Is the sport / market declining?

[kevbo]

There is no easy financing for a turn key backflip ski. Very few people, "who aren't too old," can afford to pay that much at once. Selling it in pieces is certainly more profitable since most riders are forced to build their skis that way.

 

[Storbeck]

This is pretty tough to evaluate because we are coming down from a very obvious artificial bubble from covid, so obviously yes in the short term things were bonkers and they're coming down from that, but separating that affect from an overall decline I'm not sure. In the little bubble that I live in stand up skis/x2/blaster/chicken/x4 ski doo still go for a huge premium over old couches so that's an indication it's the enthusiasts driving the market up.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Lol no you don't. You say it every chance you get. Keep fighting the fight.

Sometimes the truth hurts............. Trust me, I am no fan of current Administration. But when I look at the last 4 years..... My investments have almost doubled.... Not gonna mention what a Case of beer cost now. That the current part that sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Half flip95]

Is the sport / market declining?​

Yes, but I don't think its falling off a cliff.

Are price / economic conditions to blame?

Maybe.

We are probably seeing a short -term reaction to economic conditions. I believe the "decline" to be more cultural than anything. The kids that grew up around the "action sports lifestyle trends" of the late 80s- early 2000s are starting to age out. Kids that grew up in the 08 era probably had less access to that sort of stuff.

So instead of blaming this recession, I'll blame the last one.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I received a survey form from the census bureau a few weeks back , in the envelope was a $5 bill for filling out the survey, the survey was about school age children which I don't have, it was sent to an address where no one lives and they should know this because I checked that on the form last time they did a census. Thanks for sending my $5 back I will go buy lunch or should I say half of lunch , it will take another $5 to buy my whole lunch.

How many of these envelopes do you think that they sent out ?
Why are they sending people $5 to fill out surveys , I sure as hell am not filling this one out ?

You wonder why the government is broke , this is why , because you have a lot of stupid people in the government that stupid people elected continually doing stupid stuff over and over every damn day , it adds up over a period of time.

 

[Quinc]

I got one of those. Only reason I knew was because I ripped it in half before throwing it away and saw the money. Makes me wonder how many 5$ bills have gone straight to the dump.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

We know without a doubt at least half of the population are idiots , look at who they elected as president , the issue is the idiots now outnumber the reasonable people so here we go again !

It blows my mind that in almost four years time that these are the best two candidates they could come up with.

 

[hornedogg79]

My neighbor, 77 yr old jetski bud, called me yesterday and said he got a census survey. It was addressed to "residents of ..." It did not have $5 but said "you are required by law to complete this survey". He's lived there his entire life but they don't have his name? Kinda strange.

 

[KMN]

We just had one of our biggest and best freeride events ever, with more high end skis than ever. From that snapshot, it would look like it's growing. We had a ton of new people and have an extremely high rate of people coming back. Our industry sponsors were amazing and help us put on a grand event for all of the jet ski enthusiasts.
The market to buy and sell has definitely suffered lately, probably a combination of the economy and most of the long time jet skiers have filled their garage with skis and parts. They just don't need to buy as much anymore. Gotta get more new people into the sport so we can sell them our old stuff. ;-)

 

[sjetrider]

I mentioned this in another thread not long ago. I have stayed active in the sport over the years but not really building skis like i used to. I also used to be on here all the time checking new stuff, ideas and tricks out. Last 6 years i havent.
I was blown away by the lack of posting and activity. Cleaned our the attic and put some parts up for sale that used to sell immediately at what used to be BARAIN prices.
I am blown away by the LOW prices of aftermarket skis and hulls honestly.
Was looking to build a creek boat and Facebook has some RN SJ's under $5k that are JUST SITTING, not selling.
I am pretty convinced the sport has drastically declined.
Personally, I dont think GEN Z could get you a 10mm socket without WAZE. and maybe thats why????????????????

 

[Big Kahuna]

I mentioned this in another thread not long ago. I have stayed active in the sport over the years but not really building skis like i used to. I also used to be on here all the time checking new stuff, ideas and tricks out. Last 6 years i havent.
I was blown away by the lack of posting and activity. Cleaned our the attic and put some parts up for sale that used to sell immediately at what used to be BARAIN prices.
I am blown away by the LOW prices of aftermarket skis and hulls honestly.
Was looking to build a creek boat and Facebook has some RN SJ's under $5k that are JUST SITTING, not selling.
I am pretty convinced the sport has drastically declined.
Personally, I dont think GEN Z could get you a 10mm socket without WAZE. and maybe thats why????????????????

FB has made a huge dent in traffic.............

 

[HarryConnolly]

There is no "economy." Meaning that the free market does not produce anything much in the U.S.

Except for those involved in the service industries, all the production jobs especially for younger wage earners who work with their hands have been shipped to China.

If you are older and have already accumulated your wealth, your assets, then the economy is ostensibly good. Because inflation which makes gasoline, food, rental housing, car prices and house prices higher and higher, just increases the price of your already accumulated assets -- like your house or houses and cars and stocks, etc.

But for this sport to grow, the younger men, especially, have to have sufficient disposable income to buy and maintain a jet ski.

They don't have it.

Because they can barely afford to live at all.

Many I have seen have moved back home to their parents taking their young children with them.

Trump has it right when he says that the price of energy is the prime creator of inflation -- because the cost of fuel is a part of everything which is produced, including the raw materials, the manufacturing and the transportation of the goods to market.

Trump is also right that this can be relieved by "Drill baby drill!"

But inflation is not caused just by the cost of energy.

It is also caused by the Federal Treasury printing dollars which the Federal Reserve buys which has increased the U.S. National Debt to over $35 Trillion. And $1 Trilion more is added to the National Debt every 100 days.

Now the U.S. dollar is no longer supported by gold or the working man. Rather the number of U.S. dollars continues to outpace the productivity of the U.S. working man. Only a huge cut in federal government spending, like firing 2/3s of its employees can turn the economy around now.

So in summary, our sport is not dying.

America is dying.

Something I would just like to say because reading “America is dying” sucks.

I believe our country and the world is in a jam, technology is advancing rapidly and our systems are increasingly becoming outdated everyday. World governments are pushing themselves over the flow of information war that’s currently going on. Most of our society isn’t disciplined enough to understand everything on the internet is probably fake.

We went from studying our economy to trying to control it.

I think things are bad right now because of bad management. Bad implementation of good hearted ideas. Social media has damaged weaker and more vulnerable people who are skittish. People don’t discuss ideas as much as they do who’s right vs wrong.

As for the economy I have bad news for all of you, no one knows. I’m fortunate enough to have listened to Thomas Kane and a few other people from his team at Harvard who wrote covid bailout policy. I heard lectures before during and after the policy had failed. It’s simply, people in the position to make changes are throwing proposals like poop at a wall hoping they stick. I remember they came back a year later in 2021 and the first thing they open with was “we were wrong, oh well.”

Once Biden’s White House ended they happily returned to Harvard. That talked pissed a lot of people off because they explained how the returning soldier effect from Ukraine will boost our poopty economy.

Anyway, I’ve shook hands with KBJ and Tim Manchin and been fortunate enough to have private conversations. I know a cat who was on the federal reserve board pre 08 but whenever I ask him real questions he tells me buy index funds, it’s all gonna be okay!

Just so you know, no one knows what’s going on and it’s really exactly what you see. I’ve sat through a lot of these lectures and that’s probably the most concerning part. Until or unless someone gets the fed reserves books and world bank to stop hiding everything, nothing will change.

War is inevitable, that’s about all I can confirm.

America will only die if we let it

I think it’s just a blip of bad management. Too many old people in positions of power who haven’t been able to properly adjust their decision making skills given how quickly technology is fading in and out.

 

[kevbo]

I mentioned this in another thread not long ago. I have stayed active in the sport over the years but not really building skis like i used to. I also used to be on here all the time checking new stuff, ideas and tricks out. Last 6 years i havent.
I was blown away by the lack of posting and activity. Cleaned our the attic and put some parts up for sale that used to sell immediately at what used to be BARAIN prices.
I am blown away by the LOW prices of aftermarket skis and hulls honestly.
Was looking to build a creek boat and Facebook has some RN SJ's under $5k that are JUST SITTING, not selling.
I am pretty convinced the sport has drastically declined.
Personally, I dont think GEN Z could get you a 10mm socket without WAZE. and maybe thats why????????????????

Old Superjets with questionably rusty cranks need to be discounted $2000 and overhauled before they can be trusted..

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I will say this Democrat , Republican, independent whatever , the bar for the Presidency just keeps getting lower and lower and as it does thing keep getting more and more screwed up , somewhere there is a point of no return, I don't think we are there just yet.

I really thought Facebook would come and go , that something new and shiny would come along and people would abandon it in droves , that hasn't happened yet either but sooner or later that bubble will also burst.

 

[KMN]

Maybe if we talked more about jet skis and less about politics people would want to hang out here.

 

[Aquaholic]

Maybe if we talked more about jet skis and less about politics people would want to hang out here.

 

[JeskiBoji]

let’s all get f….. up and go out on the lake
Grill a cheeseburger man it’s over

 

[HarryConnolly]

let’s all get f….. up and go out on the lake
Grill a cheeseburger man it’s over

How dare you assume people eat meat. I say let’s all go out on the lake, discuss equality over some sparkling water and grill up some environmentally safe impossible patties!

If you’re feeling dangerous we can ditch our wives boyfriends and sneak some Michelob Ultras behind the menstruation hut.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

How dare you assume people eat meat. I say let’s all go out on the lake, discuss equality over some sparkling water and grill up some environmentally safe impossible patties!

If you’re feeling dangerous we can ditch our wives boyfriends and sneak some Michelob Ultras behind the menstruation hut.

Dangerously you live , do people still do stuff like that ?

I remember a few weeks back being scolded by a member here for discussing jet ski topics on a jet ski discussion forum , yet I am still discussing jet ski stuff.

I would like to see Facebook decline and this place go back up, will it happen, well that's up to everyone involved in the sport now isn't it ?

 

[holygoat]

Back to the original question... I was at the local lake last night in the midwest and there were 15+ standups there. About 8 in our group and 7 other guys. We are in no way a ski hotspot but it was cool to see so many out there, mostly older kawis and a few superjets. Most people just wanna ride. Not spend $15k+ on a flip ski. It's a strange echo chamber when you surround yourself with ski building, performance hunting enthusiasts and then go out into the real world and realise most people are happy on a 650sx.