If vendors want to give us a "real deal".......

[arceeguy]

Offer us our choice of 50cc or "80cc" kits for $150 (or less), with shipping included. The prices I see here in the vendor area are not anything to write home about, and this is why I did not buy my kits from anyone advertising here.

I got my two kits from eBay, from two different vendors. one from California, and one in Canada. Both kits were about $154.99 with shipping and insurance. The lower the price, the greater the volume - and that is how you make more money! People will be buying multiple kits just to keep a spare parts inventory, or to have two motorized bikes. (they're small, you can have a bunch!)

Thanks for listening!

 

[kitcarguy]

Are GEBE engines not made in china? Not trying to be smart, I just don't know

 

[Zev0]

Actually there are no GEBE engines. The GEBE kit uses both the Robin-Subaru 4 stroke and the Tanaka 33CC and 40CC 2 Stroke. Both are made in Japan.

 

[kitcarguy]

gotcha.

Thanks for the clarification

 

[wavygravy]

pretty sad when a guy has to add sinophobia to try & sell us on a product, leave the bigotry equasion factor out of this , most of us are smarter than that! we dont hate the chinese people , just the management at the factorys they work for!

 

[arceeguy]

pretty sad when a guy has to add sinophobia to try & sell us on a product, leave the bigotry equasion factor out of this , most of us are smarter than that! we dont hate the chinese people , just the management at the factorys they work for!

I'm not trying to sell you anything, and a lot of you are bigots, whether you care to admit it or not.

You all can go on and pay higher prices for your kits just "because". These engines should cost a lot less than they do, and the quality can be higher too. I recently bought a power mower from WalMart. It has a 4 cycle OHV engine (built in China, for you sinohobes) and it runs great. Very powerful and quiet. It cost $129.95. It weighs more than a HT engine, is in a bigger box than a HT engine, and is more complex than a HT engine. Yet, I paid less for it than I paid for my HT engines, even with the "slow boat" from China, customs tariffs, etc.

My intention was to try and get a vendor to step in and give us some lower prices than we can get on eBay - but I guess you people would like to pay more. Go for it!

 

[spunout]

driving the price down, most certainly will not drive the quality up.......

 

[Mountainman]

if and when - we see MB engines or bikes complect at WalMart
yes - the price will be way down

don't expect to see that day - soon anyway

it has always been a common practice when buying (whatever)
the more we buy -- less the price per unit
if I wanted a real deal
maybe get together with some others -- buy 5 or 10 ???


For now -- Ride That Thing - Mountainman

 

[arceeguy]

driving the price down, most certainly will not drive the quality up.......

Not necessarily true. If volume increased, importers could put more pressure on manufacturers to step up quality control, otherwise the big engine orders will go to the manufacturer that will provide the quality AND price.

hill climber just stated he bought his on an eBay auction for $102 with shipping and insurance. Do you think livefastmotors made any money on that transaction? I think he did. Otherwise, he would have put a reserve price on the auction and any future auctions. I used the "buy it now" option on mine, just to make the transaction quick and easy but maybe I'll just bid on an auction next time around.

Don't you guys think that 50 bucks shipping, no matter where you live, is a little excessive? Especially if you are on the left coast where these things are coming in by the container load?

Now I for one, would be willing to pay more for better quality ($179 for a kit) - but the manufacturer would have to offer an engine with a cast iron sleeve, high quality hardware, and a manufacturers warranty with a factory service center here in the USA. For now, they are all the same to me - regardless whether they come from BoyGoFast, Dax, or anyone. Granted, some vendors here are very helpful and "make things right" if there is a defect, but you are paying for that. They don't get free parts to give away when a "warranty" issue happens.

I consider a HT engine to have no warranty whatsoever, and that I am the warranty if anything goes wrong. There is no factory support or warranty, so costs should be a lot lower than they are IMO.

 

[TwoWalks]

Don't you guys think that 50 bucks shipping, no matter where you live, is a little excessive? Especially if you are on the left coast where these things are coming in by the container load?

Absolutely - My vendor is on the east coast and shipped to me on the west coast for $25.00.

Yes there are differences in price and there are differences in the quality of parts from one vendor to another.

You seem very committed to idea of vendors selling "China Motors" for under $150 shipped and you seem committed to the belief that lower prices mean higher volume so my question of the day: "Why don't you import them and sell them for your chosen price?"

 

[arceeguy]

Absolutely - My vendor is on the east coast and shipped to me on the west coast for $25.00.

Yes there are differences in price and there are differences in the quality of parts from one vendor to another.

You seem very committed to idea of vendors selling "China Motors" for under $150 shipped and you seem committed to the belief that lower prices mean higher volume so my question of the day: "Why don't you import them and sell them for your chosen price?"

I bought engines from BoyGoFast and Powerkingshop, and totally disassembled both to compare the quality, finish, and parts compatibility. I took measurements of everything from wrist pins to piston ring thickness,and have many clear hi-res photos to illustrate the differences. I'll have a complete write-up coming soon.

As far as selling them myself, the thought HAS crossed my mind. At this point, I would probably be inclined to disassemble each engine and perform "QC" here until I could trust the manufacturer to do so. As mentioned, importing goods from China is not for the faint hearted, and probably not for anyone who can't speak Chinese since communications will be very important. I am pretty sure that the people who import these engines import lots of other products and they do not depend on bicycle engines for all their income. For example, Powerkingshop sells many items made in China (power equipment, etc) and they are just enjoying the MB surge and won't be too disappointed if/when the fad goes away. I really don't have a desire to get into the importing business, and I don't speak Chinese. This doesn't mean that we can't ask vendors for better quality and lower prices so they can pass that message up "the food chain" so to speak. If we were to take your logic, anyone that is unhappy with health insurance should STFU and start their own insurance company, right?