whoa! rising kit cost. opinions, please.

[spunout]

recently, a $50 mark-up happened with a certain vendor's kits.
this will force me to go elsewhere from now on.

is a full 25% increase of cost a little much, in your opinion?

 

[bluegoatwoods]

It's hard to say yes or no. Everything (almost) has gone up 30 or 40% in the last few years. If this vendor hasn't raised prices in, say, 7 years then maybe it's justified.

Or maybe world wide demand is growing to the point that it's costing him that much more to buy them. In that case, he is definitely justified.

Or maybe his costs haven't gone up but he's been thinking "you know, I'm really not making very much money here. So....."
And though that kinda hurts, I guess I can't really argue with it.

The real bummer is that our economy is tanking and (whether they'll admit it or not) inflation is starting to get like it was 30-35 years ago. Scary.

 

[turbo/chaos]

well my kits have gone down to 195 till the 25th but will go back up to 225 and stay that way

 

[fetor56]

I originally paid more for my kit & have had NO problems.Most of the ppl that seem to have the bulk of the problems are from the el-cheepo camp that initally brag about the low cost of their kits but live to regret it...pay more & get something that's proven better with proven backup.

PS...the only thing that goes down in value thesedays is the buying power of the dollar.

 

[GasKicker]

I got my kits from powerkingshop. The first few were $106.95. A month later they were $114.95. The month after that they wanted $119.95. I believe this is just a comon business tool. They are probing the market to see what is the best price the market will bear.
Another explanation could be that due to gas prices it costs them more to bring them in from china. I dunno.
It's still not unreasonable. Yet!!!

 

[Large Filipino]

Things to consider:
1) China lost 55,000 lives to earthquakes and it hasn't stopped. That has got to have placed some kind of strain to the manufacture of our joy. They probably think that we regard these engines as toys. They are partly right but for some it's a need just like to them it's their only way to move around.
2) High gas prices dictate EVERYTHING.
3) The rise in our engine kits are NOTHING compared to the Toyota Purist Mark Up. Some are going for 33 thousand dollars. It would take the owner 60 years to make back their money in gas savings.
4) Even scooters are getting marked up by almost a thousand bucks any brand any where.
5) So far I've saved $700.00 worth of gas. I've made back my money on MOOP. another 500 miles or so I've made back my money on Cronus.
6) You are buying the fountain of youth at a bargain price.
7) You instantly become a SUPERHERO in your neighborhood. Go ahead. Wear that cape. Wear it proud. Wear it to work.
8) When you ride your motoredbike to work,even the big man will notice and will think of you as BRILLIANT,worthy of that executive spot.
9) You will eat a FOOT LONG SUB SANDWICH with SUN CHIPS,a LARGE COKE and even a SOUP to chase it all down EVERY DAY while your co workers are eating a SOGGY PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH FROM HOME for all their hard earned money went to SAUDI ARABIA while YOU are saving AMERICA because you are STIMULATING your LOCAL ECONOMY by eating out every day.
10) There has to be a ten in this list. It's Murphy's Law.

 

[spunout]

point(s) taken. i was just a little miffed, because i'm selling motoredbikes at a very modest profit, and the extra $50 for kits would take too much of a bite. therefore, making the entire deal not worth the time. i'll go with different kits, thats all.

 

[Large Filipino]

Raise your price on your builds with the cost of the kits. People still win epicly on both counts.
Buyer would have to ride another 200 miles to make back their money.
Use that in your ads. In fact,copy and paste what I typed down on your ads.
People would bid on your bikes. And it's only gonna get crazier.
I'm planning on a build and after what it would cost to build one I'm gonna try to make 2 Ben Franklins for each build so I can keep going. I think it may sell. It may be a decent enough supplemental income I so desperately need at the moment even if I sell just one a month.

 

[KiDD]

Who raised their price? Didn't DAX use to be cheaper?

 

[eljefino]

9) You will eat a FOOT LONG SUB SANDWICH with SUN CHIPS,a LARGE COKE and even a SOUP to chase it all down EVERY DAY while your co workers are eating a SOGGY PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH FROM HOME for all their hard earned money went to SAUDI ARABIA while YOU are saving AMERICA because you are STIMULATING your LOCAL ECONOMY by eating out every day.

You and I think a lot alike.

Weasaling out of high gas expenses that everyone else suffers leaves me smug in my luxury $5 footlongs.

I'm eating out more than I did a while ago, I'm cheap, but since restaurants are so empty and hungry for my business it's my chance to be treated like royalty.

As far as kit cost, for bikes built on speculation, I would keep the kits cheap BUT let buyers know about this site and what shortcomings one would suffer, eg they should check their hardware for tightness all the time. They will be so ga-ga over your honesty, the MPG, and the fun, it would be like the day one buys a sailboat.

AFAIK my needle bearing boygofast motor is the same as anyone else's; the cheap stuff are the mounting studs, tensioner, clutch lever... ancillaries. So you can mention one can get a ball bearing chain tensioner for longer life, and their eyes will sort of glaze over 90% of the time.

Maybe have a better kit on the shelf for a custom build with the customer's existing frame. People are panicky and impulsive about gas prices and want something to ride that day so a cheap kit build IMO would be the way to go. (And on a cheap bike, like a moon dog)

Incidentally one vendor, ebay maybe, had a 5-pack special?