I’ve owned/worked on several motorcycles where the part you need must be purchased in a bulk package.  Kawasaki, and their tappet shims, were fairly infamous for this practice.

“Yes sir, we can sell you the tappet shim you want.  They come in a box of 20.#”

You couldn’t buy an individual shim.  You had to buy in bulk.  Unless you were friends with a motorcycle mechanic, and you could obtain the shim you needed.  The internet has made this a bit easier.  Now you can shop for shims at eBay or a company like Precision Shims.

# – it seems you can now buy shims individual shims from Kawasaki.  Sanity at last.

The idea for this start post was from a advertisement I saw in a 2006 bike magazine.  Precision Shims is still in business, so they must be doing something right.