Motorcycle Parts

Wear parts, crash parts and the ones that fail without warning:

that split decides whether a used part makes any sense. Wear parts are what a commuter bike gets through on a schedule: pads and drum shoes, the chain with its two sprockets, the rear tire. Crash parts are what a slow tip-over in a car park breaks, usually a lever, a mirror, a side panel or a headlight. In between sit the clutch pack, the CDI, the regulator and the stator, which give no warning and are the hardest to judge used. When the repair list has grown past what the bike is worth, set it against what a running replacement costs among the motorcycles for sale or across the wider range of motorcycles.

The importer behind a Keeway or a Suzuki:

in Panama it decides how hard a part will be to find. Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki sell through dealer networks with parts counters in several provinces. Keeway and most of the smaller Chinese brands come in through a distributor rather than a brand network, and their parts follow that distributor’s stock.

Model, version and the details that make a part fit:

the name on the tank is not enough. The same model can come with a carburettor or fuel injection, a drum or a disc at the back, and its filters, pads and electrics follow the version. A chain is sold by pitch and link count, a tire by the size moulded on its sidewall, and a battery by a code that fixes the case and the terminal layout, so match the code rather than the voltage alone.

Brake pads, chain kits and what a scarce fairing fetches:

wear parts for a 150 cc commuter are cheap new, with front pads from around $10 and a chain kit with both sprockets from about $25 to $50, more once a workshop has fitted it. At those prices a used chain or half-worn pads rarely justify the risk. Body parts run the other way. A fairing, headlight unit or tank for a bike whose distributor is out of stock can fetch close to the new price, because the alternative is a bike parked until the next shipment lands.

Hooked sprocket teeth, thin discs and old rubber:

each gives a worn part away. Sprocket teeth should be symmetrical; teeth hooked over like waves are finished, and a new chain run on them stretches early. A disc with a raised lip on its outer edge has worn thin. Tires carry a four-digit date code on the sidewall, week then year, and rubber left in a storeroom for years can look fine and still slide on a wet road. Electrical parts cannot be judged by eye, so ask to try them on a running bike before money changes hands. Copies turn up most among small parts that sell fast, such as spark plugs, brake pads and oil filters. A genuine part comes in the maker’s box with the part number printed on it; an unboxed part sold as original at close to dealer price deserves a second look.

A spare that names the bike it came off:

settles the fit question before anyone travels. Give the make, model, version and year, the part number where there is one, and the detail that decides the fit: chain pitch and links, tire size and date code, battery code. Photograph the label and the wear surface up close, and say whether it is new, used or rebuilt. Much of what gets listed is left over, such as the box of pads and the spare chain kit bought for a bike that has since been sold, or the stock exhaust and levers taken off when aftermarket ones went on. A buyer driving in from David or Santiago will want to hold your part against a photo of their own bike before paying.