There are about 2600 of them on ebay if that's an option for you. I'm sure there are some sport bike oriented web vendors that carry them as well.

 

[tinayafatlard]

Tnx Eric & Tinaya. I recall i had a small conversation with Jaume about this mod, but never had balls to do it. At this price point i just might try something out. What is the actual part number and the manufacturer for the Suzuki holder? Looks like Puig...

wow, good eye! Yes, it is a puig kit for an 03-04 gsxr 1000. The part number on this kit was 1613N (upc# 1 613000 000780) I chose this one because of the slots on the side that work with the bolts to the side of the tail light. And the width was perfect. Its on upside down from its intended use and bent upward a bit, but thats it. Im sure there are others that could be made to work too. But I searched and measured alot of them untill i found this one. The only part that takes a little attention to detail is cutting the fender. Theres a few molded in braces that you have to trim carful as not to leave a visible hole into the hollow sections. No biggie though. And the small silver bolt just below my tail light is a small led i have for a plate light. One small hole and it kept it low profile and the wiring enclosed in the tail. But it would be nice if a kit was manufactured for the s10. My wr250 has less of a fender now and its made for the dirt. So I dont think such a large unsightly mud flap was necessary.

 

[cosmic]

Tnx a lot. As soon as I recover from this Xmas shopping madness, I'll get to it.

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[snakebitten]

Re: Possible new Super products...

Decided to illustrate what I think would be a legit product for the Tenere. And even better, this product could easily be viable for all makes and models by simply adapting the appropriate tank ring.

I start by explaining what initiated my idea for what I call a "Tank Plank".
I have a Cortech Tank bag that uses a tank ring for mounting. And the concept was perfect for me until I ended up giving my bar location priority over everything else. By the time I had FlexBars raised and slid towards me, I fouled the location of the tank bag. Even with the bag adjusted as far rearward as possible, it still was in the way.

This is the gas cap portion of the tank ring Cortech provides for the bag:

And this is the Bag Mount portion of the coupler mechanism:

Look closely and you can see Cortech provided a clever method of adjusting the location of the coupler to allow perfect positioning of the bag when mounted. This kinda implies that I might have my bars in an extreme location. But I don't think so. I suspect it's just the luck of the draw for me. The combination of Tenere tank opening location, seat, bars, and bag are outside the parameters the designers considered for the Tank bag adjustment plate. Thus, as is typical in my life, I'm snakebit.

Used to it. I digress.

So, I remove the entire coupler and adjustment plate from the bag. Then I attach it to the bike. Here are a couple of views:

(This post is in progress. I am saving it as I continue to add\edit it)

 

[snakebitten]

Re: Possible new Super products...

So what's my point?

I can live with the loss of my tank bag. After all, this is my adventure machine and it now equipped with all kinds of soft & hard luggage accessories. I can mix and match various options depending on my needs. Solo, 2-up, commute, long run, dry or wet weather........

But I miss the convenience of the tank mounted cargo carrier. Especially the easy detach and take it in with me aspect. But now I think if someone created a clever and elegant "Tank Plank" that gave me the option of what I wanted to carry over the tank, it would be a great product.

There could be a choice of plank lengths. It might even have pre-indented recesses cut into it and the buyer could break it off at whatever length they wanted. (Like a big Hershey Bar)

It could have various attachment points, ranging from simple holes drilled into it for small tiedowns, to marine type fasteners and other clever and cool hardware solutions.

I might just strap on a small bag for gloves and glasses and cell phone. Or perhaps actually mount my Lumia 1520 and use it for Turn by Turn or Bluetooth audio.

The emphasis is on versatility.

Anyways, just an idea. I'm gonna mess around with what I got now. But I'm sure you guys could come up with something brilliant.

Cheers!

 

[twinrider]

Re: Possible new Super products...

So what's my point?But I'm sure you guys could come up with something brilliant.

I would buy a tank bag with magnets, which would allow placement on the metal tank where it doesn't foul the bars. ::013::