Who Makes What (2022)

Got a question for everyone: if TopKart are now made by Parolin, why do they offer a $1300 chassis? Wouldn’t that hurt Parolin’s business?

The cheapest Top Kart I can find is the Bullet Evo, a non-FIA homologated single speed economy chassis from 2020 for $2,400 from MondoKart. Lets go through that piece by piece.

Non-FIA homologated: is not eligible for most European karting events, at the minimum not sanctioned or recognized by FIA Karting. Not an issue in the US, can be an issue in Europe.

Economy chassis: The only magnesium components on this kart are the wheels. Looking through the specs from the Top Kart factory website, it comes with aluminum bearing carriers, hubs, a 2 ackerman position steering column instead of the standard 3 or 4 position parolin column. For this kart to be competitive on a large scale, drivers would need to upgrade at least the hubs and steering column which adds a good bit of money to the overall purchase. Not to mention the non-FIA homologation means this chassis may be different/not as competitive as the standard Parolin 30/32 chassis. Were it the same they could still sell it with the FIA homologation.

2020: This kart is probably overstock and other drivers didn’t want for some reason and MondoKart is pushing to get these out of their inventory.

MondoKart: European retailer, you’d have to pay shipping and import taxes, driving the cost up even more.

Best case scenario, you’re getting a kart that’s the same as the Parolin LM30 chassis but with cheaper components that won’t be as competitive relative to the standard LM30. Parolin makes the same amount of money making the frame for Top Kart, you’re paying less for cheaper components. Worst case scenario, you’re buying an untested/unproven chassis design for cheap that has components handicapping the performance even further, plus the fees for getting it from Europe. Not to mention there is no support for Top Karts in the US anymore so specific helpwould be at a minimum.

Aaron,

Here’s the link to the $1300 chassis - it’s listed at 1147 E but needs about 100 E worth of parts on MondoKart to be considered complete. Chassis New Top-Kart NewB OK OKJ KF - PROMO 2022

-Charles

I agree with most of what you’re saying about the chassis itself. How many drivers would be able to notice the difference between this and a top-of-the-line chassis, and not able to tune out any disadvantages they find?

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That’s a lot of kart for the money, especially with the current inflation rates. We don’t have homologation requirement in the UK for Rotax and X30.

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Still has €300 shipping at best, plus import tax.

Plus the proper steering column and standard mag hubs is another €300, also on the site includes that the chassis does not include a seat, sprocket hub, chain guard, or U-bolts (not sure what they’re referencing by those) adding another €200. There’s no mention of any front end adjustment (caster/camber pills) so you may need those as well. That’s putting us at a €2200 chassis, $2300 USD. This setup would probably be okay for a club driver, if not a lot of work to get this “deal” but what about parts support at the track? TopKart USA doesn’t even show up to New Castle in much, if any capacity, much less anywhere else in the country. The driver would have to buy all their own spare parts and whatnot as inventory for parts at the track. I can’t imagine a driver would get much out of this at even a lower-end regional competition factoring in everything outside of just chassis (tuning support, parts, etc.).

You can find a good deal in the US for $2300 for probably a better kart, if not at least better supported in whatever area you’re from. I always found you get what you pay for in karting. If you want to pay the bare minimum for a kart, you’ll get the bare minimum in a chassis, and it’ll probably cause more headaches than the money saved is worth.

Yeah across the broad spectrum of races run these days, very few actually require CIK\FIA homologated karts as a rule. But they do require karts that meet the dimensions for CIK\FIA rules…

I’m pretty sure haase and Mach 1 are in the same factory and LN kart should be added in there.

we are missing CKR. I think they are made in Italy, but not sure if they are independent or not. One guy in our track is their sponsored driver.

CKR is made by CRG. Added.

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I thought they made their own frames but used CRG components.

Any decent photos of the Factory Kart chassis? Website photos don’t show off much. Talks about rear cassettes and seat mounting but no photos showing it off? :person_shrugging:





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Instagram is your friend.


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Opps they modified them lol.

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Interesting feels very iKart inspired. Is it just the two bolts holding the cassettes to the frame? What are the small secondary holes used for? Alignment of some kind?

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Kinda helps to see whats going on. Other than that, likely just a datum for manufacturing purposes.

In other news, I really like the factory kart. Its awesome, and fast.

Interesting, I know the original ones didn’t use a front bar. Now it appears they’ve added one.

I like the rear seat mount. That should be really stiff.

The front bar is an optional extra. Factory Karts recommends it if you use their 1 1/8" chassis in TaG.

There is another set of bolts holding each cassette from the opposite side as well. The bearing carrier material is quite stiff compared to what is commonly used in the euro chassis.

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