Surprised we haven't heard more about this:

http://ozonekites.com/news/article/new-era-for-ozone-in-the-...

Will be interesting to see how things go.

Remember this site that had everything and I mean everything? Not anymore it seems.

http://ozonekitesusa.com

Things have been changing there for awhile.

"“Just In Time Production” to the US market"" tells me they wont stock anything stateside. Your order will come from the main warehouse and shipping will be very extended depending on your willingness to pay for how fast it gets here. Not the best concept for the 'I want it now' US crowd. I cant tell if Lee and them are still in it or not. They have their website changed to ozonekites.net

Bye bye distributers... I wonder if pries will drop? One step closer to a Switch system...

ATB,
Sam

I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing. Nowhere does it say that a retailer can't order to build personal inventory. JIT makes sense. How many kite stores are left and of the ones that closed how many closed because they had $1000s of unpurchased kites sitting as overhead on their shelves and accounting books. This is a super niche market where you can't go to Target and browse through hundreds or dozens or even a few kites. Though I admire the stores that do, its crazy to think they should be able to stock all kites in all sizes for all level fliers when really they sell but a few. I hope this leads to better pricing and availability to all fliers and no more crippled retailers who have to back door one or two year old unused stock in order to carry current product when previous product didn't sell. I tend to think this sport has sort of peaked with restrictions becoming more common, the price to enter is going through the roof and the manufacturers all seem focused on water or pure speed. If this helps the common man, get what they want without relying on a starving retailer, even if they have to wait a bit, its still a good thing. If people don't like it, switch to HQ or some other more readily available kite brand, if you can find one in a store or e-tailer near you.

I've said this before, but I commend flysurfer for their innovation with the peak. It's an affordable wing comparably, and is land / snow based. Most companies have focused on race kites or kitesurf kites instead. Even other companies low ar depower foils are usually more expensive with a couple exceptions. And they have done this while developing race kite / kitesurf stuff as well. There are a couple kites that seem to not have direct competition and that is one of them IMO. There is another kite in a class on it's own but I dare not say it.





Nasa Star






:P

Warning: It's possible I'm slightly biased

Quote: Originally posted by B-Roc

I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing. Nowhere does it say that a retailer can't order to build personal inventory. JIT makes sense. How many kite stores are left and of the ones that closed how many closed because they had $1000s of unpurchased kites sitting as overhead on their shelves and accounting books. This is a super niche market where you can't go to Target and browse through hundreds or dozens or even a few kites. Though I admire the stores that do, its crazy to think they should be able to stock all kites in all sizes for all level fliers when really they sell but a few. I hope this leads to better pricing and availability to all fliers and no more crippled retailers who have to back door one or two year old unused stock in order to carry current product when previous product didn't sell. I tend to think this sport has sort of peaked with restrictions becoming more common, the price to enter is going through the roof and the manufacturers all seem focused on water or pure speed. If this helps the common man, get what they want without relying on a starving retailer, even if they have to wait a bit, its still a good thing. If people don't like it, switch to HQ or some other more readily available kite brand, if you can find one in a store or e-tailer near you.

Oh fine... if we must have a reasoned discussion (instead of posting cute cat pictures), then fine....



This will probably be a huge boon to dealers. A few years ago, when Flexifoil dropped prices on a bunch of their kites, I know a lot of Flexi dealers who had existing stock that was purchased at the higher price kind of got screwed.

JIT would allow dealers to fulfill orders without having to keep a lot of stock overhead tied up. Once you get to a certain price point, hopefully impulse buying in on the wane and the shipping wait times won't really be much of an issue (even for those spoiled by Amazon Prime.... "What do you mean 3 days??!?!")

If you're still impulse buying premium skin Flysurfers and keep a copy of the ELF catalog in your center console for when the traffic bogs down..... well....errr.... ummm..... 'll I am avaiable for adoption.

My first quad foils had to be shipped from the UK, and I have never been in a brick and mortar that carried traction kites.... wait times for a new kite not a huge issue.

Hopefully that means that will free up some operating capital for dealers so that that can carry a deeper stocklist of parts and consumables.

As painful as waiting for a new kite might be, waiting for a new bridle or lineset for a kite you already have is considerably more annoying.

ATB,
Sam

Apparently they've been doing this in Australia for ten years... you should here those guys moan about the high prices of kites, especially the Chrono! Guess it didn't change anything?...

Afaik Ozone has never had any real stock at their factory and they only delivered as many kites to the retailers as were sold. This is possible because unlike most other companies they have their own factory.

It basically means that Ozone kites never really go on any crazy sale at the end of the year like other kites do. Bad if your buying new but atleast it keeps the prices for used kites stable and somewhat high.

Just out of curiosity I'd like to know what Liquid Force does. Must be quite the opposite. Their kites are always on sale and it seems impossible to sell anything used at a sane price.:evil:

Well then. Who wants to buy an online kite store?
email me.

Well if other companies follow, at least HQ is only a two hour drive for me....:evil: