Residents and tourists see motos all over the streets, shiny ones on delivery trucks on their way to a dealer and in showrooms. I thought folks might want to see what happens between the shipping container and delivery to the showroom floor. Most motos are built like this, more or less.
Alida and I had a meeting at the coffee factory in Jarabacoa last Saturday and I wandered around because we were early (actually, late, but MY 15 minutes late is Dominican one hour early.) It?s the coffee off-season and I wanted to see what maintenance was being done. I walked into the export warehouse and was met with this:
<OMotos and boxes everywhere, a virtual factory of moto assembly. I knew the family imports, sells and finances several brands of motos, including their own private label (BR), but I thought the assembly was done at the lot. I guess not. So I walked around and took pictures of the process.
Seems a container was delivered during the week.
They are imported in lots of 8 and come in 8 frame/parts boxes:
8 Engine boxes (small square ones on the left):
And 8 sets of Tupperware* in one big box:
Three guys are doing the assembly. One guy takes the frame parts:
Starts building the frame:
And bolts on the motor:
^^^Note^^^ the serious bash plate :cheeky: I never knew small motos came with one.
Another guy, using boxes of bolts, connectors and sophisticated tools:
<O</O
The Tupperware*:
Does the final assembly:
</O
The third guy is a GoFer.
Each bike gets a quart of fuel, a fresh battery, oil, tires inflated and gets cranked and checked for leaks.</O
This particular moto, a BR105 (for Belarminio Ramirez) is a 110cc Yamaha Crypton clone and sells new for RD$43,000. I cannot tell the difference when examining them side by side. I rode one and it seems like a decent ride for a small, budget moto.
So now you know...
Alida and I had a meeting at the coffee factory in Jarabacoa last Saturday and I wandered around because we were early (actually, late, but MY 15 minutes late is Dominican one hour early.) It?s the coffee off-season and I wanted to see what maintenance was being done. I walked into the export warehouse and was met with this:
<OMotos and boxes everywhere, a virtual factory of moto assembly. I knew the family imports, sells and finances several brands of motos, including their own private label (BR), but I thought the assembly was done at the lot. I guess not. So I walked around and took pictures of the process.
Seems a container was delivered during the week.
They are imported in lots of 8 and come in 8 frame/parts boxes:
8 Engine boxes (small square ones on the left):
And 8 sets of Tupperware* in one big box:
Three guys are doing the assembly. One guy takes the frame parts:
Starts building the frame:
And bolts on the motor:
^^^Note^^^ the serious bash plate :cheeky: I never knew small motos came with one.
Another guy, using boxes of bolts, connectors and sophisticated tools:
<O</O
The Tupperware*:
Does the final assembly:
</O
The third guy is a GoFer.
Each bike gets a quart of fuel, a fresh battery, oil, tires inflated and gets cranked and checked for leaks.</O
This particular moto, a BR105 (for Belarminio Ramirez) is a 110cc Yamaha Crypton clone and sells new for RD$43,000. I cannot tell the difference when examining them side by side. I rode one and it seems like a decent ride for a small, budget moto.
So now you know...