A couple questions

Hey Everyone,

I've put 1000 Kms on the bike as of today and it's been great so far. It does everything I need it to and does it better than I could have expected. Tons of fun.

I was up for a ride to Brohm ridge and some small lakes on Forestry Service roads today. It's nice being able to access all of these places I've never been to before. After returning home, I found a screw lodged in the back tire. It's a bummer, but I'm glad I made it home without an incident. I'm going to take this as a good opportunity to learn how to patch or replace a tube 'cause I know I'll eventually need to do this out in the backcountry.

Is there a specific brand or style of tire levers that someone wants to recommend? Any tips that will make the repair go smoother? Thanks for any suggestions?

One more question. Where are you other Canadians ordering your aftermarket parts from? Is there a Canadian source online or do you just order from the States?

Cheers,

Bob

Here's a pic from today's ride.

beowbe wrote:

Is there a specific brand or style of tire levers that someone wants to recommend? Any tips that will make the repair go smoother? Thanks for any suggestions?

No specific brand is better than the others, mine are Motion Pro, but any will do.

Tips; it's easier to have a second person help you, sometimes you just need another set of hands. Keep a ready supply of curse words on hand. Soapy water helps get the new tire on, as does heating the tire a bit first (in the sun, or with a heat gun).

Awsome pic! I have two smaller levers I use, simply because they fit into a backpack, are lighter, and do the same job. Bike shops sell them, as do tire shops. Personally, when it comes to getting aftermarket parts, shop around. Sometimes you can find a good deal at the bike shops, other times I've bought stuff as far away as Australia because of the price and the quality. I've found tho that getting stuff across the line is cheaper. Like my Q4, for example. Here, to buy that pipe in Canada will cost me $550, not including taxes and shipping, and that's with a discount. Getting it out of Florida will cost me just shy of $400, right to my door. The only thing is you still get nailed duty, but if you talk with the person shipping you the product, most times they will mark the waybill at a cheaper rate so your duty charges are significantly less.

SheWolf wrote:

The only thing is you still get nailed duty, but if you talk with the person shipping you the product, most times they will mark the waybill at a cheaper rate so your duty charges are significantly less.

To throw a little damp water on things:

If it was made in the US, chances are you'll be paying GST and provincial tax where applicable, but no duty.

If you talk the shipper into giving you a false invoice, you'll probably get away with it.

On the other hand, once in a while the officer handling your importation will also have the exact same hobbies as you, and will recognize the invoice is false - particularly in this day and age when they have access to the Internet and can check your invoice against the seller's website in less than a minute. Or saw another shipment of the same product with a very different price. BTW, one of our members here and at TT is a CSBA officer as well as motorcycle enthusiast, for those of you calculating your chances right about now... and it ain't me.

Which leaves you open to criminal stuff like uttering a false document, misdescription, undervaluation, etc. And seeing as CBSA has all your other imports on file as well... might as well go revisit those as well. Possibilities include seizures, searches of your home, fines, and occasionally, imprisonment. And if the police have ever had any kind of interest in you for whatever on previous occasions... well... you just provided them with just cause to have a closer look at you. Having been a police officer, I can tell you they really don't care where the reasonable and probable grounds comes from, as long as it will pass the test in court. And yes, I have used infractions under the Customs Act as reasonable and probable grounds to look over somebody I believed was flying under the radar elsewhere.

Now you might do this all your life and this may never come to pass. And then again, it might. I'm not interested in a debate on the ethics/morality one way or the other; I'm just pointing out what the possible consequences are. If the exporter marked it down by $100, you'd be saving yourself something like a whopping $10 in BC to risk this.

Bottom line: you pays your money and you takes your chances. I'm just sayin'...

There are also brokerage fees in there as well, depending on how it's being handled. I know on one part I bought for the truck was like 33% I damn near died. It's still cheaper to get a lot of stuff across the line. Not gonna shell out over $500 for a pipe I can get $100 cheaper in the US. But yeah, I hear ya.

SheWolf wrote:

There are also brokerage fees in there as well, depending on how it's being handled. I know on one part I bought for the truck was like 33% I damn near died. It's still cheaper to get a lot of stuff across the line. Not gonna shell out over $500 for a pipe I can get $100 cheaper in the US. But yeah, I hear ya.

I suspect your brokerage fees came along with the wonderful folks at UPS, who I only use if the only other option is to crawl to the vendor's place of business and back home through broken glass and dog poo. You don't have to authorize them to clear your shipment, incidentally, and if you don't authorize them and they try to collect brokerage after the fact you can tell them to pound sand. If they won't listen after that, tell them you're going to make a complaint to the Supervisor of Brokers (memory fades, maybe that isn't the proper title). I don't think they want him looking into that kind of practice...

Best choice is the good ol' USPS for things from the States. And Canada only dings you the $5 charge for the post office to collect duty and taxes owing. I think that $5 charge is BS when you consider you're paying a tax to the government post office to have them collect the tax another government department charged you. But $5 beats brokerage fees...

BTW, excessive brokerage fees is also something the Supervisor of Brokers likes to hear about... I'm just sayin', ya know...

Thanks for the tips everyone. I replaced the tube without too much trouble. The toughest part was getting the bead to seat properly on the rim after I put the tire back on. Copious amounts of dish soap seemed to do the trick in the end. It was great to get this practice now. I feel ready to do it in the bush and I know exactly what tools to take along.

Thanks also for the advice on getting parts. I'll try my best to support the local shops if they can come close to the prices I see online.

I appreciate everyone's input.

Bob