To mike from Mikes XS and the whiners.

oldskoolcool · Full Member Joined: Sep 08, 2007 Posts: 372

I order a ton of parts from you and you shipping to canada is quick and product is great. Just wanted to say thanks for making an old ride so easy to re-build.

y second note. Seems there is a ton of complaints about mike and his products. We are so lucky that with a frame and engine cases you can pretty much rebuild these bikes from the ground up. If you want to take it for granted, you can try and rebuild my 73 cb500/4 and tell me how fun that endeavor becomes. i only wish it were as easy as my Xs was.

jpowell

Ditto

blue900

And I may not be riding the 81 without mikesxs. yes seat, exhaust and lots of other stuff.
nice!
And everyone's help on the board.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

Nothing wrong with a starting up a business from a good idea and making a go of it as mike has, and i am sure he has invested a lot of money and hard work to keep the XS on the road. I have also bought a lot from mike's XS and as have all the people who have made his business a success............That does not make him a god or all knowing of the XS and the origional manufacturing variations............As to a recent post about a battery and with the information i have and comparing Mikes info, the info from Dennis Kirk. Mike is bordering on being belligerent. His information does not stack up

tacoswild

I'm not sure about the new Canadian store. I never got charged tax or duties on any packages he sent me from florida by regular mail. The new store charges tax on every order so it's much worse that way. Also the prices started out good and I ordered a bunch of stuff to restore my old 71 but then they went way the heck up and I still need more stuff. What happened?

indyjay · Full Member Joined: Feb 07, 2008 Posts: 67

Keep up the good work, Mike'sXS! Wink

I have made two sizeable orders, and am very happy with what I''ve recieved. No complaints and happy to have his resources available.

Thanks, Mike!!!

yamaman

Hey, I like Yamaha, doesn't mean I have to agree with whatever Takashi Kajikawa (president of Yamaha Motor) says or does. Mike's is a valuable rescource, I've never heard anyone say otherwise.
ike is quite prepared to have a go at 5twins (another valuable rescource for us XS owners) amongst others for saying their thoughts. 5twins happens to think SOME parts from Mikes are not up to scratch or over priced. I've also seen 5twins recommend Mike's parts on many occasions (never seen Mike say thanks for that). We are all entitled to our opinions and that's fine. Mike seems to see it that if anybody is not for him, they must be against him. This is not the case, we all live in a world with many options & Mike's, 650Central, 650Rider.com & 650garage are each just one and we'd be selling ourselves short if we didn't explore as many as possible.
Thanks for the great parts Mike, maybe try and work on the people skills. Cheers

cretin75xs650 · Full Member Joined: Dec 24, 2008 Posts: 99

I too have had great success with MikesXS, without his availability of parts and great prices I would not have gotten into my 1981 XS650 cafe build. A place to find mostly what you need at one location. Keep the parts coming, keep the prices reasonable, you have a customer for life....

XSDAD · Full Member Joined: Sep 03, 2008 Posts: 176

tacoswild wrote:

I'm not sure about the new Canadian store. I never got charged tax or duties on any packages he sent me from florida by regular mail. The new store charges tax on every order so it's much worse that way. Also the prices started out good and I ordered a bunch of stuff to restore my old 71 but then they went way the heck up and I still need more stuff. What happened?

I noticed the same thing, I was going to order a bunch (LOTS) of stuff from there, when I went back the next day to place the order all the prices sky-rocketed... Order cancelled.

I'll look into wheither I can still order from the US store, it would be cheaper... as long as the "no shipping for orders over $50" still applies, no mention of this on the Canada site.

Bummer too, I was happy with the prices when I was forming my shopping list... I still like MikesXS, but the canadian store is of no use to me as it stands.

XSDAD · Full Member Joined: Sep 03, 2008 Posts: 176

guess I'm a whiner now, so be it.

Retiredgentleman

I just had a look at the prices on the Canadian mikexs (xs650direct). They are just about identical to the mikexs US $ prices, when you take the US price and multiply by the exchange rate ( 1.277 on my last order). Canadian store still gives free shipping on orders over $50.00. It appears the only thing extra would be the sales tax for each province, which we did not pay when coming from FLA.

tacoswild

Don't get me wrong, we'd all be screwed without Mikes, especially for these older bikes. I guess you're right RG, our dollar had gone down since last spring when I last ordered and that could be the difference, but the prices were lower before. I thought the Canadian store would mean better deals for us but if it's the same as before with more tax what's the point? I guess it probably saves him money.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

It's the Euro guys that i feel sorry for, Check out www.xs650shop.de/homepage/?t=3277 A 6th oversize piston, rings, pin and clip is 110.00 Euro = 145.00 American, MikesXS store $80.00........Mikes 750 big bore is 550.00 Euro = 726.00 American, MikesXS store $600.00...........Con rod kit 447 is 100.00 Euro = 132.00 American, MikesXS store $59.00.................And is it true that Euro buyers can't buy direct from the US? .................And prices are going up at the end of January, usual excuses cost of materials ect...............

metalredneck · Full Member Joined: Aug 04, 2008 Posts: 308

I ordered a whack of stuff when the Loonie was at par, and I gotta say, they treated me wonderfully. I just got some other gear from Sweden over the net, and had good luck with that too.

All good here.

jpowell

I gotta agree with yamaman. I think Mikes seeing one or two people complain and taking that to heart, and missing all the thanks and gratitude. Don't let it get ya down Mike, we all appaciate what you do and would be lost without you. On that same note, hopefully you'll continue to return the same respect to us and keep a fair relationship... As long as you do I'll continue to give you my business.

knightrider

I too would be out scouring over heaps of twisted metal to keep my XS on the road and looking good if it was'nt for mikes xs, 650 central and Ebay.

Cool

Thanks!

jimmer

MikeXS provides a good service, clear and easy website with explanations, nice order cart, good shipping, is grumpy, has crappy warranty. We would all be scrambling much more ... and have to do without some much needed parts without him. All in all .. he's a welcome and convenient service. I'm sure he is doing OK from his efforts and our needs. I would just ask one thing, give us a break on the warranty. You should back up your products better.

madskills · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Mar 28, 2006 Posts: 59

I may not have seen the originol post or the complaints but one who has ordered many items can say that I feel his prices are fair service is goo with very fast and precise shipping.

I have no complaints only thanks.

MN_TX650 · Full Member Joined: Jul 17, 2008 Posts: 331

Mikes has been a great source of parts for my Cafe build. I hate having to go many different places to buy parts! Half your build budget ends up going towards shipping costs. I just placed an order 2 days ago, and noticed the delivery address came out wrong. They fixed it for me even after a shipment had been generated thru UPS. A word of warning to anyone paying with paypal...the order will use the address associated with Paypal and NOT the address on record with Mikes. Make sure the Paypal address is the delivery address you want the order to go to...

scalejockey

My order went well,parts are what you pay for them..(generic).
Does mikes have a phone # so you could talk to a person if something went wrong?
I still have another order to do,but i'd like talking to a person when i order.

Mikesxs · Full Member Joined: Feb 06, 2007 Posts: 134 Location: FL

Gasp" Mike has made an application Error !
Yes the listings for the CBTX12AHL AGM battery was incorrect (mainly).
I relied on a 1982 GS battery ( Yamaha's OEM supplier at the time )application chart that I found now is incorrect ( GS recently was absorbed by Yuasa battery co. ) . Thanks to Pamco for the heads up.
This was a departure from my usual practice of checking everything first hand and not going solely by others printed info.
One of the heads of GS told me many years ago that he did not know where the battery went on a bike and I think I should have considered this a warning.
However, note: I have found that there are some of the early models that use a battery other than what is supposed to be in the bike ( transition ? ).
When ordering always check the dimensions.

I will be replying to other concerns posted shortly.

Mike Lalonde Mikes XS

Mikesxs · Full Member Joined: Feb 06, 2007 Posts: 134 Location: FL

Regarding the New Canadian agent - www.xs650direct.com

This outlet has just opened and it will take a few weeks to sort everything out as it took us about 6 weeks just to pick & pack the initial inventory for startup. More inventory is on it's way up this week.

Prices are based directly on the USA/Canadian dollar prices which have fluctuated greatly over the recent past and to date. I make Zero $ on the
parts supplied and just wanted to reduce the workload here. It does cost
to ship parts to Canada and customs brokers have to be as well.

Shipping took up to three weeks or more in the past and will be much faster now. Sales taxes are a part of being in Canada and yes the orders sent often had these taxes collected at the Canadian end.

Mike @ Mikes XS

Mikesxs · Full Member Joined: Feb 06, 2007 Posts: 134 Location: FL

Regarding prices set by European & Japanese Mikes XS agents:

European and Japanese agents set prices independently.
Costs to supply these agents are much higher due to 1. Taxes in those countries, 2. Additional shipping costs 3. Brokerage costs 4. A whole range of surcharges and fees (secuity fees, port fees, Etc., Etc., Etc., that basically are a result of the USA security problems being imposed on the rest of the world + high fuel prices. 5. The value of the Euro verses the USA dollar has ranged from about 1.25 US to 1.60 US. 6. Items like Big bore kits have long term deliveries and often the deal originally made for a part is much different by the time we get delivery ( there is no changing the deal if you ever expect to be supplied again ). Items from Japanese suppliers get sent here and then have to be shipped back to our agent in Japan as there is no way to break down a shipment before it leaves the supplier

Mike @ Mikes XS

Mikesxs · Full Member Joined: Feb 06, 2007 Posts: 134 Location: FL

Regarding Phone service

We have 15,000 + active USA customers and there is no way we can still offer phone service at the prices we charge. Basically we supply the groceries but no longer offer cooking lessons. When I started this business (?) the buyers generally had some mechanical aptitude but this degenerated to the level where I was receiving complaints about not supplying install instructions with a set of grips. Some people should not own a used bike of any kind and have been watching too much orange county chopper !
I have doubt's some know where to put the gas in.

We are planning to shoot a number of U-Tube Video's on installing various parts but there are some who still won't be able to handle the job and simply need to find a competent mechanic.
Mike @ Mikes XS

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650