Other WTF is with the arrogance of builders and manufacturers of products for our sport

[SurferSmurf]

i see so much $hit come out of all these companies that supply products for this sport and everyone of them claims to have quality and precision and all around the best parts MY HARD EARNED MONEY CAN BUY. its all clucking garbage.... all of it. i am not naming any names AT ALL and no one else should either but these god dam builders need to have some quality control and we should all demand it. i just got a ride plate and i am going to have to grind out all the holes to the right spot. this is the second high dollar plate that i have had to do this too. i keep hearing rumors of problems with high dollar hulls, ive seen a total abotrion on a b-pipe mod for power valves. do any of these manufacturers realize there are machinists and people that manufacture for a living that ride. do they think we are all stupid and we dont realize we are getting F'ed while they laugh all the way to the bank. a friend of mine just ordered a turnplate and bars from a suposedly reputable manufacturer and the custom made aluminum nut that goes on the bottom to hold the bushing was threaded on an angle. if i messed up as much $hit as these people do at work i would not have a job nor would the company i work for be in business. WE ARE ALL GETTING CONNED AND SCREWED OUT OF OUR MONEY IN THIS SPORT AND I DEMAND SOME QUALITY CONTROL AND A LITTLE LESS ARROGANCE OUT OF THESE BUILDERS AND MANUFACTURERS. IM SICK OF HEARING STORIES OF POOR QUALITY CONTROL AND PI$$ POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. i could go on and on with this especially with some of the customer service stories from friends of mine that have spent 10's of thousands......

 

[SurferSmurf]

im still sratching my head at how a 10 minute ride plate chang is now going to take me probably 2 hours of work, and i paid for it.

 

[MADMAT]

Been there seen that...

 

[WILKEY]

send it back. i wouldnt touch it.

 

[nokfir]

not disagreeing with ya but i think the plates come undrilled so u can mount it to any hull and setup.

nuthing pissing me off more then buying a part that they claim is "Direct Bolt On" and doesnt even f'ing fit without cutting or some other sort of drastic measure. its bs

 

[Sanoman]

That does suck.l have bought a lot of crap over the years with the same issues you speak of.My JD ride plate looks like your kid brother built it.lf they would have spent 10 more minutes finishing all the rough edges it would have been worth the money! And l had to slot the holes like yours to make it work.

Couple of company's l am totally impressed with is Xsream and Thrust.All their stuff is TOP notch!

 

[GIL]

Preach on brother. Let's pretend I have 10,000.00 cash to buy a new lightweight hull, my #1 fear is installing all of my parts in it knowing that NOTHING is going to line up correctly(a hull swap should be a 4 hour job), and #2 that the super dooper hull is going to start coming apart the first season. Don't get me started on ALL the rest of the 'bolt on' parts. LOL

 

[WILKEY]

That does suck.l have bought a lot of crap over the years with the same issues you speak of.My JD ride plate looks like your kid brother built it.lf they would have spent 10 more minutes finishing all the rough edges it would have been worth the money! And l had to slot the holes like yours to make it work.

Couple of company's l am totally impressed with is Xsream and Thrust.All their stuff is TOP notch!

X2 love their quality and service

 

[kevbo]

This hobby has a very high turnover rate and the players are generally very young. The vendors make whatever consumers are buying. Quality is not on the list.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

This hobby has a very high turnover rate and the players are generally very young. The vendors make whatever consumers are buying. Quality is not on the list.

This is very true what I am seeing on the sitdown market is a three to four year turnover span. What this means it even if you piss off all your customers within three or four years you have a brand new customer base, its not the way I operate but we have a lot in the bizz that do operate that way.

 

[waxhead]

I agree with you. The amount of rubbish sold on the market here is insane.
I have seen hoods and hulls etc that are sold as carbon but are just fibreglass
There is so much stuff that doesnt fit when you bolt it on
I have seen intake manifolds that have bolts to long so things are held up and create air leaks
I could write a book on it

 

[orangefinger]

Has anyone every thought about if all double backflips /double barrels rolls / helicopters/ frontflips will be exhausted where this industry will go in the future ....it peaked once before and then disappeared.....they will milk you while they can for any parts, any machine work, simply anything...its just how it is >> we are riding not only on a wave >> we are riding on a hype...but quality products and great service will not be forgotten and one day if you turn old and need that billet 1000 cc lawn mower ( the one you can sit on and do a backflip on your front yard )>> you will call that company ) wink wink

 

[sjetrider]

I have resorted to just expecting some modification on new parts. It is that bad. But a nature of this sport for sure.

 

[SurferSmurf]

these builders/manufacturers are holding us hostage. if we could all commit to buying only used parts for one or two seasons till they get an inspection department with quality control then i think they would get it. cant see that ever happening.

maybe they should lower the prices on stuff by calculating an hourly wage discount with an estimated amount of time it would take to fix their junk. i think that sounds like a good idea, he11 if you calculate it out we coould all have an aftermarket hull decked out for the change thats in my cup holder in my car.

 

[chriselmore_1]

I think that would just cause companys to shut their doors. We just have to speak up when we spend a fortune for . I think having to reinforce a 8-10k hull is the stupidest I have ever heard of.Lately I've bean seein better quality from the small time not so big companys than I have bean sein from the big shots

 

[djkorn1]

I've seen alot of junk. Big Dollar cylinders that the manifold doesn't fit on and are sold without the required spacers, hulls that are waterlogged and cracked after one year, carbon covered rideplates that the carbon falls off of in 2 rides, pole pads that don't even come close to fitting, carbon rideplates where the bolts pull through after one ride, Aluminum handlepoles that might as well be paper mache'....

I have been lucky. My only bad purchases have been two used items. My Trinity hull is still top notch and everything just bolted right up (and I got the cheap model). Sooooo glad that I went with them. I can't imagine having to reinforce an aftermarket hull. That is the biggest load of chit I have ever heard.

Smurf, why did you buy a rideplate??? Didn't you just build one?

 

[sportfish258]

I have resorted to just expecting some modification on new parts. It is that bad. But a nature of this sport for sure.

This is a fact , I'll play the devils advocate and say It would be imposable to make a bolt on part in this industry with the wide variety of parts that can be and are used. I do agree that there are some very low quality parts being sold for a high quality price .

Example : I just made a part that offers a lot of protection from hitting the bar with your knees face or what ever. Several people show an interest . So I make a few and sale them ........... The part I made was specifically for an RRP turn plate and the chin pad I have on ( MY pole ) . Will it fit yours if you are running a RRP , WCF , Stock , toby 's or Wammer , who knows . This is a simple part , but there are at least 5 minimum combinations . My guess it will take a little fitting if you want it right . I don't think some fabricators are smart enough to think that far a head and some don't .

 

[Watty]

I agree with pretty much everything written here. On the odd occassion that something does just bolt up stright and even without a minimum hours work, I find myself walking around scratching my head thinking "that was way too easy" For the next 55 minutes I'm pretty much standing there waiting to get on with my life as I have nothing to do!

 

[Boris]

The truth is that you need to do a lot of reading before you pull the trigger on any part.
It sucks but it is better to sit back at times and not be the first one to get that new fancy bit.

 

[NVJAY775]

All good points made. This is basically my first season involved in the addiction and I have had a lot of (purchased) stuff not fit right. I have done excellent with #0, xmetal, cold fusion and prolly a couple others, that I can't think of off hand. I'm not going to mention the questionable ones. But there have been a few over my one year addiction, that definately lacked in quality and proffesionalism. I know if I ran my business the way some of these not mentioned have, I wouldn't be able to put food on the table, let alone be able to sleep at night due to grief. Some people really need to sack up and either do it right, or not at all. I think we all apriciate the progression and innovation that is being made, but it also seems to come with a cost to many consumers. And a lot of us don't have money to just throw away on questionable product. Luckily I can fabricate a bit and have gotten bye.

Luckily there's a lot of stand up guys here on the X to help wipe the butts of the poor manufacturers and keep us on the water doing what we love.

Rant over

Good thread