Touratech sucks!!!!
 

I miss the days of good customer service. I have cancelled every item off my order to Touratech and will be taking that 10K to companies that appreciate their customers. You can expect my side bags to have one message - Touratechsucks.com.

You won't get much argument here. Overpriced and underserviced IMHO. Lets face it though, the Ewan and Charlie market is all they need to keep going so they won't really be worried.

My advice would be don't get angry, move on, use HUBB and the rest of the net to find the stuff developed by the real riders that is cheaper and better or just happens to fit. If you enjoy it, get even more pleasure from making your own. Do without the laser etched thing for turning a pannier lid into a combined heliograph and BBQ, spend the cash on petrol to go somewhere and share a burger with a local or fellow traveler.


Anyway, shouldn't say too much they are after all a competitor to my own site Poorer Trek - threewheelbonnienonbike :rofl:

Andy

Becareful what you say guys, look at the advertising logo at the top right hand side of the page!!
You will be :gun_bandana: until you :surrender: or :hang:

+1 What he said.

Nothing illegal about an opinion, and if it's justified and substantiated with evidence then keep posting... In the meantime take your business elsewhere and be the happier and richer for it. :thumbup1:

10k? I didn't realise they sold houses!

Have you looked a the price of TT stuff recently. You can't get a SatNav from them without forking out 1k!! Then there are the panniers, the barkbusters, the spare this and that and then you've come to a grand total of 235k plus VAT!!!:innocent:

They aren't selling houses they're selling dreams, and it's hard to put a price on a dream! :rofl:

If anyone is interested I can sell them a bike, with panniers, barkbusters, spare this and that and a map of THE WHOLE WORLD for 2 grand. That leaves 8 k for petrol, beer, food and women

I for one would NEVER go near this organisation = some good gear but very very overpriced for what it is. Their profit margins are way too high...

I know others who feel differently (most of whom have much more money than I).

Contrary to popular belief it's NOT unlawful to make negative comment about any firm/company/organisation providing the comment you make represents your TRUTHFUL experience of the product or company. There is precisely NOTHING anyone can do which includes the company you are slating.

Of course you may commit liable/slander if you state something which you know to be wrong/untrue. This is a civil wrong.

Palace15 With respect, what is the point of stiffling honest and open debate by posting comments like this? :nono:

I for one can't see any advertisments at the top of this page, but then again I value my privacy and use a number of effective programs to defeat ads from loading up.

If you value YOUR privacy have a look at "Ghostery", it's free, it's simple to download and set up and it's brilliantly effective.

I think the point was that Touratech contribute to the running of the Horizons Unlimited in the way of advertising revenue, so dissing them in the forum may be biting the hand that feeds you. There is nothing wrong with making true comments (although the gist of the first post was "Touratech are shit, I'm taking my cash elsewhere" doesn't really qualify what had upset the contributor) but don't expect Touratech to fund the forum for your frustrations.

I don't think you will have many arguments from those who know better than what they hear on the E&C DVD's.

What exactly were you going to spend 10K on. I think I bought my bike, kitted it out and then rode it to cape town and only spent 10k.

Hallo Everyone,


Here's my experience with Touratech:

Passing the North West of the USA, as part of my RTW trip, my bike desperately needed some repairs, and since I'm on a small budget, have no sponsors, no website/blog, and hardly check my Facebook, It was hard to find a workshop that will allow me to use their facility to repair the bike by myself. (I'm a mechanic)
A Travel friend from Seattle connected me to Touratech USA, and they responded immediately, saying I'm welcome to use their workshop in Seattle, asking nothing is return.
Yes, my bike is fitted many Touratech parts on it, which BTW, I'm very happy with, but there are many other bits and pieces on the bike that I've done myself, or got from Other suppliers. Touratech didn't care about that at all, and not only let me use their workshop for 2 weeks, they also helped me replace some of my worn equipment at great price, and even Invited me to join one of them to thanks giving!!!
Ive been traveling almost 3 years now, 4 continents, and 60 countries, and no company had ever helped me in anyway like Touratech did.
The only thing they wanted is to help a traveler, and "Keep me on the road".

So all in all, I can only say good things about Touratech products, and customer care. Are the parts expensive? yes they are. But they are well designed, tested, and will get you there and back.

Adam

Yeah, I can well believe they have some fabulous staff and genuine bikers and travellers on their books..

They still suck though. LOADS of stuff for a fraction of their price works just as well if not better.

They do make some great stuff but it doesn't qualify for it's price tag. Even stuff made by Garmin etc are LITERALLY up to 50% more than other retailers.

They can kiss my ass. They would sell LOADS more stuff and probably completely dominate the entire market if they sold at sensible prices. I guess that's a good thing though..

If I'm totally honest though the main reason I like to gripe about TT is that I don't have access to that sort of fabricating machinery, I can't get that quality of finish on my own work, they all work in a field that I would cut off my toe to work in and they're very successful at it. What a bunch of bastards!

I got a few TT bits on my bike but most have been bought secondhand at a fraction of the retail price.

Tt
 

I bough many TT parts and some of them no one else was selling them at the time , they are more $$ than many other but my experience was great as far as quality , no one have to buy thier stuff but many of us do so they must do something good ( I guess) , they are a great store and they do have to make a profit :(

Why the hate?
 

Tigers,

Just curious the scenario that brought on this forum thread? Did TT try to make things right after you expressed your disappointment? I would hope that if they understood what the problem was, they'd put effort into keeping a customer and fix the problem. It can be more constructive to explain the situation to everyone instead of just ranting that they have terrible customer service.

Just sayin'

Touratech sell (mostly) good expensive kit.

If you don't like the prices, shop elsewhere. It is a free market. No-one is forcing you to buy from TT.

If you are going to trash their product and / or service on an open forum where they are a sponsor of the HUBB, then you need to provide some factual basis for doing so.

TT is a business. They probably don't want to sell more. They want to sell their exact full capacity from their existing suppliers and machinery at the highest possible margin. This is where a laser cut thingy to cure the exploding gearbox issue on the 2012 model KTMW 880 GS replaces capacity for things that save the steering locks on BMW R80GS's. To continue to offer the old parts as though they are stocked then duck and dive is IMHO a serious failing. With engineering type businesses where I've had the same issues of huge demand and too great a step to increase capacity (it's a nice problem) I've always found an honest "we don't make that anymore" or "We'll do it as a special but it'll be 16 weeks" does less damage to the brand.

I hope TT view comments here as feedback rather than "Biting the hand that feeds you". The likes of Grant and Chris Scott created the Ewan and Charlies who buy the combined birdbath/BBQ/Heliograph/sump guard. If the Grants and Chris' here switch back to Army surplus, TT's issues in 2020 won't be too many people with too much money chasing too little laser cutting capacity.


Andy

I have a few bits & pieces from Touratech. I buy at the Hamburg store and they are always very friendly and helpful.

Yes, their stuff tends to be expensive, but often not much more than similar quality goods from other suppliers in UK or Germany.

I don't buy stuff like Garmin GPS devices, (except the non Garmin locking holders, etc). from them - usually check prices on the Internet for a reality check and go with the cheapest most reputable dealers for these standard items.

As said already, you pays your money and makes your choice.

Grey Beard

No one doubts the quality of the stuff being sold. It's the profit margin that most have a problem with. I think I speak for most when I say that the gear sold by this outfit is over-priced. I agree that nearly all of their gear is top quality.

Of course they need to make a profit but if this means inflating prices to ridiculous levels then perhaps they need to have a close look at their fixed overheads (property rental, shareholders dividends etc).

I think this outfit would sell much more if they adjusted their prices to allow the majority to access their products. This would allow specialised items to be lowered in price = profit by turnover as opposed to profit by high prices.

I wouldn't like to see them fail as much of what they offer is not available elsewhere. :thumbup1: But this isn't an excuse to rip people off with sky-high prices.

Perhaps it's unfair of us all to single out this firm because there are plenty of other companies who do the same thing...

My plumber charges £80 a hour! My solicitor £400 a hour, Dentist £200 a hour, Vet £300 an hour.... Far too many so called "experts" are charging ridiculous hourly rates. It will continue until we all refuse to use their services.... Madness! It's a vicious circle. Everyone will need to rip off everyone else just to survive. We ALL need to think again and come up with a fairer way to do business...

Thousands of workers earn just £6 a hour!!!!!!

Surely the problem with that is that by definition the more specialised the item the less likely it is for anyone to achieve high turnover?

Similar discussions from the past:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ouratech-37526

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...e-prices-56032

My view: If you don't want to pay the money then don't. There are other vendors too, or you can make your own, or just do without. You'd (or should I say "some might") be surprised how little bling you need.

Merry Christmas from Thailand.
C

I have been shopping mainly in TT factory (Niedereschach) and I do not have any negative comment for the service or support.
I know their parts cost more, but any time I have had any problems, I just went there and got things fixed without any additional cost (new zippers to my tankbag etc).
So only positive comments from my side to Niedereschach guys!

This thread is great for TT it's giving them lots of free advertisement, and if anybody’s seen Austin Vince slagging them off and getting paid for it I don't think they'll be worried by this.

Teedee

Equipping the Bike - What's the best gear?

This is the title of this Forum, this entire thread does fall under this title so i'm going to move it over to the HU Bar where it rightly belongs. Discussions/arguments like this always procedd better when there is drink involved.
Now where is the popcorn....

Does this make sense or what ???doh

Touratech
 

Hola todos,

it has been funny reading this thread, and of course I have my comments.

First of all, I have never bought anything from Touratech, so I cant tell you if the products are good, and this also means I can not tell you if the products are expensive.

So, *Tigers are cool* I can tell one thing: you can travel without there parts.

BUT: to complain about a company on a forum like this:

is not right, tell your story and and than we will all understand what went wrong and what can be learned out of it. So ... please tell us why you got that upset !!!

What Adam said made me very happy (I met him in BsAs a couple of month ago)

This Touratech spirit we need and for me this gave a very positive understanding about the company. So, maybe next time I earn some money I go shopping on there website.

Than some of words of *Kentfallen*


are so true, that I have to quote him and give my comment out this.

Yes, *Kentfallen* or Nick, you understand very well what is going on, your words come out of my heart. Thank you for this.

BUT:

Billions of people earn less than 1 USD a hour !!!!!

So, one more thing and than I go for dinner:

*electric_monk* is moderator here, and he moved this thread to the HUBB bar section.

for me this is censorship, nobody will read/find this thread anymore in a couple of month if it is in HUBB bar, but if it would be in Equipping the Bike section more people would still read it ...

Anyway he is the moderator, and who am I to tell him what to do.

So my final words are:

Long live the Touratech USA Seattle shop for helping out Adam !!!

Happy New Year !! And dont drink so much here in the HUBB bar.

Saludos de Salta

Mika

The strength of a Brand
 

Touratech Decal protection fork BMW R 1200 GS Adventure | eBay

3m film at my local hardware/stationary outlet is £5.99 for 2m, call it £3.00 per pair of forks. This is ten times the price. Can it be ten times better? Someone must think so. The value is in making the purchaser believe he got something ten times better. He's paying not to worry about the purchase.

Price is just price and is set by what the consumer will pay. It has no relationship to value unless the consumer fully understands the product. In this case a non-technical person could believe this film is somehow different to the 3M stuff. (which it might be). The cutting to size has to be value added.

Is the brand is weakened by some us realising the 3M film from Staples can't be that different? Only if a potential buyer is ready for the information. Some will want the comfort of "motorcycle specific" stuff. As we are in the bar now, dare I mention Harley branding? Technically, as a motorcycle it isn't top ten. No engineering test of time getting A-B or fuel used would rate it. As a brand giving the specific consumer the feeling they want, be it simplicity or a certain exhaust note it's number one.

As for the price of plumbers the choice is yours. Get a guy in who charges £10 an hour and take the risk he's clueless. Your choice. The alternative is false restrictions where we pick our plumbers and dentists based not on their ability to build up a list of clients who'll pay by doing a good job, but on what they want to do. If every job pays £10 an hour regardless of skills and training you'll have a queue of unemployed beer tasters at the dole office and the only ones volunteering to be dentists will be the ones who'll enjoy your pain. Try Soviet era plumbing, the retro feel isn't what most of us are looking for!

Andy

Is Tigers_Are_Cool really Austin Vince on the publicity wagon again? We will soon know if 'Tigers' next thread is 'All tents and riding gear sucks' and Ponchos and overalls are the way to go.:innocent:

To mika, who remarked about this post going to the 'bar' I once again say, look who is paying for an advert at the Top right hand side of the page, 'Don't allow the hand who feeds you get bitten'

Well it's still a form of rather clumsy censorship. This thread is pretty well balanced, not one sided. Hopefully Touratech would accept that.

Grey Beard

Well Touratech provided world overlanders, Simon & Lisa Thomas (listed Travellers on this board), an outstandingly generous lifeline when Simon suffered an awful experience earlier in the year. Some of you might already be aware of what happened. If not, then you can pick-up the gist of the story from post #1072 of the 2 Ride the World thread over on ADVrider.

My views and opinion of Touratech was hugely enhanced after learning about this. I would buy from them.


.

Wow, that's pretty impressive response from TT (Germany)

It has all been said before. It will all be said again.

My bet? The problems you are dealing with is with TT UK not TT world wide.

Try out Metal mule UK based and look good to me. They are in the "support our sponsors" as well Motorcycle Luggage Systems, Motorcycle Pannies and Bags | Metal Mule



For me I have some tt boxes got them used and they look it but work well.

Touratech stuff is ok, expensive but good quality ime.
10k on TT stuff is a bit wacko imo!:taz:
I got less than 6k invested in my entire travel kit, including the bike! If you're on a budget you got to go with the KLR and Happy Trails gear, best bang for the buck imho!
TT Thailand put on a nicely catered shindig for Simon and Lisa last year outside of Bangkok.

Hello Tiger

As suggested by others, please share with the HUBB the precise reasons for your gripe with TT. Otherwise your opinion would appear to count for a lot less.

cheerios
C

Your choice, always
 

Hi everybody

my thoughts ....

it`s always the customer`s choice, if the consumer doesn`t like it the producer will disappear, right !?

TT Headquarter in Niedereschach employs about 250 people, they all want money for their work, like you do bier
This is not Asia, labour and taxes in Germany are enormous (somebody has to finance the EU :D)

So what is this all about ....

Thomas

Hi,

Thats right. TT is expensive but simply works great. They sponsored me some nice things for southamerica after I published my africa trip.

Thanks a lot to touratech, Tobi

I agree - If you've got a problem with a supplier, especially one who contributes to this forum and it's events, you should exhaust all avenues of complaint with them before publicly rubbishing them on an open forum. If that fails then at least post the full details of your complaint to give it some credibility.

Just my opinion but if a company contributes to the running of this site and gets it`s logo posted like TT has it does it to improve their business and not purely for the sake of running this site.

If they then provide poor service or products it should not prevent them from getting a slating on here.

When you see how many RTW and long distance riders use this site it is obvious that TT needs our business to operate. On the other hand, I am sure we appreciate their support but I think their space would be filled quite quickly if they withdrew.

Don`t ever let the tail wag the dog.

Steve

Wrong !

Ask your yourself, How many RTW :scooter: are out there and are full equipped by TT .... 100, 200, 300 .... I think less! They spend theier money on travelling .... :D

Most of their stuff is bought by the so called coffeshop-rider ..., meaning: I won`t RTW but I could .... doh

But most of us don`t have the skills and/or the workshop to built all these
farkles :smartass:
Most of their stuff is good and don`t underestimate the costs of developing the gadges :innocent:

for example, the big tank for a R 1150 GS costs about Euro 100 000.- to develope ... what do you think how many tanks they have to sell .... :oops2:


As I said before, it`s your choice .... always

Thomas

and btw, we still don`t know what exactly happended ... ?c?

I think my TT GPS-holder is a piece of art. It would have cost me a lot of time and money to make one myself. (I made a holder for my previous GPS).
The Control-lamp kit is also nice.

If you don't like it go somewhere else.

BTW: in 1987 Honda wanted 110€ for a sticker for my XL600R

The only bit of TT kit I've ever bought was a mount for my GPS. The design and quality is excellent. It was very expensive though and sadly now redundant as it was for an old model GPS which is now long since superceded.

Ditto.... I bought the cradle for my 2610. Cost nearly £100.

However, the plastic mount that came with it would of done the job just as well.

I just wanted to look more 'Travel Bling' back in the early days. I like to think I know better now...

Tigers_Are_Cool:
PLEASE TELL US WHAT YOUR GRIPE WITH TT IS, or this thread should be closed.

Hi,

Well we also neet them...otherwise we would not get used bikes in realy good condition for chepa money for our trips ;)

LG, Tobi

that makes you just a bit biased then eh tobi? the - i get free stuff so i say its good-:innocent:
and still getting others to change your tyres even on a 125cc? :rofl:

hihi i wracked my spare tube when i tryed to replace it my selfe. Then i went 30km on flat tires to the next city. Oh i hate air tires...why cant they fill them with silicon or something like that???

When I first started out kitting my bike I was a complete novice (still am) and thought Touratech was the answer! Admittedly my bike was new to the Market F650GS twin and it seemed they were the only people who could supply me with the kit I needed.........

How wrong! Just before leaving for buenos aires I was desperate for a pannier liner bag so I ordered one.......it finally came in an opened envelope! The liner had been posted in one that was too small ! They didn't even fold it in half and try to seal it !

So much for the expensive delivery charge ..........if I'd had the time it would've been cheaper to ride from Portsmouth and collect it !

or you can ride pick it up at
TOURATECH ARGENTINA S.R.L.
Av. del Libertador 2216CP 1636Olivos - Pcia. de Buenos AiresArgentina

Same here except it was an F650 single. In about 2000 I owned a rolling TT advert. This didn't stop the waterpump going in morocco and the various panicky and wrong decisions that followed. You can't buy experience from a catalogue.

My (now long out of date) gripe was, as someone suggested with TT UK. They sold me an Acerbis tank but couldn't find a fuel tap that fitted the right way round and could be operated while sitting on the bike. They were impossible to get hold of by phone, didn't answer e-mails and charged me everytime they sent another wrong bit. The basic attitude was that I had the tank, had been sent a tap and should just get on and sort it myself. TT Germany basically refused to deal with me until I got a German colleague to kick up a stink. Then the correct bit came from Italy overnight.

It's a pity the OP doesn't want to tell us what happened, my example is ten years old, although of course it still means TT UK are my last port of call for anything.

Andy

Seems to me that there's a huge difference between Touratech UK and, say, Touratech Germany or Touratech USA. The UK branch seems to be in the business of pissing people off whereas others actually do provide much needed services to actual travellers. I have only a few bits of TT on my bike, some because at the time there were no other alternatives (high mudguard), others because TT was by far the cheapest alternative (large luggage rack). However, one shouldn't forget that there's a massive price difference between Touratech UK and Touratech Germany. For the pieces I've mentioned the prices are:

front mud guard: 69,90€ but £76,13 (aka 91€, or +30%)
large rear luggage rack: 54,90€ but £59 (aka 70€, or +28%)

This means that the exact same gear bought in the UK is 30% more expensive! I haven't checked any other countries but traditionally, the US is a lot cheaper than Europe and I would thus expect US prices to be even lower than that. Thus, complaining about high prices is a UK-specific thing and doesn't apply to Touratech in general. Yes, they are still expensive even in Germany or the US, but nowhere near as expensive as they are in the UK. And no, nobody needs all their bling but some pieces are quite useful and not necessarily more expensive than anywhere else.

I think you're right about TTUK as opposed to TT elsewhere.

I kind of understand the reasoning, but it does annoy me that TT AG won't post to the UK (or the USA to UK). I've found Neidersach HQ to be nothing but extremely helpful. So much so, my Euro trip next Summer will involve a visit to buy there as oppose to here.

Earlier this year, I emailed TTUK to ask if some of their pannier accessories would fit my Panniers (non TT). Didn't even get a reply! Cheeky question, yes, but even so.That coupled with the rather large mark-up (why is that? Someone once suggested it funded their Dakar trips!!!) means that I will buy TT stuff, just on the continent. What little TT gear I have is very good.

Hi Guys n Gals,

a mate of mine calls them Tourettestech, as everytime he's sees their prices he say's 'How f*****g much'

Regards

Reggie

Touratech still sucks!!!!!
 

My anger had nothing to do with the cost of parts but with how I felt I was treated as a customer by Touratech-USA. I live in Seattle where the store is and had the opportunity to visit the store on 5 occasions. The first two times I worked with an employee by the name of Tov who understood good service. When Tov left the company I worked with the other sales people on the sales floor. At some point it seemed like they didn't consider me as a serious buyer and likely a dreamer with no money. I was told on three phone calls that I would need to call back the following day to see if the owner had returned the sizing sample for the Stadler Companero riding suit that I was buying. Each time I asked if they would contact me and they told me that they were to busy to call. The final straw was when I asked them to place the order for the suit and they refused because they weren't able to confirm that I had already paid my dealership. It's cold in Seattle and I didn't want to wait an extra day to receive my $2,500 riding suit. My dealership is closed on Mondays. I had already given the dealership a cashiers check for a new GSA and 10K for aftermarket equipment but they didn't believe me.

I received an email from an employee the day I posted my chagrin asking for my phone number. It seemed that they wanted to address my issues. I gave my phone number to them and waited to hear from them. It's been a week and I still haven't heard from them leading me to believe that they don't care. I'm also a little surprised that the owner has chosen to address my issues through an employee and not himself. Wow - over 2,300 people have read this thread. I guess that makes me surprised that Touratech Germany hasn't tried to reach out either.

I guess deep down I was hoping that someone would make a conserted effort to make me feel better about Touratech but after a week that's not the case. Today I have meeting scheduled with my GSA salesperson to outsource the items that I had planned to purchase from Touratech. If the owner of Touratech-USA is interested I'll be at Ride West BMW in Seattle at noon. I doubt anyone will care to show....

"If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will."
-UNKNOWN

"If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends."
-JEFF BEZOS

"A complaint is a gift."
CLAUS MØLLER

boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ring.........:innocent::blushing:

If you don't even have delivery of your motorcycle yet, why did one day matter in the delivery of your $2500 riding suit? Who spends $2500 on a riding suit anyway? I thought I'd never be saying this about Touratech.... but maybe you should cut those guys some slack.

Just my tuppence worth, i was passing touratech in Wales and decided to drop in for a look.
The guy i was with was having dramas with a Sat Nav he had fitted (poorly) to his bike.
He asked one of the mechanics there what could be the problem, and said mechanic spent about an hour refitting the sat nav to the bike. He did not want and would not accept even the price of a pint for his time, so while i agree there is a lot of expensive stuff on sale they are not forcing you to buy it.
So if you dont want to buy it id say go elsewhere, if you do want it do some saving)

We all are looking forward to seeing a picture of you on a bike SOON with $10k worth of gear. I am curious, though... why did you order the suit and parts through your dealer when you live in Seattle and had visited the Touratech showroom many times? Even without the bike in my possession yet, I would have wanted to take the parts home and "fondle" them.

Man, a new GSA with $10k worth of bling... please do post soon!

By the way, nobody mentioned the cost of Touratech going to the motorcycle shows as a significant cost that needs to be paid back... I looked into the cost of the smallest booth in the worst location a few years ago to promote a non-profit organization; $5k for the booth. I can't imagine what it costs today, especially with paid employees manning it. I certainly couldn't guess at the cost of having a booth at the out-of-town shows!

Yeah, I ride a KLR and probably won't ever have TT on my bike, but sometimes I just have to chime in. I was called a "lookey-loo" once after ten minutes of talking to a shop about engine swap choices for a car... and called it fairly harshly. Maybe people like the OP are the reason someone didn't show patience with me (a serious customer until being called that).

Tigers mate, please don't take this the wrong way but:

A riding suit is a riding suit is a riding suit. Buy some thermals from Walmart a suit from the BMW dealership or nearest bike store and get out and ride the b****y thing. Logos and stuff makes no difference it's how many miles you get in.

Screaming that you'll only deal with the owner is why the sales guys don't want to sell you anything. They think that next week when you find the suit doesn't keep you warm at minus twenty, stop you falling off in the snow or make you attractive to women (or Scottish actors) you'll be back demanding something else. It's their business, right or wrong, they can make that call if they want to.

If you have a new GS and $10000, IMHO don't waste it on shiney ****. The entire contents of that catalogue will not make the slightest difference when the combination of tyres and rider is wrong for the conditions. Wait for the spring and get yourself to Alaska or the East Coast or something. The experience will be with you forever, that $2500 suit will be trashed the first time it touches the exhaust.

Sorry if that's the wrong answer but I'd hate to see anyone waste petrol money and the chance to live.

Andy

I bought a too tall for me at the time 1200GS in '05, and bought half a dozen bits from TT in the hope they would protect it when I dropped it. To date they have.

One bit, the Hard Part LA steering stop for the
BMW R 1200 GS/Adventure, R1200R, black 01-044-0403-0

may have been a total waste of money as I don't know if its just ballast or has done something when I have toppled over.

But, in '05, that was £120+! Now its £92.46. Still lots, but its got cheaper :thumbup1:

I've been in the TT shop in Wales and didn't get a good impression. I did buy some more of their adjustable ziptie thingies though cos they're ace.

The TT GPS mount for a Zumo is £mega but "looks" better than Garmins effort that came with it.

Their pricing is still bonkers, but thats the same with BMW or anyone else too surely though? Taking my bike to a new to me BMW dealer for servicing had the service guys sniggering at my few TT bits, weird irony?!? And they scratched the screen :(

Having had an excellent BMW t**t suit since '05, and last month now ordered an Aerostitch, I must be missing out on a "proper" $$$$ suit? I'm such a cheapskate :)

I think this just boils down to other products, and customers, are available ;)

Happy New Year, and safe travels :D

Jason

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.