craggers said..
Same price. Just the value of your exchangable local peanuts has crashed.

bloody crack up craig

kemp90 said..
Racing dirt bikes. $12000 for the bike + extra $ on upgrades. Then to top it off, the top end should be rebuilt every 10 hours with an oil change every 4 hours. That's expensive

Thankfully this is my wife's hobby ...... lol

shano82 said..

MDSXR6T said..
You don't have to spend 2.5k though. Who says you need the latest gear to learn on?

A beginner can easily get a 2nd hand setup for $800. New gear is expensive but 2nd hand kites that are a couple of years old are worth SFA. Even less for one with professional repairs. Add some lessons for $300-$500 and it starts getting more affordable for the younger crowd.

I got into this sport for under 1k last summer - bought a 2nd-hand kite/TT board/harness setup for $700, spent $300 on lessons, got to the point where I was up and riding.

I then got some good advice off my instructor regarding upgrading my kite, traded in the 2010 BWS I started with for a 9m 2012 Crossbow (couple of prof. repairs) for $350 cash difference. That got me to the point where I was consistently riding upwind, and starting to get the hang of toeside on my preferred side when summer ended.

So technically that's 1350 for the summer - I was getting out 2-3 times a week for most of that.

Have just purchased a Slingshot Celeritas and a 7m 2013 Fuse for a combined total of $1100, as I'm keen to focus on waves (all of my kiting is in the ocean). Will probably go back for a lesson on boosting early this summer, just figure boosting (well, landing) is how I'm most likely to injure myself.

So that's a 7m/9m quiver, TT board, directional board, and lessons, for 2500ish over two summers. While not new, the kites are still recent, with all the advantages of modern depower/safety.

So it can be done!

How much do you weigh?

bigtone667 said..

shano82 said..



I got into this sport for under 1k last summer - bought a 2nd-hand kite/TT board/harness setup for $700, spent $300 on lessons, got to the point where I was up and riding.

...

So that's a 7m/9m quiver, TT board, directional board, and lessons, for 2500ish over two summers. While not new, the kites are still recent, with all the advantages of modern depower/safety.

So it can be done!

How much do you weigh?

I'm 72kg, in Perth - our sea breeze is anywhere from 15-30knots. Found myself feeling overpowered on the 9m from about 22 knots, given I'm still a relative beginner :)

Kite Pricing is interesting, I need at least 3 kites to cover the 10 to 40 knot wind ranges. The thought of having to pay $7000 to $8000 for 3 kites and 2 bars plus a few extra thousand for boards and harness in not good.

I can get a kite made for about $300 from the same factory that makes about 30+ other brands that retail from cheep to the so called A $2500 brands.

The funny thing is if you sell a kite from that same factory for $2500 you have the locals saying thats a great quality kite because it costs $2500, the money you make can go to advertising and team riders and help promote and sell kites for the shops. If you sell that same kite for $900, you end up with shops and team riders bashing the kite saying they are cheep and bad quality and defending the higher priced kites because they must be better because they cost more and general hindering the promotion and sales of a lower priced kite. Not all high priced kites are great, and not all lower priced kites are not great.

Buying online is cheaper, to import kites the shipping and import duties are insane, its much cheaper to post a kite from overseas direct with under a 1000 value this avoids 10% gst, + import duties + government charge, clearance charges and + another 10% on resale.

I have great respect to the shop owners, I don't see them retiring early, they help promote the sport and need a large profit to cover the costs of rent wages etc. Some A brands need to be ordered 3 months in advance and often they are stuck with left over kites that they cant sell for $400 once they are a few seasons old.

I'm 125kgs and i still got my first board / harness and kite for about $1000.

I sold a 12m core kite only for $100 and a 17m griffin for $450 so you can definitely find bigger kites for good value.

I agree I originally got in with 2 kites and a twin tip for about $1200, with that I could kite in everything from 15-35 knots, the amount of use I got out of the gear and the amount of enjoent was pretty much priceless

The super high top end prices only really effect the people who "need" the latest greatest gear and the people who sell that gear.

I would like 3 or 4 new kites, a new twin tip, new surfboard and a foil board but oh my god I can't afford it !!! Not exactly impoverished

My advice. By 5 kites. Then the last so Damn long it will be years before you need to replace them.

I have a problem which I would like to share. I cannot help buying perfectly good second hand kites 1-2 years old, for less than half their new price, often hardly used especially at the end of summer or middle of winter or when no-one is buying kites and newbies who never got it decided to drop out. Its more fun than buying brand new, (mind you I would not know what that is like). I have 6 kites and 5 bars 2012-2014 models in total cost me less than $5000. They are all excellent kites.

I have never bought a kite brand new. Taking a kite out of its wrapper is like taking $500 or 20% off the value, bit like driving a new car out of a dealership.

My suspicion is that kite prices are going up to force the market to follow, I am not saying manufacturers/distributors are colluding, but they often follow each other (bit like petrol prices). Price increase is probably a result of a sector that has stopped growing and if that is the reason (its not technological advancement or the dollar really) then this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy as newbies decide its too expensive to start.

Vote with your wallet. Wait 6-12 months for the latest kite. Simple as that.

should it be cheaper to buy in Bali without all the taxes?

Kiting = cheapest sailing you'll ever do.

Want to put the cost of new kites into perspective ? Buy a boat.

JOYRIDER said..

I'm sick of hearing all the BS about pricing, when people don't know how the Australian retail system works.

how many burgers do you need to flip to buy a new kite?

rollo19 said...
Yeah these days what role does a distributor play other than adding margin?

Do you think any of the bigger (better?) manufactures would realistically bother posting half a dozen kites to a kite shop in little old Perth? Probably not so a distributor is usually needed to bring volume into the country.

Distributor might be under pressure from increased costs (shipping, exchange rate, rent, wages, businesses oweing money after closing down etc) so they add a few more % to the stock and then the retailer facing similiar issues cant afford to wear that increase. We then either have to fork out or buy online (OS or the switch model). Both have a couple of advantages and 1 major long term disadvantage each

I'd bet a carton that a kite shop owner would work less, kite more and earn more working 8/6 FIFO.

MDSXR6T said..

rollo19 said...
Yeah these days what role does a distributor play other than adding margin?

Do you think any of the bigger (better?) manufactures would realistically bother posting half a dozen kites to a kite shop in little old Perth? Probably not so a distributor is usually needed to bring volume into the country.

Distributor might be under pressure from increased costs (shipping, exchange rate, rent, wages, businesses oweing money after closing down etc) so they add a few more % to the stock and then the retailer facing similiar issues cant afford to wear that increase. We then either have to fork out or buy online (OS or the switch model). Both have a couple of advantages and 1 major long term disadvantage each

I'd bet a carton that a kite shop owner would work less, kite more and earn more working 8/6 FIFO.

I think you might be surprised that quite a few manufactures gone to similar business model to bypass a distributor and have a brand manager that takes virtually no financial risk.
Ozone with their retailer ordering website that allows the retailer to order direct fom the factory up to 4 times a year I believe
Cabrinha have similar model where the each shop is their own importer.
I think Best is similar
Airush is one of the few that have a Australian distributer

MDSXR6T said...

rollo19 said...
Yeah these days what role does a distributor play other than adding margin?

Do you think any of the bigger (better?) manufactures would realistically bother posting half a dozen kites to a kite shop in little old Perth? Probably not so a distributor is usually needed to bring volume into the country.

Distributor might be under pressure from increased costs (shipping, exchange rate, rent, wages, businesses oweing money after closing down etc) so they add a few more % to the stock and then the retailer facing similiar issues cant afford to wear that increase. We then either have to fork out or buy online (OS or the switch model). Both have a couple of advantages and 1 major long term disadvantage each

I'd bet a carton that a kite shop owner would work less, kite more and earn more working 8/6 FIFO.

Actually some will, and I'd bet 2 cartons most people not in the mining game would work less kite more and earn more working a 8/6 FIFO role

Chris_M said..
I know many people seem to be a but dubious about Switch, but their business model seems to deliver pretty dang cheap kites to people.......


Seeing quite a few of them around these days

If you had asked me about Switch prior to the discussion in this thread my answer would have been a definite NO, but if the price rises go up by the amounts you’re talking about I will consider them next purchase.

Same old story, if the main stream brands loose enough sales they’ll quickly change their strategy.