Sunday, December 30, 2012

Linhai Scooter Parts

The new year is quickly approaching and one thing we have noticed is the demand for Linhai 300cc parts has never been higher. Here at MRP we are the number one source for 260cc and 300cc parts visit our site for more info.
Watch "Aeolus 300 Linhai Main Street performance upgrades" on YouTube

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Scooter Parts for the New Year

Hey Guys, See you in the new year if you need to buy online make sure to click on places to buy for retail on our site we have over 100 stores with online stores. Our wholesale site is open 24/7 so are some of our top dealers make sure to call them.
http://www.gokartsusastore.com/
http://www.moxiescooters-store.com/
http://www.superscooterparts.com/
http://www.scootertronics.com/
http://www.zoomboys.com/
http://www.scooterdomain.com/
http://www.scooterdynasty.com/

Scooter Store set on fire. People are Animals help bring this guy to justice

This really upset me today. I've known Walter for a long time now he's an excellent client and is well liked in the scooter community of South Florida.

It's the holidays, we all have problems, but nobody deserves this not as hard as these two brothers have worked for twenty years. It actually made me cry and I really feel for them. I called, but nobody answered so I hope to meet with them next week. It's just a real shame what type of people are out there in the world. Regardless of any social or economic issues, this is a criminal act and it's just sad that this is what people resort to.

I honestly don't know what the world is coming to with what I see on TV everyday. I hope spreading the news can lead to the arrest of whoever did this. If you recognize this man please help bring him to justice.

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21009441598038/scooter-shop-fire-investigated-as-suspicious/


http://miami.cbslocal.com/latest-videos?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8111527

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/12/28/scooter-store-destroyed-by-fire-started-by-molotov-cocktails/

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Miami-Scooter-Shop-Consumed-by-Suspicious-Fire-185117361.html

WSVN-TV -

http://wn.wsvn.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=8113214&at1=News&h1=Scooter shop fire investigated as suspicious&flvUri=&partnerclipid=


MIAMI (WSVN) -- Police and a store owner have some burning suspicions after a fire raced through a South Florida business causing all kinds of damage.
Investigators are calling the fire that destroyed Wally Presic's scooter shop suspicious. Surveillance video footage reveals something was thrown over a fence to the back lot of Astro Scooters, located off Northeast 79th Street in Miami, sometime just after 10 p.m. Thursday night.
The fire ruined the business, leaving Presic devastated. "I don't wish this to my worst enemy," he said. "believe it or not. I don't wish this to nobody. Why? If I did you wrong, man-to-man, come beat me up." He pauses for a smile. "Don't burn this. This has nothing to do with it."
Fire investigators combed the ruins Friday looking for more evidence. The video that has sparked the investigation came from a neighboring business and showed a car pulling up, a door opening and some flashes of light before the car pulled away. "I saw the video, but unfortunately," Presic says with a shrug, "I don't know so many people around here."
A witness came forward saying he saw people throwing something at the business and later witnessed the flames. "We all witnessed it," the man said, "me and another guy that was behind here ... It's a despicable act, you know what I mean? Unkind. I mean, this guy works for everything."
Investigators said the business does not have insurance.
If you have any information on this crime, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21009441598038/scooter-shop-fire-investigated-as-suspicious/#ixzz2GSR6kzHw

Friday, December 28, 2012

Dealers Need to Promote end of the year specials

Few dealers have been promoting the end of the year specials. The whole idea behind social media is that you continously update your blog, facebook, and site with your specials.

This one stands out because its having some success, the moment MRP puts items on sale we notice which dealers are promoting online. Scooter Dynasty in LA, Scootertronics, http://www.zoomboys.com/ are some good examples of co-promotion. Grab onto an idea and go with it!

If you need ideas on how to co-promote our specials don't hesitate to ask.

Black Friday Scooter Parts Salehttp://www.scootertronics.com/blackfriday.html

Scooter Parts Sale

Black Friday Scooter Parts Sale Cyber Monday 2012 End of Year Sale plus
Closeouts on High Performance Scooter Parts

GY6 150 High Performance Exhaust Mineralli Zuma 40qmb 70cc Exhaust TGB Variator Kit plus more at low prices till Dec 31 2012

mark downs of high performance parts from mrp, ncy, malossi, polini and many more great prices on featured items all with free shipping also find listed new custom high performance kits from Straight Up Performance new Street Pro Series of Custom Kits for all styles of riddding.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

CF MOTO 250cc PARTS SALE

AIME, Dealer Expo, and the show to go to in 2013

So this is a follow up to yesterdays post regarding the 2013 shows. http://martinracingperformance.blogspot.com/2012/12/2012-was-good-year-for-scooters-in-usa.html

Seems more people read the MRP blog than I realize because on a slow news day word goes out quickly. 

The big question for small importers, distributors, and dealers is which show to go to in 2013?
Most shops can only afford one or the other. The past few years despite what SEMA, DealerExpo, or anyone else claims fewer "real" buyers went to these shows most buyers attend the open house shows because of all the freebies.

I already stated avoid SEMA if you're a small Powersports Dealership. 
The return on investment as a small shop is negative on that one, it's great as a fan and if you're in the Automotive sector, but they just use motorcycle and scooter distributors for extra cash, there is little or no effort whatsoever on their part to really bring that crowd in. I have about 100 emails worth of exchanges between committees, organizers, and the people at SEMA who never got their act together since the last time we exhibited there. All in essence a reflection of the chaos that engulfed the Powersports Industry in 2008-2011. 

Now 2013 is upon us. I get calls from dealers asking which show they should attend and I give them the same answer. I have no idea. I don't even know. Obviously as an industry person I will attend the shows, but as an exhibitor where is the ROI? The only main exhibitor is Tucker at Dealer Expo since Parts Unlimited pulled out, it might as well be called the Indianapolis Tucker Show / Chinese Expo. This isn't exactly what you want in a show and Dealer Expo despite several emails from the new guy in charge last year hasn't followed up with me on what changes they were going to make. 

No update on the EV test rides, no update on the Scoot Magazine talk I suggested, no update on helping bring a consortium of scooter companies. Nothing. I gave Kerry Graeber a full half hour of suggestions and there was no follow up to my knowledge. They love the low end Chinese scooter exhibitors because they don't ask for anything, but if you want to build a real sense of community you need to motivate people to go back after ten years of dwindling returns on Indianapolis.

There is a real chance here for either Advanstar to make a real effort and show they actually listened or AIME to step up and show they are a player. Both have kind of stopped pushing at this point. You can't just have a scooter roundtable in 2010 make some traction have people exhibited about doing it again and cancel it the next. Then in 2011 not even co-ordinate with the US top scooter dealers, the top editors, or even the top scooter guys in the country.

For 2012 Dealer Expo was going to have actual EV test rides and then cancelled it last minute. How do you actually bring media attention to the show if you drop everything that made it interesting for the scooter people. Having Chinese OEMs there doesn't make it interesting I can go to Canton or Taitra for that. We are down to the wire for Dealer Expo and Advanstar just completely forgot about all the stuff they called me on February 2012 to discuss wanting to know how to make the show better, and why I thought the 2012 show was such a failure. To this day they haven't called Josh Rogers @Scoot to hire him, or any of the other techs I suggested to teach the basic repair classes for new stores and new entrepreneurs looking to open a shop.

Both sets of show promoters are showing an incredible lack of urgency and a basic failure to communicate! These smaller importers were their most lucrative segment the past few years and Dealer Expo has dropped the ball on them year on year. Advanstar did announce they will be skipping the fall 2013 show they previously announced and postponing the 2014 show until October so there will be a 19 month gap between Dealer Expos, which might be enough of a window of opportunity for AIME to get their promotion together. Being the AIME is in Orlando Florida home of a fast growing scooter scene this would be the ideal location to invite year round riders, exhibitors, and scooter professionals. 

Months ago I emailed them the names and contacts for the top scooter mechanics, custom shops, the editors of Scoot Magazine Josh and April etc... none have been contacted by AIME. It's easy to look at the big names and figure they have money and will bring dealers, but Kawasaki already had their Orlando Dealer meeting last year and so did Suzuki so you would have to move mountains to have them exhibit there and back out of the International Motorcycle Shows. Same goes for Honda or Yamaha.


So what is the incentive here for the smaller guys to spend money?

If anything AIME has the advantage here being the new guys in town. They need to make the sure more like INTERMOT which was a success this year. 

Part of that was the EV industry and becoming the main launching point for new Scooters outside of Italy.

Include the Electric Vehicle industry. Test rides. Even if its not making money it brings media attention and so does the scooter scene. Amerivespa brings out the newspapers and local media so why not help organize a Vespa ride to Disney or a classic big exhibit in the middle of the show. Many of these things don't really make any money, but they do bring out a sense of community and attract more attendees. They also bring out exhibitors because there are over 30 Chinese Scooter importers left and only a handful of big motorcycle brands. So you need the scooter guys to fill the hall so it doesn't look like Dealer Expo 2012 again.

Food for thought.

I hope in the next 30 days one of these groups steps up to the plate. Scoot Magazine, the top former techs for Piaggio, Genuine, Yamaha all these scooter guys are available to teach classes and help organize there's a lot of good talent out there. You still have time to make something special happen.







Wednesday, December 26, 2012

2012 was a good year for scooters in the USA

Overall the final numbers from the MIC and independents won't be out for a few months but all indicators are as predicted better for 2012 than 2011.

The market has finally found some stability. This is good for everyone from importer, distributors, stores, and consumers.

The US market is still in a state of flux. No clear indicator as to which trade show is important. Neither the Dealer Expo in Indianapolis or the AIME in Orlando have really reached out to promoting the scooter scene.

Let's hope we see some action in the next few months as to which show will be the real scooter show of 2013

Were open and shipping today

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Merry Christmas

Watch "Scooter Parts For Less the battle continues!" on YouTube

Merry Christmas Guys, we will be closed on Christmas day but all shipments are shipping out on Wed. So never fear MRP is here the one source for scooter parts!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Polini

Watch "POLINI" on YouTube
Mrp your source for polini scooter parts

ALL PUIG WINDSCREENS 50% OFF

ALL PUIG WINDSCREENS 50% OFF at MRP This week!





Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Year in Review 2012 USA Motorcycle Sales

I had a call today about where I thought 2012 stood. It was not the great recovery many in the industry expected if anything a few more shops closed and a few distributors fell by the way side, but the worst appears to be over.

In the crisis about 500 Scooter Stores by our estimates closed between 2008-2012, but starting in 2011 there was a rebound of over 150 new shops in the country.

According to the MIC at least 15 percent of motorcycle dealerships have closed in recent years, but this includes repair centers, ATV / UTV shops, Big Harley stores, and of course mom-pop lawnmower shops. All sorts of stores that are not scooter related fall into that category because that's how the powersports industry works in the USA.

There has been an upswing in drop shipping, more home based repairmen, and car dealers doing scooters on the side, but there hasn't been a renewal of SCOOTER ONLY shops. 




U.S. sales of new motorcycles

1995: 309,000
2000: 710,000
2005: 1.1 million
2010: 560,000
2011: 555,000
2012: Up 1.3 percent through third quarter
Source: Motorcycle Industry Council of Irvine, Calif.

If 2011 was the end of the downturn, 2012 was clearly a return to stabalization. We saw it, I'm sure others in the industry saw it. We're hoping 2013 is the great leap forward. Nobdoy can expect numbers like back in 2006 or 2007 ever again. If anything companies that invested millions into the scooter market at the height in 2007 or 2008 are probably wanting to get out, but anyone that survived the US decline will surely do better in the next few years.

So 2013 might be the time to open a new store. Most cities now lack any real competition in the middle to upper luxury electric or scooter sales area. The fly by night Chinese only operations can pop up anywhere, but there is a need for new blood to take the place of shops that recently closed such as Noho or the Scooter Super Shops of America. https://www.thescootclub.com/noho-scooters-to-close these stores that were the standard in their local communities leave a void that is an opportunity for the right entrepreneurs.



Wednesday, December 12, 2012

FREE PRO GRIP GRIPS TODAY

http://www.martinracingdealer.com/SPD/free-progrip--800053EF-1355340000.jsp
FREE-PROGRIP 

BUY 3 PAIRS OF GRIPS GET THE 4TH PAIR FREE. ANY GRIPS INCLUDING PROGRIP MADE IN ITALY. APPLIES TO MRP, KMX, DOPPLER, POLINI, STR8, ALL GRIPS SALE. BUY 3 PRO GRIPS GET 4TH PAIR FREE. WHOLESALE ACCOUNTS ONLY. 4TH PAIR WILL GET DEDUCTED AT CHECKOUT, MUST ADD COUPON TO ONLINE ORDER. VALID ALL OF DECEMBER 2012.

Jackets and Gloves 50% off for Christmas

 All Armadillo Scooter Wear up to 50% off on our site. Stock up for the holidays at MRP!


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Holiday Displays what to do

China is growing up

Sunday, December 2, 2012

StreetFX Light Kits

Watch "Street FX Proflex Kits at MRP" on YouTube
A must have item for scooter stores during the Holiday season.

Free Vespa Promo

Watch "Free Vespa Baseball Cap Promo" on YouTube
Stocking parts orders all December long get a free Vespa cap for your store employees, loved ones, and friends!
Shop for the best parts for scooters at mrp.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

GY6 Parts

Watch "More Parts Brands in the USA" on YouTube
More GY6 parts than anyone. Visit our site for more information. Http://www.mrp-speed.com