We have issues with the seat strut tabs on the OTK occasionally but nothing major otherwise.
Most of the time, the reason the seat strut tabs give out is due to weight on seat or the seat tabs were bent to work with the seat. As these are moved over time. They weaken.
Does anyone know for sure about a source to get an OTK bare frame from either in the US or shipped to the US? MondoKart for instance is explicit that they will not ship to the US.
ATTENTION: Due to producer commercial policy we are not authorized to sell this chassis in USA (o il paese…). In case you buy this product and you will complete the order, we will proceed with the refund (money transfer, voucher or goods replacement) accordingly to our policy reported in “Terms and Conditions” section of our website.
As far as I know, OTK does not want to sell just the tubes to the public, so they try to restrict it.
I know some dealers have inquired and OTK has flat out told them no.
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I was also told OTK won’t sell bare frames anymore.
@tjkoyen @calebgilbert @Nagisa98
We were able to get a new set of tubes for our 2022 LN kart last march (2023) when it got wadded up in a practice crash. If OTK has indeed moved to the policy of no tubes, I will be parting ways with the LN OTK for an FA KartRepublic.
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That’s just what I was told, Im sure you u can get some from certain places but it doesn’t seen like OTK is distributing them anymore.
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If I was a dealer, I’d bee ordering a full kart or 2 and then selling all the stuff off of it.
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I too, noticed this a couple weeks ago, when I was curious at the price comparison of bare frames here to over there, and saw that message.
And it’s not just OTK. I saw the same message for several other chassis brands like Parolin.
Trying to protect their dealer territories I guess. But that gives them more clout to charge a higher price if they desire. It would not surprise me if this spread to more chassis manufacturers.
If I were forced to buy a entire new roller, or need to be tied to the hip with a race team just to score a new frame, I would not be racing that chassis brand either. I could not justify having to spend $6,000 on entire new chassis when all I needed was a new frame. Especially when you consider how fragile some of these chassis seem to be.
I need to make a list on what kart brands you can still buy a bare frame online here in the U.S. . I know you can still buy a CRG frame online here, and you can get a Birel frame from PSL (although it doesn’t look like you can buy a 32mm Birel frame, only a 30).
It can be very difficult (but not impossible) to find OTK bare frames - even harder to find odd-ball stuff like DD2 frames - it took me over 2 years to (last year) find a Kosmic DD2 from some random place in Europe after exhausting all my North American connections who told me that OTK didn’t offer them, and having no luck with the bigger European sources like Mondo. My advice - use google and just keep going down the list of kart shops. Most of the time, they’d advertise them, but when I’d try to buy them, they tell you they’re sold out - whether that’s true or not, who knows - maybe just a way to avoid selling to North America.
And don’t be picky about OTK color.
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OTK made a large shipment of rails available last summer. I don’t know anyone offhand with any remaining but they did make them available. As of now I believe they are sold out at the importer.
Tiffin at Verde Speed bought a handful when they came available. Worth checking with him.
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Verde speed had a set of tubes available at the OTK swap meet recently.
My experience in the past is that the frames were available, but OTK made it difficult for dealers to get so many times it wasn’t worth their time and trouble to try to get them.