Gauging Interest: FD CF Door Sills
12-22-10, 02:23 PM
#26
If you were planning to offer a product I believe it would be in the best interest of this relatively small community to avoid overlap. With the limited number of vendors making new parts for these vehicles, we should be working to fill the demand for NEW products that are currently unavailable.
We have had these available for about 15 years now:
http://roninspeedworks.squarespace.com/fd3s-door-sills/
(we used to sell them under the Atihun/ Atihardt name)
Ours are VERY high quality and manufactured here in the US. The bottom is smooth gelcoat, without the fiber weave showing through. We have always made them with the logo, but we could have them made without if there was enough interest. Also we can have them made without the holes if requested.
We have had these available for about 15 years now:
http://roninspeedworks.squarespace.com/fd3s-door-sills/
(we used to sell them under the Atihun/ Atihardt name)
Ours are VERY high quality and manufactured here in the US. The bottom is smooth gelcoat, without the fiber weave showing through. We have always made them with the logo, but we could have them made without if there was enough interest. Also we can have them made without the holes if requested.
12-22-10, 07:20 PM
#27
I appreciate your input. If you read through the Interior Forum, you would realize that I am developing products currently not offered.
In all seriousness, since you do not appear to be a vendor (correct me if I'm wrong) you might want to be careful linking to parts for sale as the staff sees this a violation of the site TOS and can lead to bans.
I certainly appreciate you sharing your point of view and in such a decent way. I'll try and return in kind. I'm sure your product is a fantastic product and anyone considering the purchase of your product or a similar product should compare both and make a decision as to which to purchase.
That being said...we aren't talking about some incredible cutting edge performance piece. We are talking about door sills (and other items). All things considered equal, with a product such as this, price is typically going to be king.
Long story short, without touching on politics, if I can bring in a product that is equal or comparable to what others are producing in quality for a lower price...that's just business. If you are actually making these products in house, in the US, you should be able to MEET AND BEAT any price that someone importing a product could offer. Personally, I find it difficult to believe that your product should cost $70 + shipping more than a product I bring in. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that at some point in time you were, shall we say, "inspired" by another company to develop your sills...I find it hard to believe that you were the originator. Once again, if I am wrong, please correct me.
I'll be the first to admit, part of the reason I'm doing this (and this is not directed at Ronin) is I see one vendor on the forum who brings in products from overseas and sells on Ebay and the Forums who seems to have issues with product fitment and quality and constantly has people in his threads asking where missing pieces are. That's not me.
I'm not selling anything until I test it first (and I might not sell anything at all...I'm gathering info at the moment) and more importantly, if I do order parts in bulk (such as the door sills) I'm incurring the expense of doing so through an escrow service so I can check EACH PIECE before I ship it to make sure it is not flawed.
I appreciate you taking the time to post in this thread with your thoughts and suggestions. I do however politely disagree with your perspectives. That being said, if your post was motivated by fear of lost sales, I respectfully suggest that you consider reducing your prices significantly...even the aluminum door sills are cheaper than CF over FRP at your prices.
In all seriousness, since you do not appear to be a vendor (correct me if I'm wrong) you might want to be careful linking to parts for sale as the staff sees this a violation of the site TOS and can lead to bans.
I certainly appreciate you sharing your point of view and in such a decent way. I'll try and return in kind. I'm sure your product is a fantastic product and anyone considering the purchase of your product or a similar product should compare both and make a decision as to which to purchase.
That being said...we aren't talking about some incredible cutting edge performance piece. We are talking about door sills (and other items). All things considered equal, with a product such as this, price is typically going to be king.
Long story short, without touching on politics, if I can bring in a product that is equal or comparable to what others are producing in quality for a lower price...that's just business. If you are actually making these products in house, in the US, you should be able to MEET AND BEAT any price that someone importing a product could offer. Personally, I find it difficult to believe that your product should cost $70 + shipping more than a product I bring in. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that at some point in time you were, shall we say, "inspired" by another company to develop your sills...I find it hard to believe that you were the originator. Once again, if I am wrong, please correct me.
I'll be the first to admit, part of the reason I'm doing this (and this is not directed at Ronin) is I see one vendor on the forum who brings in products from overseas and sells on Ebay and the Forums who seems to have issues with product fitment and quality and constantly has people in his threads asking where missing pieces are. That's not me.
I'm not selling anything until I test it first (and I might not sell anything at all...I'm gathering info at the moment) and more importantly, if I do order parts in bulk (such as the door sills) I'm incurring the expense of doing so through an escrow service so I can check EACH PIECE before I ship it to make sure it is not flawed.
I appreciate you taking the time to post in this thread with your thoughts and suggestions. I do however politely disagree with your perspectives. That being said, if your post was motivated by fear of lost sales, I respectfully suggest that you consider reducing your prices significantly...even the aluminum door sills are cheaper than CF over FRP at your prices.
12-23-10, 02:26 PM
#28
I have seen your involvement in the door speaker mount project, and I want to commend you on that effort. The work involved in creating a quality product is no small feat, and the rx7 community could use more of that. I imagine you will be supporting the forum as a vendor in order to market those or maybe to sell these side sills as well.
I figured that if you were gauging interest in making a product available you would want to know if it was already out there in order to avoid a duplication of effort. That was my only intent by posting in your thread. Ronin is a supporting vendor as we just completed a group buy and have several more lined up after the 1st of the year. In the past we have run several group buys as Atihun, and have a stellar reputation for quality and integrity. Since the door sills have been offered for such a long time, we had not planned to run a group buy. If there was sufficient interest we would though.
I am sorry you do not agree with our price point, but it is in our plan to try and support the forum with a vendor subforum. a good portion of that additional cost for our sills is budgeted to support the community through forum sponsorship. If you plan to do the same at your price point then more power to you. When we made these 15 years ago I was not aware of another location that had them. Since then they have been available with increasing frequency. If price is king, let it be king, but there may be no one left to build and develop new products.
You have voiced concern in the past that these vendors go away, but it has continually happened for years to this community. Where is Crooked Willow, M2, Rotary Extreme (I know they are kinda back), KomodoGoods, Widefoot Racing, JKL, etc. etc?
They have gone away, and all too often their products have gone away too. Some get picked up by others and recreated, often the replicas are not as good as the originals. Other projects never get completed, even with high interest expressed over the years.
As for our company, Ronin Speedworks. Ronin was set up to continue to offer the products that we once made available as Atihun (or Atihardt) for many years through this forum. Much like many other small vendors we eventually stopped making products available due to the very low margins and high amount of work involved in creating custom products for a vehicle that is no longer manufactured. Recently we decided to continue offering products because it is what we are passionate about, profit is secondary. If I am violating the site's TOS by providing this information then I apologize.
It seems that your efforts and motivations are similar if not identical to ours, despite the differences you seem to see. You want to make sure the guys that own and improve rx7's have the option to purchase quality product, and move the platform forward. If our motivations are the same I do not understand the animosity.
I figured that if you were gauging interest in making a product available you would want to know if it was already out there in order to avoid a duplication of effort. That was my only intent by posting in your thread. Ronin is a supporting vendor as we just completed a group buy and have several more lined up after the 1st of the year. In the past we have run several group buys as Atihun, and have a stellar reputation for quality and integrity. Since the door sills have been offered for such a long time, we had not planned to run a group buy. If there was sufficient interest we would though.
I am sorry you do not agree with our price point, but it is in our plan to try and support the forum with a vendor subforum. a good portion of that additional cost for our sills is budgeted to support the community through forum sponsorship. If you plan to do the same at your price point then more power to you. When we made these 15 years ago I was not aware of another location that had them. Since then they have been available with increasing frequency. If price is king, let it be king, but there may be no one left to build and develop new products.
You have voiced concern in the past that these vendors go away, but it has continually happened for years to this community. Where is Crooked Willow, M2, Rotary Extreme (I know they are kinda back), KomodoGoods, Widefoot Racing, JKL, etc. etc?
They have gone away, and all too often their products have gone away too. Some get picked up by others and recreated, often the replicas are not as good as the originals. Other projects never get completed, even with high interest expressed over the years.
As for our company, Ronin Speedworks. Ronin was set up to continue to offer the products that we once made available as Atihun (or Atihardt) for many years through this forum. Much like many other small vendors we eventually stopped making products available due to the very low margins and high amount of work involved in creating custom products for a vehicle that is no longer manufactured. Recently we decided to continue offering products because it is what we are passionate about, profit is secondary. If I am violating the site's TOS by providing this information then I apologize.
It seems that your efforts and motivations are similar if not identical to ours, despite the differences you seem to see. You want to make sure the guys that own and improve rx7's have the option to purchase quality product, and move the platform forward. If our motivations are the same I do not understand the animosity.
12-24-10, 08:01 AM
#29
All new products are to be encouraged and there certainly is a need for sill plates. The issue with the aluminum plates is that a hairbrush is enough to scratch them. The look like **** after just a while. I had my aluminum sill plates triple chrome plated and they've held up pretty well, but after 2 years of polishing them, I either have to stop polishing them or have them replated.
The CF covered sills looks good, but since they are covered in the CF look alike, I wonder how that will hold up over time?
Any sill plate has to be able to hold up with shoes scratching them all the time and stilll look good. Its not just how good the piece looks when you put it on. These things take some abuse.
Gordon
The CF covered sills looks good, but since they are covered in the CF look alike, I wonder how that will hold up over time?
Any sill plate has to be able to hold up with shoes scratching them all the time and stilll look good. Its not just how good the piece looks when you put it on. These things take some abuse.
Gordon
He was challenging the logic of importing a new set of virtually an identical product rather then using time/effort to create something new.
-M
12-27-10, 10:36 PM
#31
All new products are to be encouraged and there certainly is a need for sill plates. The issue with the aluminum plates is that a hairbrush is enough to scratch them. The look like **** after just a while. I had my aluminum sill plates triple chrome plated and they've held up pretty well, but after 2 years of polishing them, I either have to stop polishing them or have them replated.
That being said I have nothing against Ronin. If they put together a group buy on sills w/ logos and no holes for $140 shipped within the next 30 days I would HAPPILY suggest people buy from them. I also understand and respect their opinion on this matter.
My logical view is simply that on an item such as this, you can receive quality for a lot less than $199 + shipping. =)
01-16-11, 09:54 PM
#35
Yep. The sills cleared customs in NYC late last week while I was out of town. I'm expecting them (famous last words) to arrive this week. There will be pictures, photos, and I'm going to let a couple local guys test them out and then go to town with an official GB.
Allright!
