Thanks! HD calls it Scarlet Red. I heard bad stories of flats with tubed tires... air releases quickly, cant fix on road to get home ect. Just looked at some wheels after my last post on this thread and these guys weren't kidding! Holy Crap! Pricey bastards! Do you have a link to those "tubeless spoke ( looking) wheels"? I am curious as to the pricing. Being a bit new to biking and not knowledgeable enough, I might have chosen a different model because of the wheels... or am I over reacting?

 

Any part has to be mocked up and tested, commonly called R&D and then if all is ok after all the testing and certifications are obtained then they project costs to manufacture and distribute versus revenue received. Only 1 wheel sold(Front and rear are different even when the same size) usually per item R&D'd per bike, 4 wheels per car sold to split the costs, you do the math.

 

Can't recall where I saw them. I did a search on the Inet for MC wheels and came across them. If I recall I'll let you know. It may have been Rev Tech but can't be sure.

 

My Heritage came with wheels. Guess I was lucky.

 

It's all about initial costs and production numbers.
As an example, with made up numbers;

Initial costs (design, tooling, etc.) - $10,000
Manufacturing cost - $100
(plus you need to build some profit into that, but lets ignore that part for now)

If you sell just one, the selling price would need to be $10,100
If you sell 10,000 units, your initial cost goes down to $1 per unit - you could sell them for $101. If you sell a million units, your initial cost become an insignificant part of the price.

Motorcycle parts are pretty much always limited production. The market just isn't that big. Many parts only fit one bike, and in some cases, only for a year or maybe a couple of years.

The market for car parts is considerably larger than the bike market. Something like wheels might fit a large number of different models over a long period of model years. The production numbers for those wheels could easily be in the tens of thousands.

It's not some motorcycle industry conspiracy to rob you of your cash. These manufacturers are not getting rich off us. It's just how things work.

 

Yeppers its just U........

I notice that back in 1968 when I bought my first set of Harley wheels.

 

Now the $2500 billet wheel makes perfect sense. Also with the billets is the cost of the material plus all the machining to cut it down, chrome it, etc. Now when I see a nice custom MC wheel for around $400 I'll consider it a bargain.

 

 

I am assuming your response is to my question of over reacting. First set of wheels in '68?? Man.... I thought I was getting old!

 

I played that game for over 20 years.--- GIANT SCALE! Quit twice and won't go back. Two servos per wing-- 2 on the elevator and 2 ganged on the rudder at about $120 each. Twin Cylinder gas engine @ $1200 and $200 for the stupid mufflers that are not included. Set of retracts for a giant scale warbird for about $600 and they are not reliable after a month so that you cart wheel down the runway when only one comes down. Put it in a trash bag and start all over. Yep-- I learned my lesson