[sole_rider]

I wanted to buy the old Himalayan accessory handlebar for my Dominar. I had it on my previous Himalayan and I didn't remove the handlebar when I sold the bike. That was one of my blunders I had done in my life.
Ok, now coming back to the topic of RE not selling the parts, I first went to Avahan motors, Kalyan nagar for the handlebar since this is the closest to my place. Also I had a very pleasant experience when I went there for the new Himalayan test ride a few days ago. They didn't have the accessory handlebar in stock in their showroom and I was told to visit their service center at Horamavu(near to Kalyani Nexa). The guy at the parts section told me they don't have it and I should go back to the showroom. I knew this is not going to end up well.
Come the next day, I was at their service center again. Now instead of going to the parts section I asked an SA about it. He advised me to go to company store at BTM.
I was at the company srore the next day. And I bought the accessory handlebar from the showroom. I was happy for two things - 1. I got the handlebar. 2 - it has threaded boses at either ends instead of just holes. So now I can put in normal bar end weights instead of paying 1200 for RE's fancy bar ends.
So for these bar end weights I went to their service center/spare parts section in the next building. Unfortunately it was at 2:00 in the noon. So I decided to visit their clumsy looking parts section till their lunch break is over. I patiently waited outside. Then finally at 2:40 someone showed up. I asked them if they have the bar ends and the handlebar grips in stock. They confirmed it is in stock. He then asked me if my bike is in the service center. To which I answered no. Then he dropped the shocker - he cannot sell parts over the counter. RE had advised them to stop selling parts over the counter. So shocked to hear this, I called the RE customer care tollfree number. The lady who answered the call confirmed this. I asked her then what is the use of all these DIY videos on the YouTube on RE's channel if they can't sell parts over the counter to a customer. It's her reply to this question is what surprised me the most. She said I can order parts online on https://spares.royalenfield.com/. Till this moment I didn't have any idea such a website existed. I said ok, thank you for your assistance, hung up the call thanked the rude person at the counter and left the scene embarrassed a little.
I wanted to confirm this. So I went back to the showroom and met the same who sold the handlebar to me. He said it's true sir, they can't sell parts outside. It is based on a new directive from RE. He also told that I can get parts from other service centers except company stores.

So the next day I went to Accelerate motors at Kengeri. Here, one lady who was sitting at the reception of the service centre came to the parts section and searched for the parts. Unsurprisingly the handlebar grips and bar end weights were not there. I was told to go their Rajarajeswari outlet for the parts. I didn't waste any time. After about 45 minutes, I was at their service center. The person at the spare parts counter said they have all the items in stock. I was relieved. Then he asked me whether I have brought my bike to the SC? To which I replied no, I was planning to install it by myself. He said sorry sir, we can't sell parts outside. He also advised me that I shouldn't have wasted all my time going to different RE service centers instead I should have directly gone to their genuine parts distributor - Fixwell motors at JC road. I thanked him and left the scene. I was at Fixwell motors by 5:45pm. I aksed about the parts, the lady brought everything to the counter. I wanted to buy the allen bolts also. She brought that as well. Not only I got everything from the shop, she gave me 30 rupees discount also.

I don't know where this goes. When I had the Himalayan I could get everything from all the service centers in Eranakulam. Though most of the times I was at their parts distributor - JR Sons.
I despise manufacturerers who don't sell parts over the counter to the customers who wanted to do some maintenance on their bikes. I see this as a denial of the customer's right to repair.
PS: I have not written any emails to RE yet to get it confirmed. Other than what I got it over the call from someone at their customer care. This why I used the term 'allegedly' in the subject. Anyone who has contacts at RE can get it confirmed.

Happy riding.
-Sreejesh.

[neil.jericho]

sole_rider, I too had a similar experience with the company store a few weeks ago, as I have detailed here (Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years)) . My final outcome was a little different though. If you are firm and stand your ground, they will change their tune and sell it to you. God knows why the Royal Enfield company SVC (of all the places!) makes life so difficult for customers.

Meanwhile, I went to the large Royal Enfield company SVC in BTM layout, to pick up the fork seals over the counter (OTC). Royal Enfield is very strict about not using non OEM products / liquids on motorcycles which are serviced by them. Fair enough. The OEM fork oil is 2.5W which is too light for me. Hence, I decided to buy the fork seals from the company SVC and get the work done at Big Bear Customs, which I was trying out for the first time after hearing positive reviews on their workmanship.

Strangely, the gentlemen behind the counter at the Royal Enfield SVC politely refused to sell me the required parts. They directed me to the spares manager. He gave me some comical story about customers returning OEM spare parts which were defective and hence they had decided that no spares will be sold to customers. Seeing as he was not willing to listen to reason, I had to politely remind the gentleman that he could sell it to me at the point of time, without any fuss, and we could proceed to have good days or I could go home, write a strongly worded email to Royal Enfield about the outright illegal practices in their company SVC, and they would force him to sell it to me. Either way, I was going to make them sell me the fork seals! That woke the gentleman up and after some loud grumbling, he made the staff members sell me the required parts. They even asked for my bike's registration number to bill the product. Strangely, they didnt provide me with the bill at that time. A few days later, they sent me someone else's parts bill. God knows what is happening in the company SVC!

[sole_rider]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

sole_rider, I too had a similar experience with the company store a few weeks ago, as I have detailed here (Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 : Ownership Review (32,000 km and 9 years)) . My final outcome was a little different though. If you are firm and stand your ground, they will change their tune and sell it to you. God knows why the Royal Enfield company SVC (of all the places!) makes life so difficult for customers.

Thank you for sharing your experience, Neil. I was firm when I asked about it without being arguing. I guess I was not firm enough when I keep on pestering about my questions, he told the person who handle billing is on leave. But someone was sitting in front of the computer right next to the counter.

Off topic:
I was always a fan of your writings on your gt 535 thread. I bought a few of my riding gears and most of my RE apparels based on your experiences. Whenever I visited Auto queen at Kaloor, Sabu chettan and I used to talk about you.
I always wanted to have a thread like yours or like Aargee's about the ownership of our motorcycles.
I started with Aargee's CBR 250R thread or rather bible about baby cbr on XBhp. I thought I'd start mine with my Himmie when I had it. Then I thought it would be with my Dominar. It was only recently I started to create posts/replies on TBhp.
I will be creating a thread to share my experiences about the parts replacements that had taken place on warranty on my Dominar if not for the ownership thread for sure.

Regards
-Sreejesh

[Grimlock]

If you're in Bangalore, you can head to Sandhya motors on J.C road and a few nearby shops who happily sell genuine spares for RE. They'd go out of business if the company asks them to stop selling over the counter.

[sole_rider]

Originally Posted by Grimlock

If you're in Bangalore, you can head to Sandhya motors on J.C road and a few nearby shops who happily sell genuine spares for RE. They'd go out of business if the company asks them to stop selling over the counter.

Yes. I too got what I wanted from Fixwell motors at JC road. Over the counter sales of spare parts are now limited to bikes which are already at the service center or wanted to get repaired at the service centre is what I understood from whatever I could gather from the service centres I visited in Bangalore in the past few days.

[kaushalswarup]

Fixwell motors are the official distributors for parts of RE.
The guy who owns & runs it, Avinash, is a biker as well and a nice chap.

There are many ASCs that get their parts from Fixwell itself, as these guys are the distributors and get parts directly from RE.


It’s funny to see that ASCs aren’t willing to sell parts. I think it’s their way of trying to reduce customers getting their bikes serviced outside/DIY.

A few emails from irritated/concerned customers should hopefully make RE take the right steps.

[setuniket]

This likely would be aberration, none of the service centres in Delhi/NCR refuse to sell spares OTC as long as there is stock. Figuring out stock position is a pain, I had to write email to RE customer service with INT part numbers to help to figure out service centre having stock.

Interestingly, took Inty for service on 26/12, the lady handling appointments requested to call her directly for placing orders for spares. The service advisor was happy to take orders for OTC sale of alloys.

[ostrish]

I don’t know if it’s a matter of policy but have always faced the same issue.

Went to buy a Himalayan windshield. They refused to sell it to me OTC, said they would be willing to sell it to me only if the ASC installed it. I agreed.

Of course a few minutes later the ASC folks realised I have an INT650 and they couldn’t install the windshield. Told them to either figure it out or sell me the damn windshield, at which point they sold it to me.

Could have just saved me all these gymnastics and sold it in the first place.

[abtyagi]

I saw no OTC sale notice at Electronic City service center as well. For minor things they may still do it, without a bill but key items they may not. I needed a m8 bolt for the handlebar, I was able to get it OTC by paying up 20 rupee cash.

[rahulpandita]

I had a similar experience as well. Was looking for RE engine oil filter since the ones available outside (e.g. Minda) don't come with O-Rings.

Went to an ASC nearby and they wouldn't sell it over the counter. Wrote an email to RE, and they replied that I needed to go to the parts distributor if I wanted them. Went to another ASC, and they provided them without question.

Originally Posted by kaushalswarup

It’s funny to see that ASCs aren’t willing to sell parts. I think it’s their way of trying to reduce customers getting their bikes serviced outside/DIY.

Fully agree with this. I know a few people with REs and they just don't see value in visiting the ASC. Almost everyone gets their servicing done outside.

[sole_rider]

An update:

Right now I am sitting at the RE authorised service centre at Horamavu. This is an ASC of Avaahan motors. I enquired about the BS4 Himalayan silver color handlebar at the spares section. I was told it's in stock. But he can't give it to me unless I opened a job card. I told them multiple times that I never faced this before, and asked is this a new thing by RE. The person at the spares directed me to the Mr. Arun who is the service head I think. He asked an SA to open a job card for me because this is a 'counter sale'. I had to give him my previous Himalayan's number so that he can open a job card. He also confirmed that RE has advised them to stop sales of spares over the counter to customers.
I can get all the parts I wanted from the outside genuine parts distributors.

Request to mods: please change the title to "Royal Enfield has allegedly stopped sales of spare parts over the counter from their authorised service centres".

[N4Revv]

Originally Posted by God knows why the Royal Enfield company SVC ([I

of all the places![/i]) makes life so difficult for customers.

Royal Enfield company SVC and Royal Enfield company’s bikes both makes life so difficult sometimes that you want to curse the time when you purchased it. Already owned, faced multiple problems and sold my Desert Storm 500 in 2017 after suffering for more than 4 years.

[Silmaril]

My bike stopped due to a cracked carburettor adaptor, gave it to the closest local mechanic, took the bus to the nearest RE service center sales counter who flatly refused to sell me anything. In short had to leave the bike for the whole day and source the part from the further located parts shop of the same company which owned the dealership (saini motors).

[scorpian]

Originally Posted by Silmaril

My bike stopped due to a cracked carburettor adaptor, gave it to the closest local mechanic, took the bus to the nearest RE service center sales counter who flatly refused to sell me anything. In short had to leave the bike for the whole day and source the part from the further located parts shop of the same company which owned the dealership (saini motors).

This happened to me as well. My clutch lever broke and I could not ride the heavy interceptor. So I went to their fatorda showroom and asked them to sell me a clutch lever so that I could get my bike to their centre. They flatly refused.
I had to go to their spare shop in Margao and buy it.
Ridiculous i must say. Saini is doing the monopoly shit here in goa.