Actually, if FEED gets copied inthe states and FEED isn't able to sell enough, they will GO OUT OF BUSINESS. That would be a shame. Especially in the tough economic situation that Japan is currently in.

The genuine versus replica debate has gone on forever. (I, myself, like the genuine thing when it comes to the automotive aftermarket.). But I will not contribute to this current debate. Please see my debates in previous articles.

Canman6969, I must congratulate you on your endeavorous attempt to help the RX-7 community here in the US. Although I have not purchased anything from you, I plan to do so in the near future.

 

On that note I take back my comment... A well thought out argument that made sense and went straight to the point.

I can see your point of view but maybe competition will bring the price down, intead of the company going under. Unless they are breaking even already then that really sucks.

It would be interesting to know what is their profit 20%, 50%, 300%? If it's greater than 30% then they are rippin us off. Since they would only be doing it to gain financial status, I would feel no simpathy if they ever went under. This is just speculation though.

 

whoever believes canman promotes and sells Feed products out of concern for Feed and Japanese industry as a whole DESERVES to pay full price for a bumper! That being said, I believe that there are no LICENSED retailers of feed and most other Japanese products here in the states, so to say that Americans buying knockoffs will put Feed or any other Japanese business not licensed here out of business is absurd.

 

I promote FEED and others out of concern for the BUYER! Also I know that FEED and the other companies I support are not only nice people, but they have great products. If stay of saying what you dont know, you would know there is only one authorized distributor in the states for FEED, and if you can find your way to the FEED web page, maybe you will figure that out. You have no idea of the situation car companies are put in and how fast they come and go, i would say Fujita engineering would go under, but why push it that way. Its their idea, Rotary Extreme didnt come up with anything new. People copy stuff all the time, in fact the sure he will sell copies of everything soon. Who ever said that bumper wasnt copy righted also? Just does seem like most people care, because he must not sell much or something I dont know.. Im not talking **** about the company, but I think even Chuck would agree if he wasnt able to copy the FEED bumper, then he would have no money. He is just making money off people that buy it. FEED makes money of THEIR idea, not copying someone elses, they put in the time and effort to design and make the bumper. Like I said I dont care what people buy, I just think it sucks for FEED and the rest of them, thats why most of them dont want to send stuff to the states, they like that americans are into it, but they dont want all of their hard work turned into a COPIED joke...

 

Actually those companies are not here because the market is dwindling. Mazda has not brought the rx7 here since 1995. If I want to sell fishhooks, I don't set up shop in the desert. I go to the ocean. That's just good business. Now, let's say there's an oasis in our desert with a few fish in it. Some crafty dude starts making fishhooks. Now he didn't invent the fishhook, but he knows there are a few fisherman, even in the desert. He sells the hooks for a reasonable price, and people buy them, knowing they're not the originals, but hey they work, and the fellow does good work. IT'S A FISHHOOK FOR CHRISSAKES! The joke is that there are some people in our desert who would pay 2x as much to have fishhooks shipped from the ocean. Now, I LOVE my car, but it is almost 10 years old. I'm not going to pay close to $2K for a bumper. The smart guys in Japan know this and they don't blame me. This bedtime story brought to you by the letter "R".

 

scary.....haha
You must fish.....

 

Actually Canman6969 is correct. Aerodyne is the "Official" (or licensed, whichever you prefer) US distributor for FEED products and they charge a real hefty price.

Also from a global standpoint, purchasing a direct knockoff will put the original artist out of business. This is because the original artist or designer will not receive any income/profit from the consumer. Who did receive the profit? The knockoff artist. And the knockoff artist is definitely not going to split his profit w/ the original artist.

Think about this scenario: If you decided to replicate a product of RE Amemiya. You do so and you market it as a RE replica. A consumer comes along and decides to purchase your replica which is cheaper than REs. Who makes a profit? You. Who doesn't make a profit? RE. Imagine if not just one consumer is involved, but 100 people. How much profit do you get? All of it. How much of that profit does RE Amemiya get? None. If RE doesn't get any profit...how does a business survive then?

I'm not going to get into the argument about competition and survival when it comes to business. I've explained it in the past. Some agree. Some don't.

 

good 'cause you're argument is totally invalid and irrelevant. NEXT.

 

Dude, I'm glad you have a sense of humor. That makes you A-OK in my book. Seriously, I appreciate what you're trying to do. Heck, I'll probably end up buying something from you one day myself. Just no fishhooks! I've even referred someone to you regarding a PFC, because you had the best price I had seen (on special). Best wishes for the success of J & T.

 

..........anytime....... haha no specials on
fishing hooks right now though....

THANKS.....

ALSO for anyone reading about the low price PFC that is true, and when you look around you will notice some things LOW and some are really HIGH, im working on this to help provide the lowest sensible price. Mostly Im trying to bring over the stuff to the states faster, and the parts you guys dont see, that are good but kind of a low profile.... Im working this everyday, so keep an eye out.... things change all the time...(FOR THE GOOD)
Jason

 

This is the funniest thing I have ever read. Talk about stealing someone's thread. hehe...
Everyone is forgetting about how the economy works. Someone comes out with a product, they make a lot of money at first (introduction/growth stage), then more companies see the product, make similar products off the original (called reverse engineering), and the original company hits maturity (for that product), then there is eventually a decline. The whole situation happens all the time and "only the strong survive". If feed wants to keep its head above water then it needs to a) lower prices b) reduce costs c) make their products more widely known d) continuely come up with new and different models.

 

TTPowered, well if they could just throw the bumper to you in the states instead of shipping it Im sure it would be like that..haha

 

Welcome to America: Anybody ever heard of Pepsi Cola? Burger King?

Knock-offs, both.

I don't see Coca-Cola or McDonalds loosing any money. They produce a non-patented product, that others are free to produce as well. If FEED or anyone else wants to continue to sell an unprotected product for exhorbident prices, they need to either build the strength of their brand such that people will pay more for THEIRS for no real reason (Coke) or add some value that only mass-producing larger companies can provide over "backyard" outfits (Like maybe urathane construction: you listening anyone?). OR not choose to sell a product that could be easily copied for cheap (ever wonder why nobody sells M2 ripoff intakes anymore? M2 went carbon fibre to up the ante and backwater folks couldn't compete)

No offense to anyone, I understand the value of an original design, but there are proper procedures for protecting intellectual property, and i doubt anybody in japan cared to undertake them. I doubt much M2 or PFS stuff sells over in Japan either...

 

you guys make me not want my fd anymore....

mike
20b fc

 

This argument is so friggin' old...we hashed this out MONTHS ago and we're just beating a dead horse. Fact is, NONE of the major RX-7 tuners (except for Mazdaspeed) will come to the U.S. And it isn't because they're afraid all their products will be ripped off...it's because the RX-7 market isn't big enough in the states. There are a gazillion times more third gens in Japan than in the U.S. FEED/PanSpeed/RE Amemiya are NOT going to go out of business because they didn't sell 50 kits here in the states or Chuck is making replicas. Their biggest problem is not Chuck or copies, but shipping costs and import duties. Think about how many fully modded (exterior) RX-7's you've seen on the road....not many. An entire RE 2000 kit would run what, $5K in the U.S. even before shipping? Heck, I doubt even 10 full kits would be sold. How much does a full Mazdaspeed GTC kit cost? Plus paint? You're looking at BIG bucks. If consumers can't/won't meet that price point, demand will dwindle or someone else will step in at a lower cost point. Supply and demand. Don't blame Chuck. The real root of the problem is your own paycheck. I say you all go into work tomorrow and demand raises. That way you can afford the real thing since it's that important. Then again...with an increase in demand, prices always rise! Bottom line, Amemiya-san is doing just fine without American $$$. If you want originals, stop whining, whip out the checkbook, and let us all get back to our lives.

Oh yeah, my bumper is still at the shop. They're prepping it. A bit rough it seems, but nothing a $100 bill didn't fix. They won't put it on for me as it'll require the removal of my frp bumper reinforcement. A liability on their part. So...it's being smoothed and painted. I should have it late next week. My particular body shop is a PITA. Dropped the car off for a week to have them "correct" a few errors. Picked it up today and it looks like all they did was buff the paint out and shine up the sidewalls. I have to bring it in AGAIN next week. You'd think that they would have the entire car complete given the fact I took it in sometime in NOVEMBER. REALLY unprofessional.
Michel
Just venting

 

I don't think it's sad to think of knock off kits anymore. Do you guys know what is REALLY sad? The fact that SOMEONE was childish and stupid enough to send me a virus in an email with a subject labeled RotaryExtreme. It goes to show just how immature people in this world are.......even some of the 7 owners.

Thank god, the virus didn't do **** to me. I wasn't mad. I was depressed. Depressed of the fact that someone lowered themselves enough to do this type of ****. It's ok. In the end, I know I'm the better person for not having to vandalize someone to get my point across. Besides, the person that sent me that email is probably the product of 2 fathers, and is now revengeful of his past life. He's probably mad because he himself is a replica of his parents

 

I agree. In fact I agree with everything you said but this point in general..

 

Flybye, it was probably Joe Dirt. :-)

Black, I say it's old because the purpose of this thread was specifically to discuss receiving and putting on the the Rotary Extreme "FEED" bumper, not to hash out a debate which no one will win. We're beating a dead horse because there are no new earth-shattering perspectives or insightful points of view. Just like beating a dead horse. Not much gets accomplished. It only causes animosity between forum members (and fellow RX-7 owners). Not good in my book. Opinions, as we all know, are like assh*oles. Everybody has one. If people spent half as much time working on, or even towards ownership of an RX-7, as opposed to knocking others over personal preference/choices, we'd all have a bunch of sweet RX7's by now. Oh wait, I already do have one! :-)
Michel

 

FLYBYE---- I had someone send me one of those worm viruses too, thank god my virus scanner stopped them. I had one labeled RotaryExtreme and the other one was Rotarysecret or something like that..... Its a bummer dawg....Make sure you get a good virus protect, we got it a few weeks ago, and its a pain in the *** to get back out of your computer...

 

Michel,
I am pretty much agreeing 100% with you on your last 2 posts. Def. agreeing on the "dead horse" statement. I agree that this thread wasn't started to ask peoples opinions on which is better(replica vs. original) but it turned into one for sure. It was started to ask about fitment of Rotaryextreme's replica which in my eyes has little to do with the original bumper other than it's "supposed" to fit better than it, but this thread got hi-jacked and side-tracked. The purpose of this thread doesn't get accomplished when 80% of threads having to do with anything about a aftermarket front bumper turn into original vs. replica debates. The whole debate gets old, and if you look in the archives I am sure there are more than enough threads with this bickering taking place in them, and people on both sides of the debate have pretty much made their points heard in previous threads. Yeah I have an opinion on the debate(replicas are fine with me as long as good quality) but I didn't share my opinion more than once in this thread because I have participated in enough original vs. replica debate threads in the past, and like you said everyone has an opinion and there's no new "earth shattering" evidence as to which better. It's merely owners preference.

 

aside from all the debates...anyone has some good close-up pics of the rotaryextreme Feed front end painted and installed???

 

My FEED Type II replica bumper is going to be painted this Thursday, I am just waiting for my Re-amemyia sleek headlight(genuine ) to come this week. Fitment is perfect much better than the Mazdaspeed GTC front bumper that I smacked up. I will post pics later this week

 

Black99, we're pretty much on the same page :-) Back to our regularly scheduled program....

My car is BACK in the shop yet again. I can't complain enough about this damn body shop...good thing none of you live here, sigh...The bumper is in the same condition/spot that it was on Friday. I hope to have it installed next Tuesday/Wednesday.

Has anyone put it on yet? How did you solve the splashguard problem? I am planning on completely removing the frp bumper support which will allow room for more effective duct work for the IC and radiator. I am attempting to get a new duct for my CWR IC unit since I effectively cut the "nose" off the original duct for installation with the stock nose piece. With the FEED's larger opening and no bumper support, the duct will actually extend to the edge of the FEED nose, very similar to what Mazdaspeed's new duct does on their R-spec kit.

I'm also doing a 34 row oil cooler on the driver's side (fewer parts/potential problems and leaks) which will have a fiberglass duct specifically for the FEED's inlet on that side. I will also try to create a complete four sided duct for the radiator as well, made out of aluminum sheet to start and hopefully carbon fiber later on.

Anyway, splash guard pics would be greatly appreciated to forewarn me of what I will encounter next week.
Michel

 

Michel-
I would be greatly interested in pics of your aluminum radiator ducting and oil cooler ducting. I have a 99 spec bumper reinforcement that I will sell if anyone is interested (has to go d/t the FMIC). what splashguard are you talking about?

 

I should have pics of my FEED Type II replica by Friday.

Just saw it at the body shop a few minutes and it's about done!!!

Fitment wasn't perfect, but no fitmet is ever perfect, is it?

You'll have to judge for yourself Friday, I'm VERY happy with it!

K