There's been a recent thread on the Airheads List regarding the Harbor Freight motorcycle wheel balancer. After several days of discussing it's merits, quality and origin of manufacture, the general consensus seems to be that's it's the real deal. What started the topic was the sale price of $39.99 vs list at $59.99.
The HF wheel balancer has been on my personal radar for some tire. I see it each time I drive the 40+ miles to visit my closest store. What put me off was the pricey BMW Adapter Kit I thought I needed for my airheads. The Airhead wheel balancer thread commentary cleared up my misconception so I decided to buy the balancer and treat the bikes to another Christmas present.
Hit the HF store Saturday morning, 02 January and, UhOh... $39.99 sale price go bye-bye. Back up to $59.99 and that's a deal breaker for me. Undaunted, I asked the store manager if he would honor the sale price since I had, "driven such a long distance to shop at my favorite store... blah, blah, blah ". The response was affirmative so into the basket goes the wheel balancer. At check-out, I was to have the cashier call the manager for price confirmation. This I did but the cashier said he had an even better deal for me. He then scanned a bar code page next to the register. My price came up as $31.99. Oy vey... Such a deal!
My friends here in the R65 asylum occasionally, and good-naturedly, tease me about being cheap. I prefer the word frugal. They're all good peeps and fellow airhead riders. Just wanted to share my ABC research and price find. And it is a fact that, if asked, store managers can and will occasionally reduce the asking prices of everything from clothing to, well, wheel balancers! Costs nothing to ask.
Monte
