Ya hear that Touratech you suck!

I'm going to have that as my catchphrase, so how big is this Nick Plumb and do you think I could take him now that my leg is all better?

Ooo Hold on where's me Dad, Dad theres a bloke at the door days he wants a word with ya!

That reminds me of a Bill Hicks observation:

When I was a kid other kids would come up to me:
“My dad can beat up your dad.”
I’d go “When? He cuts the lawn on Saturdays; you can nail him out there.”

I have the book Long Way Round. I have looked at the pics of the 3 bikes they ran the bikes look fully geared up in TT stuff I also see the support truck following them If you think BMW and TT are going to let Ewan or Charley near the bikes with any tools your fooling your self. They also spent millions doing there trip and got payed to do it.

There bikes in New York looked almost perfect, to good if they crashed as much as they wrote. Any wonder how they did the trip I mean look 3 bikes and a support truck and full sponsorship! How do you not make it. Wonder if they used other people to ride the bikes to.

Hope BMW and TT dont think that people will pay for there stuff. I takes a film crew a tech and so much gear that you need a truck to hall it all and millions of $ gust to get your bike and boxes around the world once! To hell with that.

I have Zerga Boxes there ok. Seen some Metal Mule at the HU meeting in Nelson that box looked much nicer But Im going to try Happy Trails. Fit my bike well.

I have the touratech catalog from 05 (last time I tryed to get parts from them) its some 578 pages long most of it nice photos of people and bikes then there are the bits of kit they dont make but do sell then lastly is there AL. and plastic boxes and guards and bags. All of I have seen better of and for less. No idea why people use them.

I made a hasp for my pannier, it 3 months or so for TT to get me a new one saved the time and $ and did it my self.

But if you need it

Touratech USA / CycoActive inc.
701 34th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
USA

phone (206)323-2349
fax: (206)325-6018
toll free 1-800-491-2926
Email: sales@touratech-usa.com
Touratech-USA Motorcycle Adventure Touring Accessories from Germany
Touratech-USA Motorcycle Adventure Touring Accessories from Germany

I just read all the negative posts, all i can comment on is that I have not dealt with TT recently but a couple of years ago they were very friendly and offered a great service.

I must say after all the bad comments I would order carefully in the future.

At the Moto Andalucia 2007 meeting over the weekend I met a couple of German guys who were nice enough to run me through their Touratech kit.

I particularly liked the look and functionality of the Ortlieb pack sack (product number: 01-055-0150-0P).
From the UK agent it is £48.75 (69.96 Euro).
From the Spanish agent it is 58.23 Euro (£40.57).

Guess where I'm going to buy mine from???

__________________
http://www.moto-andalucia.com

Sounds to me, that if TT UK is such a diasaster, there may be an opportunity
for a bright, energetic entreprenuer (are their any left?) in the UK to go to Germany and make a pitch for a new distributorship, or buy out the UK guys or find another company and become a new distributor. Clearly demand exist.

We have some guys in the US (Jesse Luggage) that make some great specialty parts - I beat they would love to have a UK distributor.

Come on blokes - there must be an opportunity for someone inthis mess.

Heck, if someone in the UK needs something, contact me, I'll source it in the US, add 10% and ship within 10 days.

Hello all,

I have not had the best experience with Touratech. I have bought in the region of £2.5k worth of stuff for my GS this year. I was shocked by the price difference between the UK and Europe. I was told that I couldnt go to a store in Europe, and had to order from TT UK (which was a pain not just with the price difference but also I get paid in Euros).

So what did I do? I ordered the stuff from TTUK, they knew I would and reluctantly so did I as there was no other place to get some of the parts from.

I dont like the way that Touratech monopolize the prices, the lax customer service and the long delivery times because they are the only company that sells what they do.

My 0.02

Mike

Hi All,

I just got in infraction for the 'you suck comment.'

Reason: Reasoned derogatory comments are fine, direct insults - especially without any commentary to back them up - are not considered appropriate. Grant.

OK my bad sorry I will have to live with that beating, here is my commentary to back it up.

I actually have an OUTSTANDING ORDER with TT since (18 Oct) they have delivered only one of my two ordered and paid for Dual Pannier Bottle Holders (they had 11 in stock when I called), I was told the other one would arrive the next day but that was three days ago now and I'm still waiting for my other one to arrive.

When I called they were nice enough and said we will call you right back, well 4 hours later I called them as I was bored of waiting, and they said it will be with you tomorrow that was Tues it's now Fri and it isn't here.

I will call them again tomorrow if it hasn't arrived and let everyone on here know how things turn out, with ALL the other TT goodies on my bike and with how much trouble I've had with them in the past, I have earned for and paid for the RIGHT to say they suck.

Check out F650 Ride the World - A journey of Global Proportions and have a look my bikes like the TT catalogue, I have brief comments by the side of each item, and I have also given the parts ratings out of 10. And I still have one or two
TT parts that I might want like the Centre Stand Guard, or the Long Sump Guard depending on how beat up my bikes gets in Africa.

Sorry Grant I really didn't mean to put you on the spot, but I have GOOD grounds to say Ya hear that Touratech you suck!

Princetown September 2007

Nick Plumb was giving a talk about the Dakar Rally. He was asked how much it cost to compete each year, "£40k to £50k" he replied. He was then asked where he gets this sort of money from ie who pays for his entry. His reply was "You lot! Every time you buy stuff from Touratech UK". Straight from the horses mouth. I was standing close to him and heard him say it.

Sid

Nice one Sid



Trophymick

Thank you Sid for that I would have laughed but it's so true, but it goes to show that it isn't just me who is seriously falling out of love with the one company that supplies the parts that we all need.

I know that the GERMAN TT parent company supports this site as I've seen the logo on the home page and I really do feel bad about slating them, but then again I am paying well over the odds of kit here, Isn't there a Law against that I think APPLE just got smacked with it?

Still hopefully on a brighter note some efficient person at TT.DE will actively take an interest in how our feelings are changing towards them in the UK.

So with that in mind "I know I'm a nobody, I'm not an actor, a Dakar participent or a World Record Holder but I am out there doing it with YOUR KIT and I am after all A PAYING CUSTOMER."

Warmest Regards

Lee

There has been some deliberations on this subject on other forums
The outcome was/is that TT DE/UK are operating LEGALLY, and within the EU rules (yeah right)! The morality is questionable though
There are 3 ways to approach this problem,
1) carry on paying the UK prices,
2) get friendly with someone in Germany and do your shopping through them,
3) let your wallet/purse do the talking/walking and try and source alternatives
Unfortunately whining will achieve nothing, but as stated, there are choices
Don't let the dogs p*ss up your leg, keep moving


Trophymick

Thanks for that - interesting observation by NP and, on the face of it, this would appear to be pretty accurate and a refreshingly frank expression of how a business makes its money (could be interpreted very differently, depending on how he delivered that reply!). I guess he has other business interests as well and all of his various incomes may go toward his entrance fee & costs for the PD racing.

Princetown: that's one of the Beemer club meetings isn't it? Lots of BMW GSs with lots of TT accessories attached if the Beemer meetings I have been to are any example. Incidentally, I have looked around quite a few second hand 1200GSs in a BMW dealership and many erstwhile owners have left their TT accessories on the bike when it was traded - you have to wonder why.
(Second incidental comment: I became aware a short time ago that you don't have to actually own a BMW bike in order to join the UK BMW club).

I have always thought that the TT products are very pricy - I often pick up the glossy catalogue at some show or other, flick through it later and buy nothing (never have purchased their stuff). One or two things in there would be of some use, most are "glitsy".
Someone has to pay for the glossy brochure and the stand at the show and the guy/girl who was on the stand etc.

Apart from the basic pricing of the product being high, I would doubt that double shipping would pay overall - postage out of Germany and then onward postage within the UK can't be economical, even if someone does that as a favour and does not charge for their time and effort (i.e. they do not take a business approach); better for TT authorised distributors to bring the goods into the UK in bulk (assuming that is actually done and they don't work a system of posting from Germany once a definite order is processed).
Better still if TT would take orders worldwide in this day and age of online shopping!

So, there are no answers here in these few thoughts; maybe just buy some other product than TTs?

__________________
Dave

I ordered a mount for my Garmin 276c on the TT UK website last Sunday and it arrived on Wednesday by recorded delivery.
I placed a couple of orders last year for parts for my KTM950 and they all arrived within a reasonable time.
Yes their stuff is pricey, but if you think about the time required to design and tool up for small quantities of model specific parts then it's understandable.
If you think their prices are unnreasonable then go elsewhere....

That would indicate that TT UK do indeed hold stock items here; it is unlikely that they hold every single item that is in the German TT factory, which may explain why some things take longer to deliver than others.

Anyway, it seems we are all agreed that the answer is to shop elsewhere, knowing full well that there have been many other instances over the years of poor service from the motorcycle trade!

ps A few months ago I looked into buying a particular motorcycle item from the USA; I used email to contact 2 stores that claimed to do online retailing. One did not bother to reply and the other did not want to quote a price for shipping to the UK.

__________________
Dave