Karting Equipment: What NOT to Buy

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I started karting about 9 months ago, and I’ve wasted so much money on things that were absolutely not worth it. Just wanted to start a thread so others can save their money. Please add to this with anything you’ve bought and would not recommend!

Mychron 6

I bought this for the built-in steering angle sensor. Turns out, it doesn’t really work (not super surprised tbh). They’re supposed to have a fix, but I haven’t been able to test it yet. It also doesn’t support splits, which I loved to use on the 5. The 5 is amazing, love it and would highly recommend it, but the 6 to me, isn’t worth it.

AIM Steering Angle Sensor

I don’t know why they sell this as it is. It’s impossible to mount. I’ve seen some mount kits, but they only come with the sensor and I refuse to buy the sensor again.

AIM Tire Temperature Sensors

I struggled with learning to set tire pressures, but I knew you want them to be around 180°F. I thought I could use these to set the pressures and reach optimal temperatures. The readings would go from 130-170 and back to 130 in one turn. Turns out the external tire temperature fluctuates so much the data isn’t really helpful, in my opinion. Maybe to some the data is usable?

Fast Adjusters for Seat

These sound great in theory. They’re an absolute PITA to mount a seat to. And it doesn’t solve the fact that when you slide the seat forward, you still have to drill holes in the side and move the struts. They only really help with 2 out of 6-8 holes. The ones they don’t help with are the difficult ones where you have to remove a radiator and engine to drill. They save maybe 2 minutes on a 30 minute job.

American Shops

Order from Europe. Learned this recently and I’d estimate that I save at least 50% on average. I’ve gotten adjustable seat struts for $12, sets of Vega Whites for $149, water hoses that are $59 here (cough AKR cough) are $12!!! Shipping is usually 2 days for $20 from Italy or Germany. I just laugh when I look at the prices shops here charge. Last time I ordered an OTK part from my local dealer, it took 2 weeks to arrive. I can get any OTK part in 2 days from Europe. There’s just no advantage to ordering even locally.

New Line Turbo Water Pump

These water pumps, with the special power saver pulleys (which they require), and axle pulley, cost around $450!!! I live in Las Vegas and thought I’d need all the cooling I can get in the summer, they are supposed to cool much better. I took mine apart to change the pulley and 2 of the screws came out with the threads! New Line offered to fix it if I shipped it back to them and paid shipping both ways. I just super glued it together. Blows my mind how they charge so much for something made of plastic. Looks like it would cost 50 cents to make the main shell.

The Lab Paddle Shifter Kit

These run around $2k. The app was unusable on Android. Paddles constantly moved around no matter how tight they were. Battery was difficult to mount and maintain (fell off and got stuck under my front wheel going around a turn once).

Cheap eBay Kart Suits

Ashamed to admit it, but I bought a “Tony Kart” suit on eBay for $100 to see if it was legit. It has some random Pakistani guy’s name on it, smells like poop, and is paper thin.

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What’s the price difference between the two? Last I checked they were similar so if you were gauge-less and needed to buy a new gauge, I think having the 6 with the added fidelity and capabilities for nearly the same price as a 5 is worth it.

I mean, other than potentially building a relationship with a local kart shop and earning some loyalty points to the people who you may need to help you out in a pinch if you need a part at the track or need to borrow a tool. 50% of the fun of this sport is the tight-knit community and the friends you make along the way.

This is such a niche item. They aren’t legal to race AFAIK so I can’t say I’ve even seen one in person.

Definite garbage. Not safe, poor fit, poor ventilation, and the smell of goat poop will never go away…

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I agree if you’re buying a data accusation unit and you don’t have one, get the 6! Although, I’d still probably go with a 5 to have splits. Being new to karting, I find it really useful to get real time feedback on a section and know immediately if it was better/worse than before. I literally have every section time memorized and check them every lap. Maybe they’ll add that later in the 6. But it’s not worth it to upgrade.

About buying local, I guess it depends on your local shop. Mine is the most expensive I’ve seen anywhere and they generally have little in stock (nothing OTK even though they are a dealer)/take weeks to get anything. And they’re one of the biggest in the business.

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Do you not use the overall lap delta? With the 6 you can display a delta bar on the screen if you are using the lights for shift lights, which is a new feature. I prefer to use the light bar to display my gain/loss but I am in a single speed so no shift lights needed. Do shifter guys use shift lights or just go by sound/feel??

Do I think that you need to go out and get a 6 if you have a 5, no, but for me I wouldn’t tell anyone not to buy it if they needed a dash.

I live in the Phoenix area and we are pretty lucky To have a great shop here with a good guy running/owning it. Going over there when I can is always a good trip and prefer to support him whenever I can. I also support the online shops when the situation fits. I haven’t felt like i am overpaying for anything and have yet to have a bad experience.

Of course everyone has different opinions and experiences, just thought I’d add mine, I’m on the road for work sitting bored in a hotel room, Kart Pulse to the rescue!!

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Not to throw stones here but it would appear you have no problem spending money on karting, why would you buy the ebay suit? As for buying from Europe, I get it, I’ve done it too. BUT…The advantage is you are supporting the businesses that are trying to support karting. If the local shop or the internet shop goes away karting may go with it.

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I totally understand the argument for supporting local. When I first got into karting, or tried to, ~20 years ago. I didn’t have money for tires, I’d just pull them out of the trash at the local track. I couldn’t even afford a bead breaker or kart stand. I had enough money to go to the track about twice a year and that’s why I quit. Imagine making 8 dollars an hour, and you can order a water pipe from your local shop for $59, or get the exact same thing from europe for $12. A lot of people are struggling and can’t afford the luxury of supporting local, and I’d rather educate people than just see them get out of the sport because they can’t afford it. I know that feeling, and it sucks.

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I get that feeling. My local Birel/CRG dealer and one of the KR local dealers don’t have some essential spare parts like tie rods or even break pads. So one has to get them where they can adn online shopping it’s the only option.

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If you Update the laptimer the steering angle sensor workshop perfectly fine. The 6 Can show delta time which to me is better then splits, which im In doubt if Can set up i the 6. The internal batteri In the 6 so much better that alene makes me revommend the 6 above the 5.

These are Nice When they are installed, have installed a few of these without much issues. We dont use them, to me they are waste of money

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A good relationship with a good local shop/dealer would have saved you enough in poor decision making purchases to more than offset whatever paltry margin they make on parts. Hint - no shop is making “400%” on anything. Margins are 20-40% and have to cover shipping, obsolescence, insurance, labor and the building/trailer to keep them in.

A big online retailer is not a local shop/dealer.

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+1 on supporting the local kart shop. These shops keep karting alive, and a majority of the owners are in the business because they love karting. They aren’t retiring early on the parts and consumables they sell.

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TL;DR:

  • Start with a Mychron 4 or 5—it’s beginner-friendly and sufficient until you learn how to use data effectively. There’s no need for a 5S or 6 unless you know how to use the data and are getting close to the leaders.
  • Prioritize seat time, coaching, and on-board video over top of the line stuff—these offer the most value for improvement early on. Seat adjusters are totally unnecessary in my mind.
  • A good suit is worth the money—try on brand-name options and you can always customize with patches if you want

If you’re new to the sport, I think it probably makes sense to buy a Mychron 4 (if you can find one) like TJ has preached for a while now. There’s no point in having all sorts of data if you’re not at the point of being able to use it, or even know how to use it. I’m probably one of the only people at my local track that actually gets the data from the mychron, not to mention knows how to analyze it for useful information. Mychron 5 is a big upgrade, but if you’re new there’s no need for the 5S or 6. The only caveat I’ll say here is that if you get a 6 you can be confident that you won’t need to buy another one in the future, which could be good if you’re committed to the sport for at least a couple years.

Similar to the mychron comment above, I don’t think the sensors you mentioned are useless, but there’s no point getting them until you know your driving is on point. It’s easy to get wrapped up into needing more and more and more info when you’re new, but really the thing you should care about is seat time and spending money on some coaching. Watching your own on-board video can be very useful too, especially with a coach. By the time you’ve spent a bunch of money on sensors and top of the line stuff, you could have purchased several days of coaching and been way better off. I can’t emphasize enough that when you’re new you need to focus on just spending a good amount of time in the kart, getting some coaching, and just spending time at the track to learn from those around you. The karting community is a great one.

The seat adjusters I agree seem pointless :smiley: moving the seat is a big adjustment and shouldnt be something thats needed all the time.

Enough has been said already on spending local :slight_smile:

On the suits, what I will say is that I agree that some “cheap” stuff is actually pretty good. Sadly, I got a suit from U-race that I really regret. The color scheme and logos look as I wanted it to, but the suit quality itself is really bad. The suit is f*&kin hot and it oddly shaped. When it comes time to get another suit I’ll likely get a brand-name that I’ve tried on and then just get iron-on patches for the logos I want.

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Quick ones off the top of my head…

Water Pipe - Same brand
My shop: $59
Europe: $12

Exhaust Support - needed one yesterday
My shop: $65 - only sells it with the support
Europe: $8

Adjustable Seat Support:
My Shop: $73
Europe: $16

New Line Radiator
My shop: $664
Europe: $439

Not a huge %, but still a lot of money.

I still support my local shop, spent ~$600 with them last month, and that’s the least I’ve spent with them in a month since I started. But a lot of people are struggling to afford this and should know they can save a lot. I’m ok with paying a little more for things locally, other times, I do feel ripped off.

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I’ll tell you as a dealer, sometimes the prices on euro shops like mondo or kartstore are cheaper than my dealer cost. Even I’ve gone straight to europe for a few items like a radiator. It’s amazing how much more costly karting is here versus europe.

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Yeah, I’m not blaming the dealers here! Mine said the same thing. Maybe the manufactures just give them unfair pricing? Not sure what the deal is, but something puts them at a disadvantage. Again, I’m not blaming the local shops/saying they have huge mark ups.

Even outside of kart dealers, I ordered my current kart suit direct from Alpinestars for $350. Mondo Kart has it for $189.

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100% the dealership/import pricing structure is very challenging, leaving no room for US dealers to compete with EU pricing. I can tell you they are not getting rich and living the high life

As for the list - I can only agree with the ebay replica suits - none of them legit, none of them worth the shipping cost.

Personally, I would add the low-friction axle bearings, nitrogen for tires and few other things that are objectively useless, everything else I think it’s a personal matter whether it’s “worth it” or not.

The paddle shifter in particular, I think it’s a fantastic piece of kit, never had an issue torture-testing many units. Worth it $2K? Depends, but for sure I would not put it in a “no buy” list

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(Caveat, this is US import tax related which is all a bit up in the air… but anyway…)

Keep in mind that the US dealer’s cost will include import taxes and duties in some way. As an individual you’re less likely to get hit. Especially if your order is under $800 which means (or at least would have meant) it meets the De minimis exemption, which allows shipments of less than $800 to avoid import duties and taxes. Add the fact that the item has been shipped 2/3 times by the time it gets into your hands and you can see where the cost creeps up quickly.

I think a natural consequence of racers bringing stuff in direct from Europe is that trackside\emergency parts will cost more. At least that’s my expectation. If I need it on the day, it’s going to cost more.

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regarding the fast adjuster, wouldn’t you just pre drill the seat for the seat struts?

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I’ve been shamed online for buying from Mondo instead of Comet for my TaG OTK kart (Comet isn’t ‘local’ to me either).

But to be fair, as stated by the OP, its hard to justify spending 100% or more to support ‘local’. As typically no one ‘local’ has reeds for my Rok GP or a 219 o-ring chain. So I’ve been forced to carry a ton of spare parts for race day emergencies for the TaG from my orders to Mondo.

Now, when it comes to my 206 kart, built by Paul and April Rice, I do everything I can to get those parts for the kart and engine from ‘local’ (South Georgia Karting and TS Racing) and tires (both Reds and Greens) from multiple local sources including MGM, SGK, TS Racing, Mikim Motorsports and Kenner Brown Racing.

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I had a Zamp suit that was made in Pakistan and was a decent entry level suit. However 6-7 years ago I bought a similar suit that you described from ebay and it was more of a costume then a race suit.

I have been running a series that is not local and doesn’t normally have dealers at the track, so I have to hunt around for parts at the track if I need them or buy online. Luckily I have made some friendships and people have been nice. If there was a travel shop/dealer that had smalls at the big tracks it would be nice. On the other hand for them to supply for every chassis would be difficult. While I appreciate the local/kart shops I bought a used Eagle kart online out of all the different Euro karts I owned (Birel,CRG, and OTK,) Margay, and Coyote. The Eagle was the best 4cycle kart, I actually fit and ran my fastest times, unfortunately the local tracks didn’t support them. I will say from when I first started to now that the local shops have really stepped up their game and actually have most universal parts in stock, with new hardware. I am curious about what Lorain is going to support, other than T4.

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Exactly. Support your local kart shop, they are there to help you. Without them, the sport is in trouble.

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