TM KZ10ES. Different ignition with rev limiter & has a starter motor. Similar maintenence intervals to stock moto.
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You reap what your sow in that regard. If you want spec-racing, then as a consequence you get class dilution unless a company utterly dominates, which is rare. Also, take Rotax. In the UK now a relatively stable class and the market has just been flooded with engines, especially senior, as owners attempt to offload so they can get the new cyclindered engines. So even in stable environments paperweightism is a risk.
Also the engines aren’t new, they pretty much fit in with the oldest karting tradition which is bike derived engines. The Yamaha YZ250 has been around for over 50 years in various forms. Arguably there’s some stability there as well as history.
I get the jadedness thing, but like I said already I have accepted that new classes will come in because it’s a natural market reaction.
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You can test the 250 when you can get to Adams Motorsports Park.
James is on his way
Re-reading the article today, some additional takeaways.
The Cadet shifter package requires front brake system, as will the Junior shifter rules for the FZ85 program. Musgrave and Factory Karts developed their Cadet frame to welcome the added brake
Factory Karts is also offering private-labelled karts to existing race teams and dealers that want to add the Cadet Shifter, Junior Shifter, or other shifter platforms to their programs.
For me this isn’t the case at all. I would love nothing more than to race shifters locally, but the class size needs to be there, and it is very cost prohibitive. There’s a lot of talk about the ongoing maintenance cost of shifters, but for me the cost just to get into the class is heavy. A rok shifter package is twice as expensive as a KA, and the chassis is more expensive too. For club/regional racing I wouldn’t really care about having the engine constantly performing at a top level because it matters a lot less than it does in say, KA. Fronting over $5k for an engine package, more for the chassis, and then burning through MG yellows doesn’t really sound great when I can go KA racing on reds.
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You can buy good used ROK shifters for $2k almost any day if the week. Add a rad and water pump and you’re around typical used KA cost.
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I’m not so sure. Where are you seeing those prices? Genuinely curious because that would change things for me lol I can’t find any on fb marketplace at that price, and honestly can’t find many at all.
But regardless, if the fz125 package comes in around $5k (we’ll see) that is a huge barrier to entry. Obviously there won’t be used options, so while I like the idea, the upfront cost is a major factor for me.
I saw 4+ separate sellers on Facebook < $2500 for a rok shifter. I sold a complete 1 year old rok shifter/OTK setup for $4500 last year. Ron White Racing has multiple for sale on their website. If you make a little effort to find deals you can get in to a shifter for cheaper than a lot of KA karts.
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It reminds me of when I used to sim and generally people tended to converge towards the blandest cars which more often than not are GT3. Not too slow, not too fast, not too hard, not too easy. I think that kind of translates to most of motorsport really. It’s often about comfort. KZ is anything but.
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I sent you a PM. We have a few actually.