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Where to buy the KS 14D in the UK?


Juggler

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I've been riding a Ninebot one E+ for over a year now and am thinking of changing to the Kingsong 14D as it seems to have more range and top speed.

Where can I buy one in the UK, and how much are they? I can only find them for sale in America.

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4 minutes ago, WARPed1701D said:

https://www.yorkshireairwheels.co.uk/product-details.php?prod_id=PID10000018

I've not used them but I've heard good things about this company on here. Do some checking around first. Out of stock right now. 

Hi, thanks for the link. Not seen this site before. I will give them a call.

PS what do you ride?

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Other option: find a seller from a EU country with no official KS dealer (because in countries with a dealer, they might, technically illegally but pressured by Kingsong, not sell to other EU countries for price fixing reasons) and order from them.

Sorry, that was wrong, see below.

You should be able to buy from any KS dealer in the EU.

There was neat Czech (??? or Polish?) seller, I believe @Smoother ordered from them (NOT electricunicycles.eu [Poland], which should also work).

Just saying, this is only for completeness' sake. Yorkshire Airwheels seem to have a decent reputation and nothing wrong with buying from them if you're in the UK anyway.

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1 minute ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Other option: find a seller from a EU country with no official KS dealer (although they might, technically illegally but pressured by Kingsong, not sell to other EU countries for price fixing reasons) and order from them. There was Czech (??? or Polish?) seller, I believe @Smoother ordered from them (NOT electricunicycles.eu, which should also work).

Just saying, this is only for completeness' sake. Yorkshire Airwheels seem to have a decent reputation and nothing wrong with buying from them if you're in the UK anyway.

Hi, thanks for the info

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Sorry, I was wrong. If there is an official KS dealer in your country (aka UK), the others (from France or wherever) might be pressured not to sell to you. You should be able to buy from any EU KS seller with no problems otherwise. So you can buy from 1radwerkstatt.e (Germany) or if you like to pay too much, France, or anywhere.

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29 minutes ago, Juggler said:

Hi, thanks for the link. Not seen this site before. I will give them a call.

PS what do you ride?

I'm riding an Inmotion V8. Very similar specs to the 14D. Same motor power. Slightly larger battery 480Wh (as it is an 84v wheel). 16"wheel vs 14" is the biggest difference apart from the price. V8 is £995 from speedfeet https://www.speedyfeet.co.uk/collections/electric-unicycle/products/inmotion-v8. I've been very happy with my V8 with 900km on it now. 

I don't know much about the 14D. I think the 14S is well respected and they are very similar. 

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On 12/16/2017 at 5:06 PM, meepmeepmayer said:

So you can buy from 1radwerkstatt.e (Germany)

I bought from this "region " and cannot recommend the after sales service. I might as well have bought off alliexpress. A full report to follow once the story is complete. 

KS Poland has been very helpful and his knowledge seems appropriate for his position (something not to be assumed, as I found out)

i don't know Yorkshire airwheels. Do they have a presence on this forum?  

The problem is,  unless you are lucky enough to have a dealer close by, shipping becomes an issue,  unless you DIY it or your dealer is knowledgeable and willing to send you parts (preferably under warranty if appropriate).

Also, call your potential dealer and make sure they can speak your language, or a common language. There's nothing worse than a disagreement compounded by a language barrier ( at least I think that's what the off duty Italian police office was screaming at me after I tried to run him off the aurostrada ?  But that's a different story) 

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On 17/12/2017 at 2:23 AM, Smoother said:

i don't know Yorkshire airwheels. Do they have a presence on this forum?  

One of the lads from there has an account on here but I haven't seen any presence for some time (can't remember the name).
They were quick to respond to emails when I approached them in that way a while ago (from the website).
They've got some videos up on YouTube.
I've got an Inmotion V8 & love it! :P

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I emailed Yorkshire Airwheels a couple of weeks ago, actually. And they said they weren’t going to be stocking more KingSong stuff in the future. 

 

Hi  ,
 
We are no longer dealing with Kingsong sorry ,our web page will be updated shortly.
 
We can not stock the Ninebot range as it is an exclusive company, speedyfeet.co.uk is the U.K`s exclusive Ninebot supplier.
 
Many Thanks
Graham 
Yorkshire Airwheels LTD
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WUT? Is there even anyone selling Kingsongs in the UK then? I thought Yorkshire Airwheels would become a counterweight to Speedyfeet with the KS side of wheels...

Sounds like KS is a bitch to deal with. Do they not want to sell their wheels? Gotway at least sell to everyone as long as they give them money.

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2 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

WUT? Is there even anyone selling Kingsongs in the UK then? I thought Yorkshire Airwheels would become a counterweight to Speedyfeet with the KS side of wheels...

Sounds like KS is a bitch to deal with. Do they not want to sell their wheels? Gotway at least sell to everyone as long as they give them money.

When you listen to the stories from Jason, KingSong is a real pain to deal with.

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19 hours ago, Smoother said:

I have it on Good authority, that since the value of the pound dipped after Brexit was approved, there's no meaningful margin in it.

Then why would any UK dealer import any wheels from abroad? That seems like such a silly opinion. Also the pound has recovered quite a bit since the Brexit announcement.

 

22 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

WUT? Is there even anyone selling Kingsongs in the UK then? I thought Yorkshire Airwheels would become a counterweight to Speedyfeet with the KS side of wheels...

Sounds like KS is a bitch to deal with. Do they not want to sell their wheels? Gotway at least sell to everyone as long as they give them money.

You can try Project42, however they are out of stock at the moment. They also stock like... 2 models. Speedyfeet apparently have a KS18 in for testing but it has 'issues' so they are waiting for a replacement/replacement parts.

So the only choice appears to be looking toward Europe when it comes to KingSong. Such a shame that Jason decided to close down the UK side of eWheels, we could really do with a be-all-end-all supplier.

 

edit: I lie, Proj42 do have white KS16S in stock. I'm tempted!

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51 minutes ago, Kael said:

That seems like such a silly opinion

It's not an opinion, it's almost a direct quote from a former dealer.  it's not THE ONLY factor, but a contributing factor.  And just because the pound has risen, doesn't mean someone who decided to pull out will suddenly start back up again.  Who's to say it doesn't dip again once Brexit comes closer, or after Brexit?  These things have  shipping lead times, minimum order requirements, storage needs, model changes, parts, accessories, warranty issues, Competition from Europen suppliers and Aliexpress.  Once someone decides on closing, it's not exactly easy to restart.  People move on.

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22 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

When you listen to the stories from Jason, KingSong is a real pain to deal with.

It's an unfortunate fact that ALL the manufacturers from China are a royal pain to conduct business with. Each have their own peculiar sense of logic, that places the burden of financial risk squarely on the shoulders of the Distributor. 

  • With King Song, you can negotiate a position on something, write a extensive memo so that there is no possible wiggle room for getting out of it, then the very next day, receive some completely non-nonsensical communication that undermines everything that was agreed the previous day :angry:
  • Gotway are more flexible,  better at supplying parts; but because of the design flaws in their Wheels, they don't have much alternative if they want to leave the sales channels open. 
  • Inmotion... experience has shown that the the value of an agreement is not worth the paper it's printed on. It can take over a week to get a routine problem sorted out, such as resetting a Wheel's owner, completely inadequate post-sales support.

One of the infuriating traits of Chinese manufacturing, is that companies refuse to allocate a competent any Engineer to work along side the sales contact, leaving you to play a game of inefficient Chinese telephone for troubleshooting, which take can take a week or more to sort out what ought to be a straight-forward issue.

DoAs are the worst for any Distributor, since they are a demonstration of failures for the factory to conduct even the most rudimentary checks before shipping—ewheels.com have now partnered with an outside inspection company. It will help in some areas, but for complex problems that require deep insider knowledge of how the Wheel work, there is still a statistical probability that certain faults can, & will, get overlooked.

In 2017 we've witnessed the demise of probably 90% of sellers who have come to the conclusion that no matter what they do, the balance of risk/return is unfavourable for selling Wheel that are made in China. How are things shaping up for 2018? It's too early to say, but my prediction is that we'll continue to see the trend towards consolidation around a few sellers, especially in Europe where margins are razor thin & a tax climate where it is extremely difficult for responsible sellers to compete with Chinese outlets who have an unfair advantage.
On the production side, the battle between KS & GW will likely continue much as it has before—this is essential for the innovation of the technology. It's uncertain what the development intentions are from Ninebot/Segway. Chatting with my insider contacts, they've confirmed that $299 price on the S1 represents at least a $200 loss per Wheel, a reflection of stale inventory , & that the model will be shortly discontinued without an immediate replacement in sight.

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2 hours ago, Jason McNeil said:

It's an unfortunate fact that ALL the manufacturers from China are a royal pain to conduct business with. Each have their own peculiar sense of logic, that places the burden of financial risk squarely on the shoulders of the Distributor. 

  • With King Song, you can negotiate a position on something, write a extensive memo so that there is no possible wiggle room for getting out of it, then the very next day, receive some completely non-nonsensical communication that undermines everything that was agreed the previous day :angry:
  • Gotway are more flexible,  better at supplying parts; but because of the design flaws in their Wheels, they don't have much alternative if they want to leave the sales channels open. 
  • Inmotion... experience has shown that the the value of an agreement is not worth the paper it's printed on. It can take over a week to get a routine problem sorted out, such as resetting a Wheel's owner, completely inadequate post-sales support.

One of the infuriating traits of Chinese manufacturing, is that companies refuse to allocate a competent any Engineer to work along side the sales contact, leaving you to play a game of inefficient Chinese telephone for troubleshooting, which take can take a week or more to sort out what ought to be a straight-forward issue.

DoAs are the worst for any Distributor, since they are a demonstration of failures for the factory to conduct even the most rudimentary checks before shipping—ewheels.com have now partnered with an outside inspection company. It will help in some areas, but for complex problems that require deep insider knowledge of how the Wheel work, there is still a statistical probability that certain faults can, & will, get overlooked.

In 2017 we've witnessed the demise of probably 90% of sellers who have come to the conclusion that no matter what they do, the balance of risk/return is unfavourable for selling Wheel that are made in China. How are things shaping up for 2018? It's too early to say, but my prediction is that we'll continue to see the trend towards consolidation around a few sellers, especially in Europe where margins are razor thin & a tax climate where it is extremely difficult for responsible sellers to compete with Chinese outlets who have an unfair advantage.
On the production side, the battle between KS & GW will likely continue much as it has before—this is essential for the innovation of the technology. It's uncertain what the development intentions are from Ninebot/Segway. Chatting with my insider contacts, they've confirmed that $299 price on the S1 represents at least a $200 loss per Wheel, a reflection of stale inventory , & that the model will be shortly discontinued without an immediate replacement in sight.

Always enjoy reading your insights into the industry Jason :cheers:

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@Jason McNeil Yup, makes sense~ A big reason why startups manufacturing in China basically have at least one guy move there to oversee directly at the plant.

 

Albeit not the ideal local neighborhood distributor scenario, has no one mentioned that eWheels.com ships to the UK?!?

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2 hours ago, houseofjob said:

has no one mentioned that eWheels.com ships to the UK?!?

When we get inquiries, I usually direct them to buy from one of the local Dealers, even if this means another EU country, as it's in the EU zone, far less complication/hassle for everyone than importing from outside. 

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