How does that used part end up stored in our inventory bins?

Lets start right off by stating: this is NOT a junk yard. All bikes and parts are quite thoroughly assessed before purchase, each part is carried through the intensive process and preparations following:

Testing: Each and every part sent out from StraightWings Vintage Goldwing has gone through testing and or viewing on the bike before it is dis-assembled, then reviewed after being disassembled from the bike. Everything is cleaned to be certain we are seeing any problems.

Assessing: Switches, controls, electrical components, relay, etc, and electronics: tested on the bike, then again bench tested while being inventoried.

Assessing: Body parts: (unless clearly a ‘re-painter’ only) polished and checked closely for missing tabs, cracks, stressed areas, quality of the paintwork assessed as fair, good, or excellent. If poor paint but mechanically good: it is a re-painter. If it is broken: it’s in our garbage. If an otherwise good part, but has repairable cracks, those are either repaired, and that it has been repaired is noted in the description. Each piece is cleaned to check it for any mars, and assessed for quality. There’s only two ways to go at this point: it is good, or if it is very rare and can be restored, the part is kept and the process continues. If the part is not up to par it is garbage, and thrown there immediately. After the assessment done to this point, the description, part number scoured from two to three sites that handle Honda, the condition (including the fitment (in years/models) any noted foibles or mars) is noted on our inventory sheets.

Assessing: Mechanical Parts Parts that need to be measured to ascertain the existing usability are checked, as they are removed from the bike, with digital micrometers and digital vernier calipers. That is done to ascertain the used condition relating to the factory specifications. Sample: e.g.: brake disks: if the factory original spec is 10mm on brake disk, and the disk is at 8.7mm (87% remaining) that measurement is recorded on the disk. It is again checked when being inventoried. We are consistently within .02mm (2/100th of 1 mm, in this case 2% of the use of the disk) .

Making life easier for you: Most of the mechanical parts are dis-assembled, reviewed, checked and spec’d out, then greased, lubed, reassembled. Larger pieces (engines, front-ends, final drives) are checked for past servicing, and serviced as needed for use. We can’t say this occurs to all pieces, but generally you will receive a part with axles, swivels, etc: already greased, lubed, ready to place, and obviously so.

Writing it up: That general assessment is entered into inventory, and the description of the part is noted on the inventory sheets.

Ensuring the fitment: And this really takes time. Each part is cross-referenced to Honda fiches to ensure the fitment to a single or multiple years, and the part number. That is also entered into the description of most parts. It’s how you know it will fit your bike. If questions about that, call us. Honda OFTEN will put a new part number on a part that is identical in operation to an older part, because they manufactured a new model year.

Getting Pictures Started: It is then photographed, almost always more that one picture per item, unless just the one picture is fully self-explanatory (like an OEM Honda piece in the original bag). The pictures are edited to correlate pictures with parts. Most often, two (or more) pictures are edited to combine them into one picture which shows different views of the item.

Formatting the data for Upload: Each part is then added to up-loadable (and differently) formatted files for this site, and for eBay if we are going to list it there (at 11% more cost on eBay to only partially offset their fees), uploaded, checked, cross-referenced to ensure we have the SKU-Item numbers correlated with Honda Part numbers.

Getting Pictures Web-ready: The pictures are then reduced so that they can be reviewed easily either on StraightWings Store site, eBay, or other medium. Originals are kept for high-res viewing, and archived. Those are available when needed.

Getting Ready to find ship-costs: Each part is weighed, then the L x H x W dimensions are noted in inventory specifications to each part (for calculation of the shipment costs based on your region).

Storing the Parts: Each part is bubble-wrapped and stored in one of 125 bins, or on one of several large loft-shelves for safe-keeping.

It’s Now For Sale: At a cost: At this point, the item has been put up for sale. Sound like a lot of work? Yes, it is. The average is about 45 minutes per item. Please bear in mind that exactly the same process of work goes into a ‘dinosaur’ $4.00 1975 brake-caliper mount bolt as goes into listing a $2300 GL1800 engine. Hence: we are spending money to make the small and rare stuff available for you. Thus that $4 bolt costs about $35 to make available. It averages out. We are glad to have that small bolt to offer. Over the years we have sold just about every nut and bolt from every model made up to 2017. Everything is precious because someone might need just that piece to restore one these grand old ladies, at 1/2 the price at Honda IF they had it.