Shimano are the new Apple

Joe_Pineapples

Apple.
Where would we be without them?
I'm sure most people here have an iPod, but what you may not know is that Apple have the iPod made for them by a company call Foxconn, and once Apple design a new version of said iPod, Foxconn are told to stop making spare parts for the old one, thereby potentially forcing you to purchase a new one should your iPod go tits up and you cant get the spare part you need.

This practice, however, isn't really something you associate with Shimano.

Cue a telephone at the end of December call to Dales Cycles in Glasgow, a Shimano "Plus" service centre.
"Brrinng . . . hello, Dales Cycles"
"Hi, I'm looking for some Shimano spares. Part numbers Y-6CE 09000 and Y-6CE 5900, they are the bottom covers for Shimano XT M750 shifters."
"Erm . . . ok, I'm going to have to phone you back tomorrow on that one"

Time passes . . .

1 week later . . .
"Brrinng . . . hello Dales Cycles"
"Hi, I'm calling about an order I placed, my name is . . . etc etc"
"Well, there's a slight problem, Shimano stop making spares after a time and it's proving hard to get you the parts you're after, but I can definitely get you them for the end of January"
"Ok, get me two of each please"
"Right, will do, I'll call you when they come in."

Once again, time passes . . .

It's now the 6th of February, and Andy from Dales has yet to call.
I am beggining to suspect he's pondering how to add on the Shimano price hike to my order.

Cynical?!

Who, me?! :shock:

Raymondavalon

Joe_Pineapples wrote:

....once Apple design a new version of said iPod, Foxconn are told to stop making spare parts for the old one, thereby potentially forcing you to purchase a new one should your iPod go tits up and you cant get the spare part you need.

You're obviously shopping in the wrong place, I can still source every part for the iPod classic 1st generation. Sure they may not be supplied by Apple but there are dozens of eTailers who supply these parts in the UK alone.

I k now what you're trying to say, but it's not really a good comparison. You can only compare Apples with Apples..

Joe_Pineapples

I ended up buying two broken iPods on ebay so now have a vast array of spare parts.

Go on, break, I dare ya!

Mattmanic

Ipod minis don't break. Especially, the 8gb one that's for sale for ~£40 in the classifieds... [/subtlety]

Joe_Pineapples

Mattmanic wrote:

Ipod minis don't break. Especially, the 8gb one that's for sale for ~£40 in the classifieds... [/subtlety]

Shameless!

llamafarmer

Mattmanic wrote:

Ipod minis don't break. Especially, the 8gb one that's for sale for ~£40 in the classifieds... [/subtlety]

Mine did. Battery is dead.

bluechair84

I think in many cases it comes down to either plain lazy sales peopl or bad distributors; I ordered a part from a store, called them twice to see how the order was going and they said 'it was proving hard to source' - it was a mech hanger for god sake. I went in just for a nosey around 8months later (not my LBS obviously) and the guy remembered my order, 'Oh' he said, 'you still need the hanger for the Teocali?' WTF? You think I'm going to wait 8months+ for get a hanger to be riding again?
Same happened for a part for a Swinger, waited over a month for a shop to get it in as 'It's a hard part to get ordered'. They reasonsed that Answer/Man have a minimum order cost and they were waiting to get a few things together in a single order before they could get the part. 6 weeks later I stopped bothering with them, went to another store and they ordered it the following day, took a week to arrive.
I have a new LBS now

I think a good LBS comes down to who has the best distributors. I'm sure the shops all tried to get parts for me but they are restricted by the bottleneck of their distributors. So are the distributors to blame in some cases for the LBS' inability to source parts?

And another story, I had a store order in some parts for my brakes - I called the distributors to find out how much they cost. The store ended up giving the parts to me at cost as I was being charged for fitting, and I was suprised to find that their cost price was higher than the distributor would have chared me! Now that surely isn't right?

Mattmanic

llamafarmer wrote:

Mattmanic wrote:

Ipod minis don't break. Especially, the 8gb one that's for sale for ~£40 in the classifieds... [/subtlety]

Mine did. Battery is dead.

I'll admit that the batteries die after a few years... :P But I replaced the battery in mine and now I get 30 hours of music playtime I only have to charge it once a month or so.

Uncle Peter

Had a similar problem with Mosquito bikes in Landon Tarn, I asked them to order me some replacement decals for my bike, "Oooo, I'l have to ask about that one" he says. Couple of hours later had a call back, "We can get them they're £45 and we'll have them in a week or so" Awesome I tell them, I give them my money and wait in anticipation.

Week later I have a call "Awe sorry mate we can't get them, they're out of stock at Paligap, reaaallly sorry dude, but you can have your money back" Cheers dick.

On the way home I pop in to my local Lesiure Lakes store, for my regular drool and occasional worm burping session in the changing room, I ask if they have an account with Paligap, they do, I ask if they can order me some decals, to which they reply "I'm not sure but I'll ask", he picks up the phone and asks there and then!! "They'll be here soon - I'll call you and let you know"

Next day, Ring ring, "hi is that Uncle Peter" Yeah I reply, "your decals are here" Not 24hrs after I was told that they were out of stock at Paligap by Mosquito bikes, they were sent by Paligap to Lesuire Lakes, Wolverhampton - Cheers guys (esp Joe) may your rides be long, warm and awesome.

supersonic

Could just be a poor shop or poor service, not from Shimano (madison).

How old is M750 stuff now anyway?

The Northern Monkey

I like Apple.
I like Shimano.

Joe_Pineapples

supersonic wrote:

How old is M750 stuff now anyway?

Came out in 2003.

Fuzz Monkey Five

Joe_Pineapples wrote:

Apple.
Where would we be without them?
I'm sure most people here have an iPod, but what you may not know is that Apple have the iPod made for them by a company call Foxconn,

AIn't news to me mate or a lot of people, google Apple, Foxconn and The Times (or was it the Daily Mail) about the paper exposing the working conditions in the ipod factory. There was some apple exec quoted as saying 'they should be grateful to work 60hr weeks for $85 a month making ipods', quite a big media backlash.