A Dutch success story

"Unobtanium"
The parts provide. That was messing around. But since no one had ever told Mike to go through life asleep, "the problem" became a concern. Where are there more old Hondaatjes? How is the part situation there? For the time being 'England' was the magic word. In England a lot of 50cc Hondas still drove. There was also a lively trade in parts there. But there too the parts started to become so scarce that they were labeled in an article as: 'made out of unobtanium'. For us in the Netherlands: made from 'rarzamium'. Those parts went away for prices that even a desperate Dutch Honda enthusiast would not dare to think about. Because everything comes in its time, Mike, who is still studying, got the opportunity to buy a batch of NOS - New Old Stock, so unsold old stock. There the coin fell. Money was borrowed within the family. A truck was arranged through the famous 'nephew of an acquaintance of the neighbor here a few houses away'. A somewhat older schoolmate already had a driver's license and was also chartered. The things were picked up and the new-born entrepreneur set off for… To England. Because there the sales prices were dramatically higher.

That excursion resulted in a pleasantly empty truck and an equally pleasantly filled cut. The approach tasted for more. The hunt for New Old Stock began. According to Mike, all corners of the world still had to be full of everything. And that for little. He was right.

A life like in a boy's book
The years after that discovery were busy. Mike lived a life like from a boy's book, Because in the far corners of the farthest countries you meet the strangest people. Things happen to you that every loyal ANWB member would be traumatized by. Misjah never saw difficulties. He sensed opportunities and possibilities.

And that sometimes they had to step aside very quickly or that a local lawyer appreciated a gesture because the study of his children also had to continue ... Then we are not even talking about all the smart-looking foreign entrepreneurs who are ideal in the Dutch. partner saw. A partner to participate in all transactions and transports with which you could and could usually end up in very uncomfortable local prisons.

Twenty men in a cell with room for eight. And according to the house rules, the last arrested arrested person is the girlfriend for the nineteen who were already there. And that is, at best, nice for the person who was the penultimate ... But all flight and other travel hours paid off. In the early days, the Dutch entrepreneur not only found the coolest loot of forgotten, classic parts for all Hondas of all time. In former colonies there were still unpacked stocks of forgotten importers and disappeared dealers. Mike found containers full of confiscated parts in customs sheds in Africa in the mid-sixties. In the big cities there were old sheds behind new sheds. With their forgotten content and all. Nineteen former police CB 450s. All year built 1966-1967 and all with less than 10.000 kilometers on the clock. A new government had chosen a different brand. Incidentally, there were also car parts with the latter party. Classic car parts of course! The early years were also the years that a worldwide network of searchers and letters was built up. Mike has since operated as CMS. Classic Motorcycle Supplies. He received tips and then got back on the plane and traveled to ....

You name the countries in Africa and Asia. An unexpected find just behind Antwerp was like one in the back garden. In the meantime, the people who do search for CMS are also the people who can make the deal on the spot. For the rest, the logistics go by computer and by container. The containers arrive in Lelystad and are sorted. The brand new glossy parts go into the sales stock. The simply beautiful things are pushed through to the trade. The rest will go into another container to someday possibly recycle again in the engine you dream about. The fact that the recycling percentage sometimes amounts to fifty percent is a calculated entrepreneurial risk. But because most of the trade nowadays comes from much more recent and very recent material, the rust-devil is no longer the biggest enemy within the company.

Mike had them - and has them - and sells them all the way to Chile. CMS became known worldwide within a few years. If someone was looking for stuff for a classic Japanese. Then he ended up at CMS. In order to be able to operate professionally on that scale, a change in company culture was made. If De Wereld is your customer, then you must have company logistics in order. Send a new CB750 K2 tank to South Africa to hear that the customer does not agree with the miniscule scratch in the paint? Just the phone call or e-mail contact about that makes the deal a loss.

From that moment on, CMS not only sold absolutely flawless parts to classic specialists. The parts trade went worldwide across the board. CMS has now become the main supplier for the Honda factory museum in this way. And if the rarity of what Honda is asking for exceeds all standards, then Mike and Honda will continue negotiations on a partial payment in kind. Because Mike has a perfect collection that contains some things that the Honda museum would like. And vice-versa.

From classic to recent
Soon CMS was one of the big three players in the world dealing with the trade in classic Japanese parts. But the world classic world trade for classic Japanese engines is not that big at all. There are just tens of thousands more people who just ride older Japanese bikes. That can even be machines that are only a few years old. Yet they are machines for which the official importers simply do not want to put a lot of effort into it. That of course applies less to the Fazer 600 from 2003 from the largest importer Yamaha than to the 1991 models from the much smaller Kawasaki. But that 1991 is just the point. The average age of the Dutch motorcycle park is 15 years. The average engine is therefore an 1991 person. And Yamaha also doesn't have the shelves full for that. If you still want to drive, you are indirectly dependent on CMS or one of the other five global players in this market. Because that market is naturally self-regulating in terms of buyers, consumer prices also remain at a decent level. The 'C' of CMS therefore stands less and less for 'Classic'.

Parts of Japanese brands are shipped from Lelystad every day all over the world. Moreover, CMS has acquired the importerships of impressive names such as 'Takegawa' and 'Over Racing'. The fact that more and more parts for classic Japanese cars are among them is not relevant to the story in MOTOPLUS. But a Honda SS 800 remains the best example of motorcycle technology on four wheels.

Normal business traffic comes and normal orders arrive in Lelystad by e-mail and the orders are only accepted when they are made in accordance with the factory part numbers. Everything is completely automated on fully 'customized' software. In Lelystad you will not find scraps and notes on the back of cigarette boxes. The warehouses and the health and safety facilities have been awarded a prize by the Municipality of Lelystad. The local electricity provider has given CMS an economy trophy and the insurer had a bad deal with CMS because the corporate security is far beyond the imagination and clout of even the more motivated criminals.

CMS has been around for more than ten years now.
The company currently runs on nine M / F employees. Including the director / owner / founder. The game is played in modern operational management and as a lean and mean organization. That approach is responsible for the black figures and impressive annual growth in revenue and earnings. This growth is strongly driven because the CMS software has extra tasty dog ​​food for snooping search engines. Because when Google puts you items found in 5 at the 12.000.000 place, then as an entrepreneur you have done a very smart job.

Below the line Mike is and remains a man who once lost his heart to Honda. He enjoys his work. He is enjoying his success. But he finds his happiness in his classic Honda's collection and riding on his simply modern motorcycle. That is also a Honda. Of course.

For the people who are now desperately waiting for a solution to their problems, AMK naturally has a tip. Ordering from CMS is only done in accordance with the part numbers. And who now has original Parts Lists at home? In the Netherlands CMS has made good agreements with Japarts in Oostburg. The Zeelanders have almost all parts lists of all Japanese manufacturers from 1959 to 2005 in house. So they can translate your problem into numbers and make your problem their solution.

The sites: www.cmsnl.com, www.over.co.jp, www.takegawa.co.jp, www.japarts.nl