PRE ORDER FEELER: Brand new X4 Steering system - R&D Style

[MPower]

I have a machine shop ready to go on reproducing the R&D steering system (R&Ds version of the UMI system). This will be an exact replication of the system in the pictures below. Quality will be above what the original R&D unit was.

All stainless hardware and bearings included as well as the anodizing. To make this happen 25-30 units minimum need to be built. Price is going to be $500. If anybody wants multiple units the price will be a little less for you. These are pretty close to being sold at cost, just covering my gas and time.

The owner of the shop is a childhood friend that I went to school and college with and is doing this as a favor for me. They do work for the military and medical market, so the quality of these will be incredible.

Robert Anderson (1of500) was kind enough to send me his original R&D system to give to the shop to make this happen. Thanks Robert!

If you're interested please PM me. I can't put up money for 30 units, so your interest needs to be backed up with a deposit. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Jon

 

[Matt Braley]

I hope you get enough interest. Those are great steering setups I love mine.

 

[critracer]

Good luck, been down this road before with my own UMI reproduction.

 

[AdamXP800]

PRE ORDER FEELER: Brand new X4 Steering system - R&D Style

Yup all though some of us would pay it, price point high for the average guy.


I hope they do get produced. They are killer

 

[MPower]

Kind of interesting people think the price is high. Used whored out UMIs go for 350-400.

 

[AdamXP800]

I know, it's crazy

 

[critracer]

It's not that the price is high it's just trying to sell 25-30 units will be hard pressed. You will be sitting on them for a very long time and that's alot of money to sit on. I was figuring 10-15 units when I was/ still making them and the price was higher than yours. I do all the estimating for our machine shop and I know the cycle time for each part & the time to make all the fixturing. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you succeed.

 

[MPower]

Yeah I was hoping to do a run of 10, but at that volume the cost is crazy high. Even 20 isn't really feasible.

I knew 30 would be difficult, but worth a shot. Not a big deal if it doesn't happen.

 

[MPower]

This never made it off the ground from lack of interest, but for those that do want a brand spanking new UMI style steering for the price of an old used one you are in luck.

Guy over on the other forum is reproducing parts. I talked to him yesterday and he has the CAD work all done for the steering and is going to start making them soon. He is targeting $450.

Here are some button holders he made.

 

[Matt Braley]

Yeah that's ole Micheal Wessant. He has had a rough start on those other forums. I guess he's done better on fb. When he gets ready to go parts in hand then we can weigh it out then. I'm sick of his promises.

 

[MPower]

Yeah that's ole Micheal Wessant. He has had a rough start on those other forums. I guess he's done better on fb. When he gets ready to go parts in hand then we can weigh it out then. I'm sick of his promises.

Mind sharing the history? I see he is getting flack from some of the members.

 

[MPower]

Okay, searched his name on facebook and read through lots of post. Seems legit and lots of OG guys are real happy with parts they have received. I'm sporting a bit of a chub now after seeing all those purple anodized repo parts.

 

[Matt Braley]

It started when he listed some 951 reed spacers on ebay. They were new and under priced and I didn't recognoze the brand so I was on him immediately for info and to see how many he was sitting on. He replied "I made them, I can make anything".

Being the most involved in aftermarket 2-stroke Seadoo parts I realized the potential. I have so many cool parts from companies that were around 20 years ago i'd like to have made available again. So I struck a deal with him.

I told him I would provide the parts to be made and would order as many as he wanted to make. I wanted my name on them and did not want him selling these items I was investing heavily in to others. I was going to make a whole catalog of available parts similar to a late 90's Hot Products catalog but Seadoo only of coarse.

I was trusting as always and very excited. After about 4 days I was $700 in and had a big box of rare goodies boxed up ready to send that day(including X4 R&D steering) but I started seeing and hearing things that scared me. He was advertising the rave adjusters on ebay individually for the price I was paying while ordering $400 worth at a time! He was taking other orders from whoever he could as fast as he could not realizing what a small niche this is and that most folks who are customizing XP's are in constant communication with me.

After questioning him he always seemed to reel it back in so I kept trying to get our heads together. He is very unpredictable though and it quickly became apparent that I just could not trust this guy's word. That's actually really rare among Seadoo people.

The HUGE blow to me is when I woke up a couple days later to see he put a "parts made" thread right in the place he knew I sold most my parts out of. Turns out he decided(without informing me) that he wanted to use his name.... RNR(Red Neck Racing) instead of mine and threw all the plans and promises he and I made out the window.

After that I've watched trustworthy members wait forever for parts he said he was gonna make, some of which never happened. He's also on forums playing retail games like "only one left" when he has the tools there to print off as much as he wants.

In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't go in big. He must of thought I was keeping him from huge profits and fame here in the rare Seadoo parts market lol. In actuality my business was more than twice what everyone elses put together is because I was that guy ready to buy 100 at a time and spend the next 10 years making it available to folks modding old Seadoos.

At this point when he comes around it seems he is always talking about what he's gonna do and not what's in hand ready to ship. His "wishy washyness" has earned him a rep at this point. He has done other classless things like go into respected ski guy's for sale ads and say stuff like "I can make those cheaper". He also will try to copy or at least say he is going to copy other parts that respected members have developed. This ticks folks off understandably.

I've watched my own friends(members here who know what he did to me) be overcome by lure of cheap parts being made for them. I'm pretty sure none of them are satisfied with their experience or have an ongoing relationship with the jerk.

 

[Gaige23]

On the other hand Matt is always available for questions, really wants to help and inform and just is an all around good guy.

90% of the parts on my XP came from Matt or were built by Matt haha.

 

[MPower]

Dang! Thanks for sharing, everyone needs to hear it. What he did was definitely a dick move and pure greed.

 

[DanSquires]

The HUGE blow to me is when I woke up a couple days later to see he put a "parts made" thread right in the place he knew I sold most my parts out of. Turns out he decided(without informing me) that he wanted to use his name.... RNR(Red Neck Racing) instead of mine and threw all the plans and promises he and I made out the window.

Good to know all of the history. I'd always heard grumblings but you seemed to always keep your cool and not really make mention of it much.

 

[mikidymac]

Thank you for sharing Matt. This is exactly the kind of info that needs to be out there, especially without any bashing or harsh words. just great info so people can make an informed decision.
Stay Classy Matt:thumbsup:

 

[wfo speedracer]

I had a similar experience with another well known parts builder who is on several other sites , promises were made, most of them were broken, deadlines were missed and three years later I still had nothing and was out a pristine ski. I finally made an ultimatum and got most of what I needed but not nearly what was promised, I decided to just keep it under my hat because saying something would make me look like an a-hole because no one else knows the back story, I feel Matts pain, I really do.

 

[Matt Braley]

Not mine but check it out..... http://www.ebay.com/itm/SeaDoo-800-...ash=item4404cfdc0f:g:HZYAAOSwYvFZMdMD&vxp=mtr