A J Sutton - prices of new Townmate spares

I phoned recently A J Sutton to ask the reason for price difference of Townmate front forks part numbers 22F23310011H & 22F23310014H as being £187.27 & £164.23 respectvely as apparently the only difference is colour, suffix 11 (blue) & suffix 14 (grey). A helpful lady at Suttons sales dept told me suffix 14 (grey) forks are discontinued so price shown is out of date & is the last price they were advertised at.
I did ask them about the prices & why they are so high & the lady said these are genuine new stock from Yamaha not new old stock (NOS), I presume they dont actually keep any stock themselves & parts are sent direct from Yamaha as no company in this day and age can afford to hold dead stock. I also asked them about rear units, they are priced and sold seperately ie £101.57 EACH. I expressed my surprise at these horrendously high prices & if they actually sell anything, she said they sell a lot, which is surprising considering there are few Townmates left on the road, & there are plenty of second hand parts & new pattern parts available on eBay etc.

Thanks for that John made interesting reading,101 quid mmmmmmm I just bought some Hagons for my BMW air head for about the same