A ringing endorsement! 
Stepan summarizes:
I do have some knowledge of BOMs and cost structures for karting. A $920 complete kart chassis is impossible, even from China. I talked to kartingstar some time ago for a project and the $2.5K quoted above is within the realm of truth, for an entry level, china-made 2 stroke chassis. Which is also not so far away from a Praga Dark dealer price, which renders the whole offer pretty much pointless in my opinion
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If they are junk, it is fault of the designer. Chinese contract mfgs will build whatever you specify and draw. If you do not dictate specific materials, weld procedures, tolerances, GD&T, you will get whatever they feel like building. But if you provide proper drawings and specifications, you will get what you ask for.
Here is an example of a Chinese specialty mfg in Fushun province, that specializes in large pump fabrications, mainly for custom engineered vertical pumps.
HaiLi Mfg - About
HaiLi Mfg - Product Gallery
HaiLi Mfg - Machine Shop Eq
The will meet every tolerance and spec you give them. The trick with contract mfgs like this is you have to find the ones that have the skills, personnel and equipment to match your product needs. That is hard if you are not fluent in the language and do not know the culture and industrial landscape.
HaiLi was “discovered” about 20 years ago by the Purchasing Manager of a major long standing US mfg of engineered pumping equipment (ITT Goulds). They kept it on the down low for about 10 years…but eventually the rest of the industry heard of them, and today they mfg components for everyone, when Build America / Buy America regulations are not invoked.
I am sure there are fab shops in low cost nations that have the ability to produce kart chassis on par with OTK, Parolin, Birel/ART, CRG, etc. You just have to find them, develop a working relationship, and provide them with proper drawings and specs for mfg.
The smart thing to do would be to pick a mainstream mfg, and have all the running gear be part for part interchangeable. Then, if you want to put your own touch on the design, focus on chassis geometry and flex. That way, if a customer needs an emergency part…they could bolt on a std say…OTK part. One thing I would not have made is plastics. Injection molding tooling is expensive, even in China, and volume matters a lot. You would probably find better value just going wiht KG.
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Looking closely it appears they have a (Chinese made?) NEK seat, CRG master cyliner, spindles, heel stop in some photos, possibly CRG brake disc? But also OTK bodywork and front bar, KG rear bumper, fuel tank, and steering wheel, Parolin pedals on some of the photos.
The left side seat strut and front seat mounting points look like OTK, so I imagine it’s an OTK copy with bad metal composition.
I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole even for $2500 new, but they’ve at least done some research by the looks of it
OTK bodywork is a copy also. Have seen some of the pieces.
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My kart if all brand parts were compatible
I figured it was all replica and not the original parts, I just meant they’re at least taking good designs for the components
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For sure. I used to work for Trek Bicycle and worked with Chinese vendors everyday for components, graphics, and bike frames. They’ll give you whatever they feel like making unless you are super specific on what you need done. So many times we’d get back graphics or color swatches that weren’t even close to what we had spec’d and needed to really hammer home what we were going for in very specific terms. But they have the capability to produce anything to any level of quality.
I’m genuinely curious about the meta composition. Even for 2500… like how are we getting anything at that price point?
I mean to start, steel is significantly cheaper in and out of China than the Italian steel that most karts are made of. Labour is cheaper, overheads will be cheaper, there’s less health and safety regulations they have the comply to.
I bet Italian karts cost less than that to make, its just we are willing to pay what we pay so they charge that.
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As manufacturer, I can tell you that your analysis is not correct.
It’s not the cost of the BOM (bill of material) that makes the price.
There is an entire organization to factor in the prices, cost of homologation, etc…and of course a margin.
After COVID supply chains changed a lot the way of thinking such as procurement, purchasing materials,spending a little bit more but having less risk in inventory and trasportation.
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A few issues with this china stuff.
- A kart made in China i would highly doubt that the tube materials are of any use in a competitive kart, a Steel tube is not just a Steel tube.
- The chinese will make what ever they feel like, i have seen plenty of products that change design every shipment, and it in most cases are impossible to get any spares.
- No deveolment in any way.
- Not homologated, no chance in hell you will be allowed to run it if a Himologation is needed.
If you want a cheap kart, look at IPK and their “Dark” model, or Topkarts lowprice model, will they win any champs, most likely not but it will get you around the track.
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I drove a Chinese OTK ripoff a few weeks ago. It definitely felt worse than a real OTK and I doubt it is built anywhere near up to spec for a race kart. Still not bad for the price he paid for it: €1000 for the chassis, X30 engine and laptimer, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you can afford something better.
I don’t disagree that manufacturers in China can make high quality products and that the input of the design and other specifications is really the key.
BUT, some Chinese manufacturers can be pretty unscrupulous. In the early days at GoPro we started having an issue where our mounts were not tightening down fully. After months of investigation, we found that our manufacturer was no longer using the custom acorn nuts we were paying them to make and use in assembly. They had found some off-the-shelf nuts that were “close enough” and saved them $.011 per nut. It was close, but that fraction of a mm ended up ensuring the bolts could not fully tighten.
So yeah, design is important but you also need to be sure the manufacturer is as dedicated to quality as you are…or at least more than they’re dedicated to the almighty dollar.
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THe biggest problem I find with buying anything from China is dealing with the people. Its always a ‘middle man’ they all claim to work with or for the manufacture, but they don’t. Last time I spoke with the ‘rep’ from Kartingstar I ended asking about hockey sticks and within 10 mins he sent me the same pictures i got off the internet. I ended up buying 12 sticks and they were all garbage, I mean for the price they were cheap, the shipping and duites killed the deal. I feel unless you actually go there to see what your buying, they always try and scam you or overcharge you, just like the fake watches, you watch all the video’s of guys buying them for $50-$80 at the local mall, then you try and buy them online and they want $600 for the same crap.
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The Chinese online business model is generally like that, you rarely buy directly from the seller. It’s more efficient for the seller but it has a big risk for the buyer. You pay a low price for a gamble in quality and basically non-existent customer support, but if you are willing to take the risk of getting a bad product, the wrong product or even not getting the product then it’s worth it.