Yes, I'm still here.....but I have a request.

[Stu Bodycote]

Hi,

Ok, yes, I am most certainly still trading....had a couple of people message to ask that, as I've not posted on here for many months.

In actual fact, Ive had an absolutely shit year with the sudden loss of my dad. As such the business was essentially put on hold for a couple of months, whilst I took stock of life and got my head straight....basically I didnt think it right to work on people's bikes when my mind was easily distracted, well, more so than usual.

Next up, parts. Yes, I have parts...some parts anyhow. No, I'm not a mail order business. No, those parts are not kept on a stock check file, where I can just grab it and pass it to the mail room to package and ship out. I'm a one man band working in a shed. Due to space, everything Ive got is packed away in boxes, either in the workshop (see pics) or stowed away in the loft of the house. I will gladly help anyone out if they need even the smallest part or gasket, but you must understand that at present I'm working ridiculously long hours for Motorvated workshop customers, as well as trying to weave in some family life inbetween. If someone needs a small part, I need to find it, package it, lock up the workshop.....after first putting multiple bikes away, in a big game of Norton Tetris (doesn't look as bad in the pics right now as two left me this morning), and then go to the post office and queue (I will also attach some pictures of the post office queue from the other day, posting out a rocker cover gasket.....felt like covid times again). Its a minimum of an hour out of my day to package and ship a gasket...which I write off. If I need to find a part, it can tot up to a few hours out of my day. If its an overseas shipment, then I also need to fill out the customs declarations too.
I really, REALLY appreciate the business...but please just bear with me. I'm trying my best to keep everyone happy but I just need a little space and flexibility with expectations of how quickly I can deliver your requirements.

Also, remember, a lot of parts are still available from Norton....so if a part will retro fit from a brummy build, any dealer should be able to help you out. Krazy Horse and Oakmere are two great dealers that come to mind, with the added bonus of Krazy Horse being with the 961 platform from the very beginning.

Sorry if it seems like a rant, I just need to make people more aware that I'm just a bloke in a shed, and I've never tried to portray myself as anything other....with my request being to just please keep that in mind.
Kinda getting sick of the shed though, working 6 day weeks. I've got our 3yr old all day tomorrow, so I'll be working Saturday and Sunday instead.

Thanks,
Stu

(Dinner break over, back to work)

 

[concours]

Sorry for the loss of your Dad.

 

[DODGY DEN]

I used to work out the back of a van HGV (technician) know the feeling, keep up the good work and Merry Xmas

 

[kommando]

and then go to the post office and queue

If you have some decent scales and an inkjet printer you can purchase postage online, print the labels on A4 paper with 4 labels per sheet including the barcode and just stick to parcel. There is also an option for pickup of parcel from your address for £0.30 which I recommend you add to P&P. Saves petrol and time in queue.

Sorry to hear about you sudden loss of your Dad.

 

[marshg246]

Hi,

Ok, yes, I am most certainly still trading....had a couple of people message to ask that, as I've not posted on here for many months.

In actual fact, Ive had an absolutely shit year with the sudden loss of my dad. As such the business was essentially put on hold for a couple of months, whilst I took stock of life and got my head straight....basically I didnt think it right to work on people's bikes when my mind was easily distracted, well, more so than usual.

Next up, parts. Yes, I have parts...some parts anyhow. No, I'm not a mail order business. No, those parts are not kept on a stock check file, where I can just grab it and pass it to the mail room to package and ship out. I'm a one man band working in a shed. Due to space, everything Ive got is packed away in boxes, either in the workshop (see pics) or stowed away in the loft of the house. I will gladly help anyone out if they need even the smallest part or gasket, but you must understand that at present I'm working ridiculously long hours for Motorvated workshop customers, as well as trying to weave in some family life inbetween. If someone needs a small part, I need to find it, package it, lock up the workshop.....after first putting multiple bikes away, in a big game of Norton Tetris (doesn't look as bad in the pics right now as two left me this morning), and then go to the post office and queue (I will also attach some pictures of the post office queue from the other day, posting out a rocker cover gasket.....felt like covid times again). Its a minimum of an hour out of my day to package and ship a gasket...which I write off. If I need to find a part, it can tot up to a few hours out of my day. If its an overseas shipment, then I also need to fill out the customs declarations too.
I really, REALLY appreciate the business...but please just bear with me. I'm trying my best to keep everyone happy but I just need a little space and flexibility with expectations of how quickly I can deliver your requirements.

Also, remember, a lot of parts are still available from Norton....so if a part will retro fit from a brummy build, any dealer should be able to help you out. Krazy Horse and Oakmere are two great dealers that come to mind, with the added bonus of Krazy Horse being with the 961 platform from the very beginning.

Sorry if it seems like a rant, I just need to make people more aware that I'm just a bloke in a shed, and I've never tried to portray myself as anything other....with my request being to just please keep that in mind.
Kinda getting sick of the shed though, working 6 day weeks. I've got our 3yr old all day tomorrow, so I'll be working Saturday and Sunday instead.

Thanks,
Stu

(Dinner break over, back to work)

My next door neighbor liked having free time and often her daughter and son hung out with me. When the boy was three, I could barely understand him,but he loved to help me and he actually was a help. From about three until high school, he was around and helping. Each day I would ask if it were a learning or paying day. If he said a paying day, then I paid him a little and along the way instilled a little economics knowledge. Today is he is 24-year-old college graduate, making good money who has no debt and has investments. He will be rich by the time he is 50 as will his sister.

So, put the kid to work! It can be fun for both you and the kid. I REALLY wish I could find a kid to help me!

I don't know outside the US, but I use a service for postage. Deep discounts and I print the label and if needed customs form(s) inside the software. I never go to the post office. I have it tied to my PayPal account so paying is seamless too. Shipping can be a royal PITA if you go old school. BTW, no need for any special hardware or labels, I print on normal printer paper and tape to the box using clear tape.

Good/Bad, I live alone. Every room in my house except bathrooms has parts. I do have an inventory system that I wrote, so I know what I have an where it is but that is an PITA as when parts arrive - they must be entered and when I sell them, the sale must be entered. But, at tax time, I spend maybe 30 minutes on my business forms since I have it all done at all times automatically

Before anyone attacks, yes I know you can't "hire" a three-year-old and you certainly cannot force them to work. I consider those two my pseudo Grandkids and their parents were fully aware. I also did proper granddad things like teaching them to pitch pennies and somehow they always seemed to beat me.

 

[Stu Bodycote]

Ok, cheers for the suggestions on postage....but I repeat, I am not a mail order business.
I bought stock from four ex Norton dealers. Ive also bought a couple of salvage bikes. I have the parts to support the customers bikes in my workshop....the supplying of parts to others stems back a few years to when Brummy Norton didnt have a dealer network in place, and were rarely selling parts to anyone. I hate to see anyone stranded, so I do it to just help out.....its essentially robbing myself as at some point I know full well I will have a customers bike stuck in my workshop, desperate for the part that I would have recently sold to someone else. A bike stuck taking up space for months on end, is a space thats no longer earning me money. Currently I have 3 bikes stuck at mine in a similar position. But, I still try and help out where I can. Gaskets, I make a couple quid on the gasket, and lose roughly an hour of my time in total, so I'm down a potential £79.95 with that lost hour...and then I need to buy another gasket in for stock for myself.
It'll be easier when I eventually expand and get some admin help, as they can do this so of crap and leave me on the tools
Regards having my boy in the workshop....my business insurance would have an absolute field day lol. Also, its far too cramped and dangerous for him. Its also customers bikes that I'm working on...not my own, so it would be massively irresponsible all round to have a toddler (who loves hammers it seems) having free roam of the garage....even if he does love it in there.
Anyhow, I'm off to bed, as I'm knackered. Quite a blessing that the workshop ran out of heating oil....I shut up early.
In the meantime, here's the boy "helping out:.
Before I go, in other news....Ive got something American booked in next year....a Vanquish V8. I try and stick predominantly to the 961's but occasionally I'll let something different into the mix....and half a tonne of American cruiser with around 600bhp is definitely different!
Oh, got a couple ex TT bikes booked in too.

 

[marshg246]

I fully understand and hopefully you'll never make my mistake and get dealer accounts and you'll quit buying out people. I've bought out a few, including Old Britts AN stock and all have been dismal failures financially. I lose actual money on many of my sales and if you consider the time away from my IT business, I lose a LOT every time I touch a part, a motorcycle, a motorcycle related web site (including this one), or my phone/email to help people. Still, I do it and probably will be doing it when I have the fall that kills me.

Good looking boy and he even has the "thinking tongue out"! With my destroyed right shoulder and damaged left, he would be of big help to me!

In the grand scheme of things, you're a lucky man! You could be old, falling apart and pretty much alone in the world (closest step family over 300 miles away)

So, try what I do - I tell myself things could be MUCH worse several times a day.

 

[Portofino Norton's Garage]

I'm somehow in the loop since asked Stu for a chain slider.
First my condolences for dad loss, I know that suffering.
Coming to Norton 'troubles' here overseas (to England) the situation is very difficult for spares and assistance. For the latter, well, we do whatever possible by ourselves but for spares is a nightmare.
Therefore people as Ollie Thiel and Stu are our only hope for support and we can sometimes abuse their patience, especially not knowing their workload.
I also understand that Stu would prefer to use the few spare parts still available for motorcycle repairs in his own workshop rather than shipping them around the world, which would also configure as waste time. Unfortunately, it's a difficult situation for everyone.
Sorry again to Stu from my side.