Kite gear is a rip of and the reason why none of my friends in high school kite is due to the huge price. Whilst my cabrinha bar has already gone through centrelines bar ends broke of and the grip is gone after 1 year. If you look on you tube you can see the vid of the core manufacturer in the core diaries. Where they are pumping out kites and paying the Sri Lanka workers peanuts.
This is why I can never see sense in the argument of "support your local shop".
Why on earth would I want to support my local "shop", if it charges x% more than my non-local/ online shop?
Reminds me of a current affairs prog I saw few months ago here on the disparity in prices at Ikea. Suprise suprise, Aus Ikea rips ppl off massively. The company's explanation was that it was down to "manufacturing and logistics costs", yet some of the items that had the biggest disparity (between Aus and USA), were manufactured in places like Indo', and thus logistical costs had to be less to Aus surely!!!!
Wow those lines cant be too good for $60, dont know If I would bet my life on them. Hope you bought them locally and didn't put some poor Australian out of business.
. I'm more than comfortable with them thanks and have exactly zero doubt that they are a quality item as they are the same ones as I'm currently using 
.
. I'm more than comfortable with them thanks and have exactly zero doubt that they are a quality item as they are the same ones as I'm currently using .
Guys you really need to realize you may think your saving money by buying oversea and from the new players but in the long run your going to end up paying more, stick with the majors, Economics 101.
On-line is great.
Like the guy we had in the other day.
Was quoted locally $160 for a set of new lines for his brand X kite.
Went onto ebay and found them ex Europe just $89 plus postage which ended up being $22.
Bargain - feck the local guy.
So he sent off for a 'genuine' set of kite X brand lines for 1/2 price
WOW fantastic. Why wouldnt you.
What he actually had delivered (after he had paid and waited) was a 'genuine' set of 2 lines for brand X kite.
Same price as 2 line replacements here in Oz.
But they sent the back lines; what he needed was front lines.
Went back online to be told "no problem send us another $89 and we'll send you the front lines. Which he did.
But then he didnt know how to fit them so needed a local shop to do that for him anyhow.
If he had come in first off we could have fixed his problem for $25 TOTAL.
Ended up paying for both sets of lines, 2 lots of postage plus a labour charge for refitting the lines.
Even if he had needed new lines and he bought them off the shelf they would have been fitted for free.
But hey buying on line is pretty smart - just not always.
^^^^^Sounds like he was a noob online shopper
not checking how much postage was.
I scored a full 4 line set of X brand lines ,still in bag, for half the price of what the shops could do them for,,,and cost $5 postage.
But I knew how to attach them.
Not all bars are created equal.
Admittedly there was a lot more wrong with the Slingshot Link than its bar, but it was a truly terrible bar. The little metal insert through which the chicken loop ran was too mild and too thin. It rubbed through, leaving a sharp edge, which in short order cut the chickenloop to shreds. In fact there wasn't a single part of the kite, lines and bar which I did not break at some stage. It was enough that I will never buy anything from slingshot again.
My North Rebel has a good setup, but it has a simple design issue which anyone outside Tasmania probably wouldn't be bothered by. There is a little metal bit of branding attached to the outer edge of the bar, immediately adjacent to where the chicken loop passes through - my thumb is always sitting on it when riding. In cold weather this just conducts away all the warmth from my thumb, and it ends up frozen solid. Minor issue really, but geez it sucks.
Anyway, clearly a reasonable amount of R&D does need to go into something as simple as a bar. I would rather pay decent money and get something decent than put up with dodgy gear
Cost EXW (exit work) is about $60 for the manufacturer, then you ad the taxes and shipping+ the gross margin, it goes to a $180 wholesale. Then it depends whether there is an importer in the chain or not. Maybe some people are a bit too greedy.....
Did you check the diameter on that tube? Like I said earlier, have a look at the cost of carbon fibre forks for bikes... that is a better comparison.
I work in manufacturing and export so I have some idea of the costs involved. I'd say If the factory could not produce a bar and lines with a good profit for $80 then there is something wrong.. They buy materials wholesale and produce in Asian countries where labour is very cheap. I estimate $30 per bar for their R and D , $40 profit for the wholesaler, $60 profit for the retailer and $10 freight would make it worthwhile to those involved. That is $220 plus GST makes $242... The bars on my kites list at $549. Someone in the chain is making a lot more obviously. Ultimately though the value of something is what people are prepared to pay.. Therefore they must be worth $549 because that is what I paid. BTW I reckon a beer would cost a few cents for a factory to make. I've on occasion paid over $10 for one!!
