New owner looking for onilne stores with GS550 parts

[Guest]

Hey there Im a new owner of a '77 GS550.

In the past I've owned a '74 Honda CB450 and am familiar with sites such as Dime City Cycles, Common motor collective, and 4into1.com which offer a lot of parts for the early honda line. Im curious what are the go-to online stores for GS550 if they exist?

Thanks!

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Welcome to the forum.

https://www.babbittsonline.com/

https://www.bikebandit.com/

I've ordered from bikebandit, never had an issue, shipping tends to be a bit much, so order as much as you can together in one order. I've never ordered from babbittsonline. I'm sure there are more online stores and others will chime in with there experiences,

[Steve]

Bike Bandit is OK, but there are a couple of things you NEED to know about them.
1. They have their own part numbering system that does not match up with anything that Suzuki does. Just makes it harder to cross-reference anything.
2. They are the second-most expensive place to shop online for GS parts. Yes, they show a "Reference retail" price, but that price is higher than anyone else's, then they discount from that. Their "discount" price gets just a little bit below everyone else's "retail" price.
3. OK here's a freebie third item. I don't know how they do it, but they somehow manage to get most things ordered to you rather quickly.

With virtually ALL of the online vendors (including walking in to your local Suzuki dealer), you place an order. The vendor has to compile enough orders to meet a minimum order from the warehouse. That might be the same day, a few days later, maybe even a week later. The warehouse then ship all the parts to the vendor, who then has to separate all their orders, then re-pack them and ship to you. Figure on a minimum of two weeks. If you walk in to a local dealer, you eliminate the shipping time from the dealer to you, but you still have about one week for the dealer to get the parts. Somehow, Bike Bandit manages about a week on orders.

One of the forum favorites is Parts Outlaw. Prices are among the cheapest, still the two-week wait time, and a flat-rate shipping of $9.99. That is great when you have a bunch of parts, but really sucks if you only need a couple of specific things you can't get at the hardware store that only cost a couple of bucks.

The good news overall is that most of the parts are still available. There are exceptions, of course, and they would be some of the little detail parts of an assembly, or the electronic bits. Fortunately, you have found the forum where many of us know where else you can get them.

.

[Downs]

I stopped using Bike Bandit years ago just based on pricing.

I'm a big fan of Partzilla and Rocky Mountain ATV if I order online.

I swung by my local dealer earlier this year to see what their prices were and surprisingly they were only 3 or 4 dollars per part above what online parts were and I don't have to pay for shipping and they're usually there within 2 business days. To me that close of a price difference is worth supporting my local brick and mortar store and the quick shipping is well worth the few extra bucks as well. I post that because it may be worth looking at. I've got a pretty good relationship with the parts department of that dealership now and it's paid off a few times.

[GSXR7ED]

I've used Partsoutlaw for more than 90% of my bike. I bought two clutch cables and braided line in LA (Upland) and my shocks & 4-1 exhaust from Z1.


Ed

[cowboyup3371]

Parts Outlaw, Z1 Enterprises, and my local stores for any parts while specialty electrical parts from Vintage Connections or Cycle Recycle II

[bwringer]

One of the neat things about vintage Suzukis is how many OEM parts are still available.

Poke around the websites of your local dealerships, too. Many have an online parts division, so you can get the best of both worlds -- convenient online ordering with low prices, and you might be able to go pick up your stuff in person to save on shipping. And it's a good excuse to go for a ride and drool on some new bikes, look at gear, etc.

For example, this is the parts division of a dealer local to me:

https://www.onlinecycleparts.com/

There have got to be some good choices in Southern California.


For aftermarket parts, http://Z1enterprises.com is excellent.
http://sonicsprings.com for fork springs.
Also, Cycle Recycle here in Indy is a fantastic resource: http://newmotorcycleparts.net/
They're also great for used parts, but this is difficult unless you're local and can physically stop in with the old part in hand. They do sell a lot of stuff on fleaBay, and if you're after something specific, they're worth a call (just be patient; it's basically one guy, Rob, with all the knowledge.)

[alke46]

I use my local dealer's site and have the ability to search for OEM parts. It links me up to PartsFish where I order the needed merchandise and take a twenty minute ride across town and pick it up to avoid shipping delays and prices. For OEM parts, I usually get them within 5 business days.
Sometimes I am able to use RockyMountainATVmc.com and they may have the item on hand, then it is a simple 2-3 day mailing item.

[Nessism]

I like Partzilla.

[nspriego]

Thank you all so much, wasn't expecting so many great responses - cool community!

[fbody_mike]

I'm impatient so I want the parts in stock when I order. Chaparral Motor Sports in San Bernardino CA used to be my primary choice but lately they have let all of their OEM part stock go to back order. They still have a giant selection of tires and are good about having fresh stock. I too now use Partzilla for most of my OEM orders, they have most things in stock and when they don't they give really good estimates on when it will ship and will give updates via email. Many of the other online guys kinda leave you guessing when the part will ship.

[Mr.humbucker]

Partzilla has a wide variety of stock but as has been said they are expensive for single items with shipping costs and not too speedy. Depending on the item/need I sometimes want the item fast and Partzilla is not that fast. The one I go to now, which isn't one of the big online suppliers is Everett Powersports on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/everett_powersports/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

I have two GS550T and have had a few others that I have restored. Everett Powersports has been my prefered choice as the prices are good, free shipping and they were very fast. Keep in mind they are down the road from me in Washington State to where I have them shipped to but what I found by following the tracking posting for eBay was they don't waste anytime getting the order processed and in the mail.

One last thing in Partzilla, I ordered the case emblems a year or two back and they shipped them in a non-protected envelope. Somehow they were bent a bit and it left a crease in the face of the emblem. I didn't pick the package up for a week or two from our place in WA State where I ship to (being a Canadian) and when I went to return them they said they had a policy that after a short time there are no returns. I don't remember how long but it was prettying short. I even called/wrote they customer service folks and to no avail - got the run around. I even made the suggestion that for future orders that these items should be shipped in a hard sided package. Others emblems I have received since from other providers came in a small box. That was my second strike with them as they sent me an incorrect choke cable prior to this and swore it was the right one and again no refund as I picked the one I needed from Everett Powersports. So .... I avoid Partzilla and deal with the little guy (Everett Powersports) instead where I can.

[Nessism]

It's my understanding that most of the various OEM sources, Partzilla, Bike Bandit, Parts Outlaw, etc, don't stock the parts themselves. They receive the order from people like us and then they place an order with Suzuki. If the part is available in their closest Suzuki warehouse they can have it pretty fast, if not, Suzuki will cross ship from another warehouse and that causes a delay. Once the order comes in from Suzuki they need to repack it for shipment to us.

Bike Bandit is the fastest source I've found for my area. They are not cheap but when I want something, they can usually get it to me in about 4 days or so it's worth it sometimes. I've had other things, where the parts need to come from across the country and that takes a long time to arrive. Bike Bandit will ship a partial though so that's a bonus. At any rate, you can't be in a big hurry when it comes to parts for 40 year old bikes or you will be disappointed.

[748cc]

Trolling this thread up to the surface here:

I too have had great OEM parts & service with Everett Powersports. Through their eBay listings I brought in several parts at respectible pricing, and fast professional delivery. Parts Outlaw's delivery time was pokey and pricing was borderline high. My goto is Everett Powersports first and foremost.