Buying Motor Cycle Parts Online

Shopping for aftermarket motorcycle parts is extremly straight forward online these days; in fact you are probably going to be spoilt for choice which if you have been a biker for any period of time will be a breath of fresh air.

As a younger guy I can recall spending hours searching round breaker yards for parts for my various motorcycles and to be honest it used to drive me crazy.Or sometimes very reluctantly I would order a part from the local motorcycle dealer (usually it wasn't a stocked item) and then prepare to go with out food for a week as they cost an arm and a leg.

But these days most motor cycle parts are not made by the companies themselves so often you can source parts from other sources.

The parts look like a part which were on the original bike, they may even come in box with the manufacturers label on them but chances are the parts were made under what is known as an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) agreement.

These are the parts found at an authorized distributor of your bike. They have the exact same specifications that came with the original part, and the bike manufacturers and dealers will always try and sell you these parts.

But as when they came from the manufacturer directly they are generally more expensive and almost always recommended by dealers partly because they are the parts you should use under warranty repairs and maintenance and partly because of the higher income they'll get selling OEM parts.

But what not everyone knows is after a short time after a bike ceases to be current most OEM agreements allow the component manufacturer to create their own aftermarket parts but usually significantly cheaper than the OEM version.These parts are known as aftermarket OEM parts.

These parts are generally like for like changes, the only difference should be price. Aftermarket motorcycle parts invariably come out cheaper that the OEM parts; in fact sometimes the price difference counts against them, because the aftermarket parts cost so much less than the OEM parts, the savings are massive and people are suspcious of a good deal.

So should you choose aftermarket or OEM parts? The basic rule is, if you have a warranty, stick with OEM parts until it runs out. It will be a painful experience financially even at a low cost OEM supplier like Bike Bandit , but at least here you know you are getting very competitive prices.

But in addition to buying replacement parts where they have become worn out or damaged there is also a massive market for what are commonly known as Enhancers which fall in to two categories.

These are performance and handling enhancers and bling enhancers.

Perfomance Enhancers

These are usually parts such as springs, exhausts,brakes and even wheels which improve the performance and handling of your bike.

When they build any motorcycle they only have a fixed budget so usually this will mean inorder to make the bike competative to sell some parts may not be of optimum quality and can be improved but at a price. These parts are rarely cheap and are very much for the well healed and the serious enthusiast.

Bling Enhancers

These parts will enhance the style and look of your motorcycle you might want a new seat, new petrol tank or things like carriers and panniers. This sort of motorcycle part is particually popular with cruiser riders and those who ride custom bikes.