Arai helmets soon to be collectibles

[Jeepboy]

I've been looking to buy a new helmet and found this while looking for an Arai:

Arai Helmets Return to Help Desk

Arai Helmet Policy

As of January 1, 2002, Motorcycle USA will no longer be able to supply Arai helmets to our customers.
Arai America has changed their Internet/mail order policy. See dealership agreement below.
Arai now prohibits the sale of helmets manufactured after September 2001 via the Internet or mail order.
Motorcycle USA will abide by Arai's new policy until they notify us of any change.
We apologize to our customers for the abrupt removal of Arai helmets from our Superstore.
We still offer Arai helmets in our Closeout sections while supplies last.
Please contact Arai directly regarding a reversal of this policy (see below).
Voice your thoughts at Motorcycle USA. Your opinion does matter.
Arai Dealership Agreement

9. Limitation on Sales The Dealer shall not resell Arai helmets bearing chinstrap dates of 09/01 or later to: (a) persons or entities the Dealer has reason to believe intend to resell Arai products; (b) mail order sellers; (c) regular commercial Internet sellers; or (d) persons or entities outside the United States. The Dealer shall only sell Arai products at the Dealer's retail store or at retail booths rented by the Dealer of motorcyclists events such as races, rallies and shows.

10. Limitation on Advertising and Method of Sales The Dealer may advertise Arai products in any medium but shall not sell Arai helmets by mail order or over the Internet. Any advertising of Arai helmets must not state the price of the helmets.

Arai Contact Information

Roger Weston
Arai Americas
www.araiamericas.com
P.O. Box 9485
Daytona Beach, FL 32120
(386) 441-8500

Email:
arai@totcon.com
araihelmet@aol.com
arai@netctrl.com


I love Arai helmets, but if I have to go into a dealer and pay retail for one I will never buy one again. If you want to read more details about this or other's responses goto www.helmetharbor.com

 

[Wraith]

Say it aint so Joe:scream:


This blows. But what can a guy do. Well I tell you what I did. I wrote a response to Arai, that took about 20 minutes. Every one else should do the same. Even if it's not your brand. Band together.

 

[lawman]

or buy 1 from the dealer, the guy who stocks the stuff you try on b/f ordering online, who supports the sport in your area & fixes your bike on short notice. my arai helmet is the best helmet i ever put on my head, & i'll be buying another (from my local dealer).

 

[ochster]

I agree, I think what is also a concern is the fit. Not only for customer satisfaction, but liability from the manufacturer. I wish more manufacturers would support the "shops". I know there are bad shops out there, but atleast the buying public would spend there money at the good shops to help keep them around.

 

[jeb]

I have a couple of problems with some of the above. What about those of us that don't have a local dealer to go to? Nobody within 1.5 hours of me sells them and the place 1.5 hours away is Bob's Cycle Supply, a big mail order place. And they may not carry them anymore given they can't list them in their catalog. I've purchased two Arai VX-pro's from Bob's. One mail order, the other in the store. When I was in the store, I never had anyone ask about fit or offer to give anything approaching an Arai fitting. I told them what size I wanted to try and they went and got it. Then they watched me try it on or went and helped someone else. I'd bet that's the story at almost every shop that sell's Arai, too. I guess I should start a poll, if that's possible, to check how many folks have had the kind of expert assistance that Arai says we should get at a store.

Another thought is that their manufacturing process, hand built or not, should be consistent enough that I can buy the same size in same style of helmet from year to year, like my VX-Pro, and have it fit the same. I'm not sure I want to do business with a company that can't do that, especially in such a high end product.

Arai can, of course, make whatever business decisions they want. Seems very shortsighted to me, though. I can't see how they can help but lose business with this decision.

 

[biglou]

John-Support team members can start a poll, if it's the first post in the thread. I'll put one up (provided I can figure out how to do it), where do you think we should post it? Here in the Flame Room? BTW-I can only have four options. What should they be? Here's what I am thinking:

Title: Poll-Dealer or mail-order?

Choice 1: I get great personal service from my dealer-I won't buy anywhere else.

Choice 2: I buy some things from my dealer and some things mail-order.

Choice 3: I'll only buy mail order-My dealer stinks.

Choice 4: I'll only buy mail order-I live too far from the nearest dealer.

Any suggestions to change this?

 

[Wraith]

I always support, and buy from my local dealer. But for some reason, if he were to buy a Arai helmet (and there not in big demand where I live) it would cost $600:scream: . So this is the only time I will turn to mailorder:mad: . I totally agree with the local shop thing. Always have. But I'm on a budget man

 

[ochster]

My dealer understands how important it is to keep the regular guy's happy. He also rides with me, and knows I land on my head ALOT! Needless to say I get my Arias at cost. I'm convinced given the oportunity on a big item like this, if your parts manager KNOWS you, a simple asking for a price match will not affend him. You may find for a measley 10-15 bucks it's not worth going somewhere else.

 

[Michelle]

Before you flame Arai

there's one thing I'd like to point out.
The likelihood of a courier dumping/dropping the box on the way over to your place. Now I do realise it could have happened on the way to the shop too, who's to say, but maybe they've heard a story (or more, I dunno) about how couriers have treated packages.

It may be that they just don't want to take that risk with your head. Maybe it's not to piss you off after all. They may just feel happier having dealers being the last ones to handle the helmets.

I do realise that the only way to guarantee that it's never been dropped before you put it on your head is to go to the factory, watch them make your helmet and you take it away.

I've thought about buying a mail order helmet from the States once or twice, but couldn't guarantee NZ would let it into the country and have seen how some packages have turned up - fragile sometimes seems to mean to some couriers - cool, let's see how smashed up we can get this ;)
Anyway, that's just my thought on the matter.

 

[Wraith]

Originally posted by ochster
I'm convinced given the oportunity on a big item like this, if your parts manager KNOWS you, a simple asking for a price match will not affend him. You may find for a measley 10-15 bucks it's not worth going somewhere else.

I don't know about there. But here. they say they can get one for 5-$600. Compared to 3-$400 mailorder. That's more than 10-15 bucks, I think. Don't misunderstand me. I hate to mail order. Mabey because my dealer deals mainly with HJC (and that is 100% of the helmets he sells) mabey he doesn't want to mess with Arai due to that is the brand he uses. And he sells the heck out of them for extremly low prices. I don't ask him why, because I'm sure he has his reasons. And also, because every thing else I buy from him, never costs more than what the mailorder companies charge. And is always in 2 days later, if it is not in stock. So due to this, I know he HAS to make money. So I don't question why he doesn't want to sell a certain product (and I guareentee this is the only one) at cost.

And all other dealers around my area sell mainly bikes. The shop I go to doesn't sell bikes, just accessories, and parts. This is how it goes here. You want a new bike, you go to the Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, or Kawi. You want gear or parts, you go to Mels. He will get OEM at the price the dealers should charge. This sounds stupid. But trust me. This is how it happens around here. I know of no one, other than a few of the local guys they sponser who get deals. I went to the local Yamaha dealer years ago for one year straight for all my parts needs. Each time I went in, I talked to both manager and owner to try to cut me some slack since I was always buying there. And they did, but I could have got them cheaper at Mels. They (the owner) told me that the money they generated was in the bikes and not the parts. So this is why they charged more. And I have heard the same from many others, about other dealers in this area.

This is MY situation. This sounds stupid. But this is the way it works in my part. So this is why I think the way I do towards Arais move.

 

[MikeT]

I can't agree with you on this one

Originally posted by lawman
or buy 1 from the dealer, the guy who stocks the stuff you try on b/f ordering online, who supports the sport in your area & fixes your bike on short notice. my arai helmet is the best helmet i ever put on my head, & i'll be buying another (from my local dealer).

Sorry Lawman, I've heard that before about the "support your local dealers" stuff and I just don't buy it for a number of reasons. I usually mail order ALL of my stuff because the shops I am mail ordering it from have MUCH MUCH lower prices than my dealer. Why? I'm not sure why because most of them buy from the same places, Parts unlimited and Tucker Rocky to name a few. So I asked myself, why is my local dealer charging so much more..... The last guy I heard the "support your local dealer" stuff from said, "He has to upkeep his store and have all the parts you need in stock, pay for the lights, pay his employees" etc, etc. So I thought, maybe he's right. Well, two years ago I went up to Troy Ohio to watch the National. While I was up there I visited one of the Mail order shops I usually order from. Honda/Yamaha of Troy. From what my local guy told me I figured they were a low overhead, cut and dry operation with a phone operator and some minimum wage guy’s stuffing boxes. Boy was I wrong. Yamaha of Troy was a full service dealership that had MANY bikes in stock, LOADS of gear to try on before you buy (which my local guy NEVER has), many stock parts, and service guys to ask questions of. He also had the same amount of stuff for the street bike guys. While I was there, I exchanged a pair of goggles and bought some stuff, which he didn't charge me any tax on because he knew I was from out of state. All his in store prices mind you were the same as he had in his mail order ads.

So I ask myself, why can Yamaha of Troy charge me much less than my local dealer if HE is someone else’s local dealer with that entire overhead???? Maybe its because he has figured out how to market himself better. Maybe he decided that it’s better to make a reasonable profit of the sales of large quantities of parts instead of making a large profit on a few items. Maybe he also knows that if he doesn't charge so much that he will receive return business and people will buy more from him in the future. Ya I have to pay shipping, but I have also had a local dealer try to charge me shipping on items he ordered for me that he should have had in stock.

I think that basically in this day and age you have to become a smart businessman, not a greedy one to stay in business. Most of the local dealerships have changed hands many times where I have lived because they charge too much for their services and products, is that my fault? Is it my fault for wanting to only pay $45 dollars for a part my local dealer wants to charge me $60 for? Why should I pay $369 for the Bell Moto7 I wear when I was able to get it for $249 from Yamaha of Troy?? It takes me a lot of hours of work to make up that difference in price. I just don't see why I should patronize my local dealer when there is such a discrepancy in pricing. I guess Arai will have to learn the hard way. They have a good product but that's not the way to market it.

I'm sorry but if I were to follow that line of thought the next thing I would be buying is a $600 toilet seat...... Oh, our government already beat me to that. :silly:

 

[ochster]

Mike T,

You won't find many people that WiLL support a irrational dealer. There are lot's of them out there, as you say. If you really don't have a decent dealer in your area, that is too bad. That also backs up the fact we should support the GOOD dealers that are left. I guarantee when the tide shifts and we are forced to mail order, it won't be at cut-rate prices, although I don't believe that will happen.

 

[MikeT]

Originally posted by Truespode
Mike,

Actually, IMO the reason the dealers can't match is b/c they have to carry the stock. Mail orders really only have to advertise and they can drop ship most of the time.

That was ecactly what I was bringing to light. YOT has all of the bikes in their store and many of the parts in stock. Not all, but a whole lot of them. I also wonder why, if YOT can do it why couldn't my local guy do it.

Side note Ivan. When I was saying "local" I was referring to my experiences in Greensboro where I used to live and in Long Island NY. I have yet to visit my new Local dealers here in Charlotte. I will soon enough though.

Originally posted by Truespode
There are A LOT of good dealers in your area who I'd spend money with in a heartbeat. I bought both bikes I currently have from Alco Yamaha. There is also Fun Cycles, Piedmont Honda (Their Parts Manager Bruce is a good friend of mine) and quite a few others.

In SC there are a lot of great ones too. Carolina Honda, Columbia Powersports, Upstate Cycle, Neeley's and more.

I will take a look at some of those places. Not all local dealerships are bad. I have been to Alco and they are top notch. They have the stuff in stock and ae very nice. Thanks for the tips on the other places.

Mike

 

[Wraith]

Take Sidi boots for instance. At a local Yamaha shop, I asked the parts manager if he could get some of these boots. He said, "Yeah I can, if you want 25. Or if you can get 24 other people to go in with you.":eek: . I was like, what in the heck are you talking about. He said (now I'm taking HIS word, take it as far as you want) that in order to get Sidi products, he would have to order no less than 25 pairs of boots. He said he had already checked into it, because he liked the product. But also went as far as to question customers if they would buy Sidi or Alps, etc, etc............... So he said he could not justify spending the stores money on a product that he couldn't sell. But who knows, it might have sold. But they didn't want to chance it.

So what am I suppose to do. Well I know I can contact MotoNation. But I go to Mels. He says "Well, we can't really get those." So I already no why, and I'm like. Yeah I know, thanks. And then he goes, "But I'll call MotoNation for ya." And get this. They come in, and I pay no more than what I would have payed if had done it myself. This is a dealer. This is why I use him. And this is why Arai is pissin me off with their new deal.

I want to know from everyone who has posted like
ochster
lawman
what you pay for a Arai helmet at your local bike shop. Let's say for a example, if you were to walk into your local shop and say yeah I want a Arai VX-Pro Windham. What would they charge? I'm just curious.

 

[ochster]

Wraith, Not sure what your trying to guage, by what I would pay for a VX-Pro, through my dealer...wich is what I ride with. Advertising a discounted price I recieve, is not why my dealer extends it to me.

When the dealers order inventory, there is usually some type of incentives associated with volume. It can be anything from more inventory, or seriously discounted one offs. Again because I do ALOT of business through my dealer, he makes sure that he thinks of me when these opportunities arise, luckily for me it usually works out to be anually. He does this as a reciprocal gesture to me, for what I do for him. Namely I use him exclusively for my hobbies needs (over $20,000 in parts last year). I represent his franchise in a proffesional manner to possible customers/clients, when the opportunity arises (sales, service, parts).

It is this relationship that fosters the attitude, everyone seems to wan't for nothing. I will gladly pay a few more dollars for items to make sure he continues to prosper. The benifits of having a long standing repore with my dealer, have only enhanced my passion for this hobby. Everything from social functions, to riding partners, to equiptment sharing, to knowing my kid's watched at the races, (especially when I'm in the Ambulance). The list is endless, I truly wish everyrider could experience what I have. There have been ocasions, when what I wanted just wasn't worth the shop's trouble, so I mail order it. But they are few and far between, I do it as a last resort.

Typing about this subject, makes me realize just how good my dealer really is!

 

[Moteaux]

So I ask myself, why can Yamaha of Troy charge me much less than my local dealer if HE is someone else’s local dealer with that entire overhead???? Maybe its because he has figured out how to market himself better. Maybe he decided that it’s better to make a reasonable profit of the sales of large quantities of parts instead of making a large profit on a few items.

I think you answered the question there, Mike. Volume and marketing. Why do any of the"superstores" make money. Volume pricing, and they are impacting the local and/or smaller dealers. If one these motorcyle superstores were to come to your town and treated/serviced needs adequately would anyone use them or would everyone use them? Obviously it works for some of them in there home areas, but I don't think I would feel warm and fuzzy about things like major engine work that I can't perform. I might buy some gear there, it is hard to pass up a really good deal.

But, I am a creature of habit and I like dealing with the ones who know me and that I know.

 

[Wraith]

Originally posted by ochster
There have been ocasions, when what I wanted just wasn't worth the shop's trouble, so I mail order it. But they are few and far between, I do it as a last resort.

is!

If you mailorder certain products as well (just like I stated I do with only my helmet purchase). Then you know what we (the ones complaining) are talking about.

You had already stated that you recieve discounted helmets at cost. I was just wondering what "cost" really was.

 

[lawman]

i guess i'd have to pay about the same as the mail order + shipping, i don't really know b/c the only place i checked the price was a local dealer. i really didn't intend to start the local dealer vs. mail order debate again, but rereading my post, i see that's what i did.

my point really was that if arai chooses not to sell thru the internet/mail order, you can still get an arai helmet; they will NOT become collectors' items like the 1st post claimed-- if sales drop so much from that decision, arai will do something else. the "chicken little" tone of the post was 1 of the things that set me off & caused my other rant about people getting all worked up & acting like little tiny matters having to do with dirt bikes are equivalent to "rape" or the end of the world.

yeah, i buy some stuff mail order. sometimes i don't want to wait on it, & the local guy doesn't stock it b/c everyone mail orders it or there are just too many brands of it, almost all of it practically identical other than marketing (e.g. riding gear). or i'm too busy/lazy to drive all across town to get it. but it's hardly ever b/c it's cheaper, b/c usually there isn't much difference. lately it seems that my mail orders have been getting screwed up, but there are plenty of over-wrought threads calling for boycotts about that already.

there also is the "wal-mart factor"; think of all the small towns where once wal-mart moved in, everyone decided the local merchants were rip-off artists. now the local stores are out of business, the storefronts are all boarded up, the only retail jobs are at wal-mart, & wal-mart has raised prices. so please, buy your dirt bike stuff wherever you want, it's your choice to vote with your feet & dollars. i'm not out to criticize people or start a flame war about that. no offense intended (at least not about that).

 

[webbrace]

I dont think they are trying to hold the price. I think they are trying to cover there butts. They dont want to get sued. If a dealer sells you a helmet, you and the dealer made sure it is the correct size. I think they are just trying to be careful. Its probably a company policy, made by people that dont ride motorcycles.

 

[jeb]

Sorry, been busy. Thanks BigLou.

Originally posted by BigLou
John-Support team members can start a poll, if it's the first post in the thread. I'll put one up (provided I can figure out how to do it), where do you think we should post it? Here in the Flame Room? BTW-I can only have four options. What should they be? Here's what I am thinking:

Title: Poll-Dealer or mail-order?

Choice 1: I get great personal service from my dealer-I won't buy anywhere else.

Choice 2: I buy some things from my dealer and some things mail-order.

Choice 3: I'll only buy mail order-My dealer stinks.

Choice 4: I'll only buy mail order-I live too far from the nearest dealer.

Any suggestions to change this?

I want to focus on just the Arai helmet fitting part as it's a big part of their claim about not doing mail order. Maybe something more like this?

Title: Poll-Ever been fitted for an Arai helmet?
Then have some explanation about the Arai decision with a link to some of the posts.

Choice 1: When I've purchased a new Arai helmet in person from a retail store, I've was helped by the sales person to assure I had the proper fit per Arai's instructions (explained above).

Choice 2: When I've purchased a new Arai helmet in person from a retail store, the sales person offered some generic advice about fitting of the helmet.

Choice 3: When I've purchased a new Arai helmet in person from a retail store, the sales person offered no assistance in the fitting of the helmet.

Choice 4: When I've purchased a new Arai helmet in person from a retail store, there was no sales person involved outside of the actual transaction.