Engine for first build?

[motorpsycho]

again, buying one of these engines is a total shot in the dark,
you could get a good one or a bad one from whomever you buy it from.
I've gotten 4 good ones from b.g.f. and i bought them all at different intervals not all at the same time.
b.g.f. is not a manufacturer, just a drop shipper (just all the other vendors).
When you pay more money for the exact same product, what you are paying for is the customer service.

 

[retromike3]

another Boy go Fast Horror story.

I had a problem with my old clutch lever. turns out that the button on the lever broke off and I ordered one off of Ebay. I found out later that It was from B.G.F. The lever I got was defective, It was misaligned and required filing so that the button would engage at all. The lever then failed completely. Lucky for me the button still worked so all I had to do was to take the button off the broken lever, grind the pop rivet smooth and re-tap it so I could use a nut to hold it in place. its now working with my old lever. The only way I found out that it was B.G.F. was when I checked the shipping.

If you check the vender reviews you see that B.G.F. is not rated very high.

mike

 

[Big Red]

Engines

There is more then one factory in China that makes these things. I've heard there are about ten of them, Don't know for sure. What I am pretty sure of is that they all don't sell them to the distributers for the exact same price. What, I think, BGF is doing is going with the very cheapest he can find with no regard as to quality. Most other distributers simply care about quality a little more than Rick does. Rick, and Luckyearlybird, Same people, Don't care about anything except the bottom line.
YES, you can get a 2-stroke cheaper from boygoslow, Just don't expect him to fix ANYTHING that is wrong with it when you get it. 98 or 99% of the time there isn't a problem. But if there is, good luck trying to get Rick to make it right.
Big Red.

 

[motorpsycho]

There is more then one factory in China that makes these things. I've heard there are about ten of them, Don't know for sure. What I am pretty sure of is that they all don't sell them to the distributers for the exact same price. What, I think, BGF is doing is going with the very cheapest he can find with no regard as to quality. Most other distributers simply care about quality a little more than Rick does. Rick, and Luckyearlybird, Same people, Don't care about anything except the bottom line.
YES, you can get a 2-stroke cheaper from boygoslow, Just don't expect him to fix ANYTHING that is wrong with it when you get it. 98 or 99% of the time there isn't a problem. But if there is, good luck trying to get Rick to make it right.
Big Red.

That's exactly what i'm saying. b.g.f. does not stand behind what he sells and that's part of why he can sell so cheap.
if i were a vendor, i'd stand behind what i sold and i'd replace defective or missing parts for free whenever possible.
but of corse i say this while i am not a vendor, and i have no idea what it would take to be a vendor.
But i do know that i would do whatever it took to make things right for my customers.
I sell a variety of different stuff on e-bay and i do whatever i can to make my customers happy. I have a 100% positive feedback rating, and i've been selling for about 7 years now.
Customer service is VERY important to having a successful business and happy customers.
after all, word of mouth is the best advertizing.

 

[Big Red]

Engine

I DO have a business, although a small one, and I know a little about customer service. If something goes wrong or breaks, and it really is my fault somehow, I fix it or whatever it takes to make it right. But I was raised in the 60's by a military father who taught me some value's. I don't think Rick was raised with any of these type's of value's. If he was he would at least hire someone to respond to e-mail's, but he didn't. THEN, if you do get a response, It's not his problem.
I'm suprised he's still in business. I guess if you can sell it cheaper than anyone else, someone will buy from you.
Rick needs to go back to school and learn what he didn't learn the first time.
But, back to topic. If you are prepared to replace a part or two,(BGF will be glad to sell them to you,) Then go ahead and try to save some money. Like I said earlier, 98 or 99% of the time it's all good. Ya roll the dice, Yadda Yadda.
Big Red.

 

[sparky]

I'm gonna break the chain here...

SAVE YOUR MONEY! BUY JAPANESE!!!

If you decide that you must buy a China-kit... ask the seller THESE two questions:

(1) Is the intake manifold made of plastic or metal?
(2) Is the exhaust gasket made of paper or metal?

Cheapest dealer than answers "metal" to both those questions is the one I'd go with. If they LIE and provide you with paper or plastic, then call your CC up and get your money back. If everybody did this, we'd get the real deal the first time, because the importers would stop buying the paper & plastic carp themselves.