I have been ordering parts and tires from Bike Bandit for years, and generally it has been a good experience.  The tires I order from them are sent from nearby warehouses, and they show up at my door in a day or two after ordering them.  Like all the other online retailers they don't stock the OEM replacement parts - they order them from the a wholesale supplier of Suzuki/Yamaha/Honda/BMW/ETC parts.....and it takes up to a week before they ship the parts to you.  The factory parts are generally a bit less than they would be if you bought them at the local bike shop.  And more importantly - they local bike shop would often make me go pay for the part before they would order it - which required me to make 2 trips to the bike shop (although I guess I could have done it by telephone and credit card and only make a trip to pick the parts up).  I did have a good working relationship with a local Suzuki/Honda dealership and the parts counter would order me parts without me paying in advance - but that dealer was sold and the new owners wouldn't continue that policy for me.

RANT PORTION:  Last year in February I took the forks apart on my Savage and I needed new seals and the little plastic protectors, and I ordered the replacements from Bike Bandit.  After two months of waiting the parts were still "In Process" when I checked my order status......thankfully Ruttly had some extras and I bought them from him and cancelled by Bike Bandit order.

On December 3rd, 2020 I ordered 3 decompression shaft seals for the Suzuki and a couple of head cover bolts, and a few BMW screws from Bike Bandit.  As occurred the previous year the order was not shipped and continued to show the parts were not yet delivered to them or shipped to me. At the beginning of January I called to see what was going on, and the order clerk told me the parts were not yet available, and he hoped he would get "authorization" to order them in a couple of weeks.  I did not pick up on that as well as I should have, and told him I would wait a few more weeks.   I let 3 weeks go by and called again, and this sales agent was a bit cross with me and said that Covid has prevented them from being able to get parts - and that all online retailers and shops were experiencing the same crisis.  I waited another week and then cancelled my order.  I can order seals from a supplier and the other parts I can try ordering from a dealer.

SO.......has anyone else had this experience with other parts suppliers?  Is it impossible to get OEM parts right now?  

I know that manufacturers are having difficulties in keeping up their production schedules.  I am retired but younger friends tell me that they are experiencing severe manpower shortages due to Covid.  Not so much the people who have it but the large number of people potentially exposed to it who are quarantined.  Company policy is that when one employee tests positive for Covid then all his or her coworkers who were in close contact must stay home until deemed safe. And then there are the workers who are exposed outside of work and they too are not permitted to come in and work.  They still get paid so they are not inclined to show up when they have been exposed.

And every manufacturer must buy stuff from other companies who are also experiencing the same problems inflicted by Covid so that the slow down in deliveries just keeps compounding through the entire system.  It just goes to show how vulnerable our economic system has become.

I've ordered a lot of parts in the last 12 months from Bike Bandit, Revzilla and Ron Ayers. Not a single delay. However, I don't order anything that shows as "not in stock' or delayed. For example, I went to order clutch parts for my DRZ from Ron Ayers. They only had a few of each plate type available. A quick search on Revzilla showed that they would ship in 3-4 days - and they did.

I guess my point is to pay attention to the expected delivery date. I don't know why Revzilla was able to get the OEM parts out when Ron Ayers couldn't because they all come from the same warehouse.

About a month ago a Ocean Network Express ( those pink giant container ships ) hit rough seas and lost 1816 containers off the ship and sank in the ocean , ship had to port in Japan to clean up the mess on deck. That’s a lot of containers to loose , so it is possible we may encounter delays till the supply chain can make up what was lost.

They now have special ships just for retrieval of sunken containers and they will never run out of work as long as we have container ships. Some of the mega ships can carry 22.000 containers. I don’t get why they don’t rollover and sink , guess someone’s math is way better than mine.

I have been using Bike Bandit for years, and up until the last 12 months they have done very well and been my "go to" when I have bought factory parts and supplies.....and clothing.

They may still be fine for clothing, and the tires I have ordered recently arrived within days - they just haven't been able to get me any factory replacement parts.  Not a single factory part was delivered after waiting 2 months last winter, and 3 months this winter.