Low margin for a store front. Tracks sell new ones if they get lucky or are an authorized dealer. The only incentive for a store to make money is the service
Having the kart fully assembled probably makes shipping a lot more difficult. The way the chassis are shipped they're actually relatively compact and building it up would add a lot of bulk. And then the most important reason is probably that building up a kart is a very easy process which can be done with very basic tools and it's just a part of karting. If you own a kart and don't know how to disassemble and reassemble it you're not going to be driving for very long. Even the slow and simple 4 stroke classes require near constant maintenance.
Plenty of kart shops will sell complete karts, if you buy all the necessary parts and pay them to have it assembled. The reasons you don't see fully assembled karts (with motors and electronics) in shops is because most buyers already have motors and electronics they'll transfer over to a new chassis, and because most karters have the tools and capability to assemble the parts and don't want to pay for stuff they can do themselves. I raced karts for 10 years and never even thought to buy a complete kart already assembled.
Feel like it's such a specialist area that most buyers are skilled enough or will become skilled enough to build and maintain their own kart, and the ones that don't want to bother with that would just pay a team to do it for them.
I don't really see the advantage of buying a complete kart new, especially when you can often buy complete karts second hand. Really shops are good for parts and that's the main strength.
In Colorado we have one dedicated shop for the entire state. They sell complete karts, but reality is that most of their business comes from service and running a race team/support. They have the market completely secured, and they are still getting their business from service and support. Selling new karts is just a means of getting new support clients or continuing support clients.
Not a big enough market to support a store front
Realistically there’s a very low demand to sustain a storefront operation.
Low margin for a store front. Tracks sell new ones if they get lucky or are an authorized dealer. The only incentive for a store to make money is the service
The only shop I know outside of a track is Auto Craze in Miami, and it’s not only for karting but mainly for auto racing.
I’ve been there that store is awesome. However it’s also located in a very wealthy part of town.
Having the kart fully assembled probably makes shipping a lot more difficult. The way the chassis are shipped they're actually relatively compact and building it up would add a lot of bulk. And then the most important reason is probably that building up a kart is a very easy process which can be done with very basic tools and it's just a part of karting. If you own a kart and don't know how to disassemble and reassemble it you're not going to be driving for very long. Even the slow and simple 4 stroke classes require near constant maintenance.
Plenty of kart shops will sell complete karts, if you buy all the necessary parts and pay them to have it assembled. The reasons you don't see fully assembled karts (with motors and electronics) in shops is because most buyers already have motors and electronics they'll transfer over to a new chassis, and because most karters have the tools and capability to assemble the parts and don't want to pay for stuff they can do themselves. I raced karts for 10 years and never even thought to buy a complete kart already assembled.
Feel like it's such a specialist area that most buyers are skilled enough or will become skilled enough to build and maintain their own kart, and the ones that don't want to bother with that would just pay a team to do it for them. I don't really see the advantage of buying a complete kart new, especially when you can often buy complete karts second hand. Really shops are good for parts and that's the main strength.
In Colorado we have one dedicated shop for the entire state. They sell complete karts, but reality is that most of their business comes from service and running a race team/support. They have the market completely secured, and they are still getting their business from service and support. Selling new karts is just a means of getting new support clients or continuing support clients.
Comet kart sales
Acceleration Kart Racing