I would agree with many of the posts. (Being scottish) I hate the thought of wasting money, although I am happy to pay a bit extra for good quality products which last longer therefore representing good value. I also recognise that a balance has to be struck. Retailers are there to make money and designing, testing and promoting products can be expensive and this cost has to be passed on. The effect of this can be quite substantial on niche products with a comparatively small production run.

The relationship between a retailer and customer is also important as good service can add perceived value to product and gain loyalty. Being seen to exploit customers can however have the opposite effect. I made a screen for my bike in my shed using a piece of shaped plastic, a jigsaw, plane and sandpaper. Since then I have sold around 100 similar screens to other riders, funding a european trip and a number of mods to the bike. I only charge £20 for the screens (delivered) despite being told many times I should charge more. Anyone could go out and spend a little time sorting out a screen like mine but generally they are happy for me to do the legwork as finding the correct material, and trying a few designs until the correct one is found probably costs more. I have no intention of increasing the price however as I can't justify to myself charging a commercial price for something that I make in my shed. I also don't want to take advantage of people.

Although my bike does have a couple of TT accessories I have no intention to buy any more as the UK dealer has set prices 20% above the rest of europe. This to me is exploitation of their posisition. Unfortunately the european distributers will not ship to UK addresses, however I do have contacts in France and Spain should I decide in the future that I can't do without a TT product.

As for the OP, I can't see why anyone needs to spend $2500 on a riding suit and $7500 on other parts. Save your cash and spend it on petrol!

Whatever happened to this Tiger guy? It looks like he was planning a South America trip back in August. Must have just been blowing steam. Kinda curious what the real story behind all this was. Oh well....

Can´t say anything bad about their customer service. When missus got her new Transalp three years back, the crashbars were still in development and they went the extra mile to get her the first available set in time for her first safety training, even calling me on a Saturday to set up things. When the crashbar design later turned out to touch the ground in sharp turns, they´ve been quick to recall and exchange the bars. I´ve got stuff such as heavy-duty pannier holders, satnav holders, an excellent sumpguard etc. from them and have always been served very friendly and professionally. What I see in their forum and hear from others is that they look after their customers and go the extra miles on issues such as wiring harnesses between new satnavs and new model bikes (and by no means only BMW), in warranty matters on equipment they sell but not manufacture etc. I have a tankbag (or whatever they are called in English, sorry) from them for my Africa Twin, which is often considered the best on the market, made by KAHEDO (Karl-Heinz Dorn) and distributed by TT. I know that KAHEDO even makes a stabilizing insert for these bags if they are asked nicely and the TT guys made sure they sent one of these non-standard inserts with the bag when I called them up for my order and asked them to consider this.

Quality sometimes could be improved; there have been many things I had to "finalize" for them, e.g. occasionally complete the cutting of a thread in a screwhole, enlarging a hole etc, but nothing major. I´ve been in each case making sure to let them know and have received both good answers, a thank you and an occasional goodie. The stone guard for my headlights simply did not fit and were returned. The TT crashbars for the Africa Twin proved to be unusable because the bars were snug-fit to the fairing, which required to completely remove the bars in order to remove the side fairing, which is a no-go, however I have friends with the same type of bars which fit better. The matter was discussed both by mail and in their TT forum (postings are still available there), they agreed that it was not optimal, took the bars back and that was that, no sweat and no hard feelings. What I got and kept (which is 90% of what I ordered over the years) still works great, including the lockable satnav holders on both bikes for our Garmin Zumo, which are imho a beautiful piece of engineering for a reasonable price. However, they are not alone on the market and whilst I don´t fancy certain other manufacturers of accessories (no need to bash them here), I came to like stuff from SW Motech (Germany) and Rugged Roads (England) as well. But I will return to TT if there´s stuff missus or I need and have no reason not to expect both excellent service and reliable, well engineered and durable product once again.

Cheers
Chris

Touratech Sucks Reply
 

I with great disappointment must agree. Touratech Canada has no customer service whatever, and just doesn't care (unless of course you speak Canada's official second language). They disregard emails, deliver late, take your money online for items that are not in stock, confuse orders, and leave items ordered on back order for long periods of time without apology or concern. If you complain they don't answer. I have owned 5 GS/GSA's over the years, and, as we all do, have loaded them all up with after market extras, and in the process have dealt with many other online companies. Touratech has for me acquired a well deserved position at the very bottom of the list of companies I have ever dealt with. I will not order from them. Even if they are the only people with what I need and have to wait to get it elsewhere. Very sorry. Total thumbs down.

Dan, Touratech will never be the only company that you can get what you need from. There are hundreds of smaller companies with a more limited advertising budget that can help you. And if not, there is always someone who can make you what you need with ten times the quality and with a smile and handshake. And usually for the same price and often cheaper.

This is all very true, Ted!

If there is something that you've specifically seen from TT that you like, I'd buy it from TT sourced retailer. Here in th UK, there's a site called Nippy Normans that sell TT equipment (other sites are available!), and they respond very well to queries and issues.