I am desperate to give Riky Cros in Italy about 400 quids worth of business but there is no number to call, no UK importer, emails go unanswered for months and there is no online ordering facility. "Go figure", as our American friends say, who usually know a thing or 2 about customer service

Aluminium Panniers
 

I've had a bad experience with Touratech UK. We ordered 2 sets of racks and panniers for XT600E's in August 2006 - 6 weeks before we needed them for our one-way trip from UK to Spain. Lots of phone calls later (and I was actually told on one occassion it wasn't helping that we were calling every week) they couldn't guarantee delivery. I said I needed to know if they couldn't deliver as flights were booked, the bikes were ready to go etc. Five days before we were due to leave, Touratech informed us they wouldn't be ready until October - 6 weeks too late. We were devastated.


We telephoned Metal Mule on the Thursday morning, they were sent to us on Friday, arrived on the Monday morning and we left as scheduled. We were on a very tight budget which arguably is why we chose Touratech in the first place, but they did us a HUGE favour. Metal Mules are worth the extra money and are a far more superior product. Check out their Q-Fit attachment system. My hubby had a rear shunt and the car lifted his bike up - it barely marked the panniers but the bumper on the car was cracked.

Metal Mules are quality panniers from a quality company - they respond straightaway to emails, they are helpful, friendly and they are interested in their customers. Touratech could learn a lot from them!!!

Oh, and Touratech called in January 2007 asking if I still wanted the panniers. Er, no!!!

Get Metal Mules instead, you won't be disappointed: http://www.metalmule.com/

Depending on what you're buying
 

Dick,
Just to say I've just received my crash bar from TT Belgium (3+ months wait), its from Ricky Cross (packing stickers included ... ) Hand Protectors are Acerbis, same with my tank bag....

I guess they have supplier problems...

However TT have the very best catalog available to date...



Matt
Honda RD04

A few weeks ago, I made a second order to Touratech, because, for some silly reason, I only ordered one pannier mount kit the first time around, so I had to put in a second order for the second set.

When the second set arrived, and I opened the package up to have a look, I noticed the difference in machining straight away. I didn't think it would be a problem, until I realised that the top mounting, which is comprised of a threaded bolt into a bracket type thing, had no thread locking compound applied (the two parts were meant to be fixed permanently together)... and all I had was a medium strength locking compund for regular fixings that wasn't up to the job of securing the parts together. I had to go out and invest in a stronger version, costing me another £3 (about $5.80) which I resented paying.

It was a simple thing: no locking compound applied, but it just struck me as really sloppy work, and a complete lack of QA. I didn't even bother complaining to them about it, because I knew it would just be a complete waste of time. I hope Touratech can fix little issues like this, becuase I, for one, will not be rushing back to them with my business, and I will not be unconditionally recommending them either. Nick Plumb, I hope you read this forum and see some issues that you need to resolve.

Hear Hear!!

I couldn't agree more.:thumbup: It may have something to do with the fact that the company boss is a bike traveller himself.

Derek.

Dick, what do you want to buy? As you know, others here may be able to suggest alternatives...

Touratech Australia
 

See my previous post in here. After I posted last, I ordered a set of crash bars from the Touratech dealer here In Victoria and they arrived three days later. It might not be quite as cost effective, but all you guys having trouble with the UK dealers, contact Touratech Aus. EXTREMELY helpful and great to deal with.:clap:

I bought direct from them last year - the email address I used is info@rikycross.it

Follow-up. After several more e-mails in January and dealing with the third employee, like the rest of the folks at TT, apologized about the problems and said she would work with DHL and find out where my parts were. Never heard from her again.............

Parts finally arrived in February. Ordered in October, received in February. Directions suck, but I finally got the bars on both bikes. Nice fit and finish, but DAMN! these folks are ridiculous to deal with. Never Again.

TT Pannier quality and delivery times
 

Despite never having ordered anything from TT personally, after meeting a few people from the UK who have a few TT fans from Germany, it seems that the UK TT dealer will wait until he has an order to the value of some thousands of GBP before placing the order with TT in Germany. So if you're unlucky and place your order just after he's placed an order, you'll have to wait until another customer wants something. This might explain why sometimes the delivery time is OK and sometimes why not. No Excuse for not keeping the customer informed though.

As for TT panniers, which I do have (they came with the bike) I would strongly advise against them. Although the ones I have are light and being square, very easy to pack, the quality is terrible. I had hoped they would have lasted my Americas trip and then some. But after the bike blew over in the wind the other day the base seam has come away, leaving a gaping hole along about half of the edge, and I suspect it would have been worse if the pannier was not so tightly packed. I'd hate to see what it would have looked like had I slid down the road with them on.
MikeS's Al Jesse panniers stood up to hitting a lamb and sliding a good few meters along Ruta 40, much more impressive. They've also got a much more secure locking system and despite being heavier, are much easier to carry.

Anyway, my two cents worth.

Michelle

Touratech
 

I emailed them a technical question regarding a product, they took 21 days to reply, dont think i will risk buying anything from them !!

Metal Mules
 

If you email Metal Mule Metal Mule Motorcycle Auto Luggage Systems generally you will get a reply from Stuart within the hour. Far superior service (and panniers) than TT.