Feed Back
FEED BACK
Readers, as well as those involved in the motorcycle industry, are invited to have their say about motorcycles they own or have owned. Anything is fair game: performance, handling, reliability, service, parts availability, lovability, you name it. Suggestions: be objective, be fair, no wildly emotional but ill-founded invectives; include useful facts like mileage on odometer, time owned, model year, special equipment and accessories bought, etc.
PUERTO RICAN RIP-OFF
I am enclosing a copy of a letter that I sent to American Honda. This is a good example of what can happen when a manufacturer restricts competition by
granting a single franchise for a small area with a potentially big market. One would normally think that the problem would correct itself, but the crux of the problem is that there is no competition. Honda must have about 80 percent of the market here, Yamaha and Kawasaki about 15 percent, and Triumph, Bultaco, Montesa and others five percent.
Honda is the only marque with reasonable parts and service availability throughout the island. Getting parts for other marques is difficult at best. Service outside of metropolitan San Juan is non-existent. If you want a motorcycle with service and parts available without the hassle of mail ordering, you have one choice: Honda. Then, too, the other distributors are guilty of monopolistic pricing. A 900cc Zl Kawaski, for example, lists for more than $3000.
The only alternative to local high prices is importing a machine from the Virgin Islands or the States. Would you believe you can buy a CB750K4 in Los Angeles for $2024 (as of April 15th of this year), pay the California state sales tax of $122, air freight the bike to San Juan for $185 dollars, and still come out for only $2331. That’s less than my dealer can buy one for from the distributor, Bella International.
I would hope that by publishing the contents of my letter, it would encourage American Honda to do something to
correct this, the great rip-off of the Puerto Rican motorcycle enthusiast. My letter follows:
About six weeks ago I wrote to you complaining about the exorbitant prices charged for Honda motorcycles here in Puerto Rico. I received no answer from you or your firm and I suppose I never expected one. Your distributor, Bella International, must have an ironclad contract.
Why I’m bothering to write again is thus: I just returned from a vacation on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, about 50 miles southeast of Puerto Rico. While in Christiansted, I stopped by Virgin Island Honda to compare prices. Below is the result of that comparison.
Please note that, with the exception of the CB7SOK4 and CBSSO, all of the above were on the showroom floor in Christiansted with the prices tagged on them. Also please note that: 1) Freight to either island is equal from any given point of origin, be it Japan, Los Angeles or any Gulf port; 2) Taxes are equal for motorcycles on either island, there is no added import tax as on automobiles.
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It is pretty evident that the Puerto Rican motorcycle enthusiast is being taken to the cleaners and has been for all of the four years that I have lived here. It seems only logical to me that if Honda motorcycles were sold in Puerto Rico for the same prices as in the Virgin Islands, you would be selling more motorcycles here. Check the sales of Hondas in Puerto Rico over the past two months and you will find that you have a very slow-moving product.
It was on April 15th that Bella International jacked up its prices to this level, whereas they were already too high—a 750 was $2450 the day before. And this is only half of the story. Parts are out of sight. An example is a 450 carburetor that was quoted by a motorcycle magazine as a $30 item. Here it costs $80. Why do you suppose local dealers buy many of their parts from stateside distributors and substitute other brands when available or adaptable for Hondas?
By allowing Bella International to charge exorbitant prices, you are hurting the Puerto Rican motorcyclist and a group of loyal dealers who, perhaps for lack of an organization of their own, simply grumble and gripe a lot about Bella. I’m an enthusiast who wants to buy a 750 for a fair and reasonable price from a longtime friend, my local Honda dealer. We’re both entitled to the same break as enthusiasts and dealers in the States or the Virgin Islands. I think it is about time you did something about setting things straight.
Victor H. Hanson Villalba, Puerto Rico
We received the following letter from Victor Hanson just a few days after the first one. — Ed.
I got your postcard today stating that my recent letter will be published in a forthcoming issue. I want you to know that I really appreciate your effort to help us.
In fairness to American Honda, I am including a copy of their reply to my letter to them. You might want to include it if this arrives prior to your press deadline.
I also submitted a copy of my letter to American Honda along with a request for an investigation of possible unfair pricing practices to the Department of Consumer Affairs of the Puerto Rican Government. Their reply, written in Spanish, states that motorcycle pricing is not under their control and, therefore, subject to the usual market factors of cost, supply and demand.
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Since both American Honda and our local government feel they are unable to do anything to correct what I feel are monopolistic pricing practices, publishing my letter in CYCLE WORLD appears to be the best first step to informing the Puerto Rican motorcyclist and the local dealers. Through my own activities in local motorcycle competition events I hope to make known to local enthusiasts what Bella International is doing to them. I hope it will have the desired effect and, should Honda sales in Puerto Rico take a turn downward, I’m sure Mr. Sakama, Honda National Sales Director, will forget about the laws barring interference and begin to recognize the need for competitive pricing.
Your help is very much appreciated.
Victor H. Hanson
Dear Mr. Hanson:
In reply to your letter of July 10, 1974, commenting on the difference in the price charged for Honda motorcycles in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, please be advised that under the law the retail prices charged by a subdistributor or a dealer must be determined solely in his discretion and we cannot lawfully control, directly or indirectly, the price that the dealer or sub-distributor may charge on the Honda motorcycle.
The laws of the United States and Puerto Rico do not permit us to interfere with the selling price of our products by our sub-distributor or its dealers.
I am sure that you were not aware of such laws and had written to us in good faith.
We appreciate your interest in our product.
T. Sakama National Sales Director
DITTO
I am the*owner of a 1972 Yamaha XS2 650 of which I am very proud. As of now, the bike has a little more than 21,000 miles on the odometer and is running fine. The only major problems or repairs have been a new intake valve and rocker (that was about 5000 miles ago), a new clutch and new tires. Also, at about 13,000 miles I changed the front disc pads and the rear brake linings. Not too bad.
I know a little bit of mechanics, so I don’t ever let anybody do any work on my bike. I do everything at regular intervals, including the valve job.
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Now there is a problem—our dealer down here. He probably thinks everybody is a millionaire. He charges prices that are unthinkable. For instance, a pair of stock down pipes he sells for nearly $90. That’s without mufflers or clamps. I don’t know what they cost in the U.S., but $90? Fm sure it’s not that. The same goes for everything else if, and only if, he has the part that you need. Thank God I haven’t had to buy that many parts.
I bought my bike (my seventh) from a guy who came over here on a business trip. I got it with 300 miles on it for $1250. That was two years ago and every time I ride it, I love it a little bit more. Sure, maybe the handling isn’t like that of a cafe racer, but it’ll take me wherever I want to go, and whenever. No problem there.
Jaime Enrique San Juan, Puerto Rico
SIN-FREE SUZUKI
I would like to tell you about a really well-balanced motorcycle, my 1973 Suzuki TS185. It now has 1755 miles on it and I’ve never had a bit of trouble, save a burnt out neutral light bulb.
After I got it, the mirrors, turn signals, etc. came off as I hauled the bike to the riding parks in my Ford pickup. Cheng Shin knobbies went front and rear, but I passed switching to a 4.00 in back and stayed to stock 3.50. Then I got some decent off-road footpegs, unbreakable levers and Elsinoretype grips. A Preston Petty “Muder” replaced the stock front fender. I’m now in the process of buying a 62-tooth rear sprocket (it depends what it cuts my top speed down to), and am considering a Bassani pipe.
As for maintenance, chain adjustment and cleaning of the air filament are the only routine jobs necessary. I also lube the clutch, brake and throttle cables with a Freedom Cable Lube set. The chain is stock and rarely needs lubed, except on dusty, dusty days. The bike has decent power for a Japanese machine, handles well, and gets great gas mileage for a two-stroke. My only regret is that when I bought the bike, I also bought a factory parts booklet and a shop manual. I’ve never had any use for them.
Jeff Stebelton El Amanda, Ohio
