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DSS Prices on the rise?

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Sesman:
Don’t wait too long or you will be exchanging them for batteries  ;D.

I’m rebuilding the 500 motor this year, shall I approach you for shells?

Oddjob:
I only collect shells which are scarce, like blacks and yellows and only for the 500/550/650. I do have some greens and browns but limited and mainly for my own use as those are the colours mine uses, if when I take it apart it doesn't need them I'll sell them on I think.

Browns are on special order at DS and he no longer has any stock of greens, he still lists them at £16 a shell but I'm betting that will increase a lot when and if he can source any more.

I think I have approaching a 100 shells, most mains and some big ends. All bagged and sealed except for a couple of black mains I got from Australia. Even got some in pairs in boxes, never seen that before the Aussie stuff arrived. I bought 3 black main shells this week, 2 from Italy and 1 in the UK. Average price was £23 a shell.

Laverda Dave:
To his credit and back in 1989 when I was restoring my yellow 400/4 I called DSS and asked if he was open yet as he had just moved into the huge warehouse he now occupies in Suffolk. He said although he wasn't yet open for trade I could pop down so I jumped in the car and went over even though it was a three hour drive. When I got there he and a couple of others were busy unpacking crate upon crate of parts and he was clearly very busy. He asked me what parts I wanted so I gave him a list, a very long list and we marched around the warehouse collecting the parts in a big cardboard box. For every part he picked up I asked him how much it was but he couldn't be sure. These were not just small parts but also big items such as complete wheels, full exhaust system, complete factory painted fuel tank with the petcock and filler cap on it, sidepanels, complete kickstart, seat, toolkit etc. All the parts were genuine Honda and in Honda bags and boxes. I was there for a good couple of hours and Dave was very chatty.

At the end of the treasure hunt I asked Dave how much it had all come to but as he was really busy he didn't have time to work it all out and just said a figure that was well, well below what it should have been, I dont think he realised exactly what had gone into the big cardboard box I was dragging around! I just agreed straight away and gave him a fistful of cash, my memory doesn't go back to the exact figure but I know I took £400 with me and came back with well over £100 and a lot more parts than what I went for (front and back wheels, mudguards and full exhaust system were all the bonus parts).
I've always bought parts from Dave after that, I knew him when he operated from a garage on big housing estate in Wembley.

Hats off to him, he obviously has a passion for old Honda's and if it wasn't for him my original 400/4 would have ended up in a skip.

I do agree though with Paul G, it's a bit naughty to be vastly inflating prices of stock already on the shelves but..........how much has the value of these parts increased in line with the increase in the value of complete machines and he does have staff to pay so yes a small increase is justifiable but not 300-400%.
I have managed to negotiate a bit of a dicount with him at shows if I have bought a few items, maybe only a fiver off but he's not as hard as stone.
I do wish he would reduce his delivery costs though, how can a jiffy bag containing a couple of O-rings cost the same to post as a complete exhaust system!

philward:
I remember buying a genuine CB1100RB carbon fibre fairing and seat unit of him for not a lot of money in the 90's - think how much that would be now!

Oddjob:
On the same subject I bought some genuine Honda parts last night, I decided to buy 4 and maybe sell a couple on as they were cheaper than even buying them in the UK. So I bought 4 and the price of the rest went up immediately, now that's exploitation.

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