Availability of Ikarus parts

[nsg]

I ordered five of IK6053007, gear step 1, back in January. Since then the availability date has been pushed back two weeks at a time. Responses to my questions wrt that sad comedy go from clueless to non-existent.

1. Could somebody from H-L (preferably Jason, I guess) comment on when that $20 piece of nylon will finally be available. This is somewhat of importance to me: that gear is easily stripped - I stripped a couple when I tried to fit a Medusa motor to my Viper 90, and I do need to get a better motor than what I have now.
2. Those of you thinking of buying an Eco 8Royal currently on crash sale - I won't touch an Ikarus product with a proverbial barge pole at that point. The availability and pricing of the spare parts is beyond absurd; my Viper required $100 worth of upgrades to be made flyable.
3. How are those availability dates set anyway? Does the new H-L website use a random number generator for that, or what?

Thanks in advance.

NS

(the H-L staff has had trouble locating that part on their website, so here's a direct link: http://www.hobby-lobby.com/viper_gear_step_1_5586_prd1.htm)

[Flyboone]

Hey nsg,
I'll be on vacation until Wed. next week. You can contact me directly next week or call in and ask for Neal. He'll be able to help out while I'm out.

Thanks,
Jason Cole

[nsg]

Thanks, Jason, I was able to get the last two gears FXAeromodels had, so I'm ok at the meoment. I'm not sure how Neal will be able to help me - you either have the parts, or you don't. Would be useful if you could get reliable ETA from Ikarus, if at all possible.

[nsg]

I see that H-L has quietly removed any reference to Ikarus Viper Part IK6053007 from its website. I suppose that's my answer.

That's a fine way to support a product.

[nsg]

Hello?

[nsg]

So.. after waiting for 7 months (and counting) for that part to become available at H-L, I ordered it directly from Ikarus. They sent me one instead of two, I complained and they sent me the other one. The whole process took less than two weeks, with pricing incl. s&h, as good if not better than what you get at H-L.

So if you need something - do yourself a favour and go direct.