I prefer the looks of the older(1st listing) karts as well. But the new ones(2nd listing) do show some improvements. Such as, better rear tires(flatter profile=less tippy), seat lever placement, better steering wheel(looks better, could also be less flexy), and a different reverse bracket(possibly stronger?).

 

Sure, and a reverse box update too. But they had to make it ugly??? ick. Rear wheels are shorter too... so a little less clearance.

 

My rear wheels also wobble, I am pretty sure it is the rims though. When I oil the chain, I can look at the axle, and it appears to be straight. It is nothing compared to how much my front wheels wobble, especially the left front. It bounces so much, it nearly leaves the pavement at top speed. I came down really hard on this wheel off a jump, it had to absorb the weight of the whole cart.

I looked at the awesome buggys ebay listing and do not like what I see.

1. The frame is different, it is uglier (IMHO) more square and boxy, rollbar by driver attaches at weird angle and screws up the lines. Doesn't have the bracing at the floorpan that runs from front to back, this may make it weaker when jumping (A arms do attach to the frame but just differently). appears to be wider, there is NO room between seats on my buggy, this one has room for parking brake. Gigantic rear cargo box (a negative for me).

2. All the suspension seems to sag too much, especially in rear. My link is nearly vertical, theres is at a large angle. Even with little preload, mine sits much higher. Rack and pinion seem too far forward, causes it to angle back at the kingpin.

3. Fenders are cheap looking, mirrors seem redundent (one in the middle works fine and doesn't get whacked at every tree.)

4. Updated reverse gear arm is identical to my outdated 2004 (new ones are even better) Reverse cable doesn't have the metal bend like mine, don't know if this is good or bad.

5. Lime green and eggplant? what are they thinking!

All in all it just looks uglier, possibly cheaper. Changes could be because it is cheaper to ship or something, parking brake in between seats would be fun, but mine doesn't stay adjusted for long anyway. Ive got much more frame at the floorpan, this appears to not have anything. I think I will get a carter talon if I decide to get another, the front end is very narrow and looks really cool in person.

 

Took the rear rack off and it did in fact weigh 20lbs. Built some brackets and have the gas tank mounted but cannot get used to the way it looks now. I guess I'll put the thing back on, I don't think it looks bad, just way different. I doubt I will ever use the rack but my son likes to climb around on the cart and use it like monkey bars.

I think I will put some real atv tires and rims on it. probably 21's in the front for a smoother ride over rough terrain. My rear tires seem really heavy, even with hardly any air in them they are super stiff, will probably try some holeshots or something light with alloy rims.

By the way, my tires say 20 on the front but measure about 18.75"
the rears say 22 but measure a little over 20" (I would be interested to know how tall the kpx style tire is)

 

Hmm... Maybe that is the size at max inflation?? I know on the kpx carts we aren't anywhere near max inflation levels, and I can watch it grow as I add more air.

I'll take a measurement tonight.

 

With the square profile, and inflexibility of the tire itself, adding or subtracting air makes little difference on mine. However, with a rounded style tire adding air can make a large difference. I had a little atc 70 with the balloon tires I was working on. You could add air and it acted just like a balloon, they were really thin walled.

My curiousity about tire height has more to do with gearing, I think mine climbs really well but top end is pretty slow. When driving down a gravel road following my brother in his rhino, my buggy is really straining. I hate to keep it wide open for that length of time (a couple of miles). I guess you can't have top speed and hill climbing on a 150cc engine though. Also, I think the kpx style tire is more complient over bumps than my stiff ones. However, my cart does not want to flip easily at all. I know from experience that changing from the balloon type on a quad to a square profile makes a huge difference in cornering. That having been said, you could flip the wheels like raptoraz has done and get an extra 2".

Anyway, I am sure they are geared the same, so a change of 2" in tire height would probably make a couple of mph difference. If I do get new wheels and tires, I would probably get 20's, which are nearly identical to my 22's (I measured my other brothers quad tires). they are slightly smaller, which is going to lower the gearing even more.

 

Well, I'm really going to be watching closely in the next few months. The new engine on the Twister carts should be here any time now, and the blade has me intrigued by it's claims of being quite fast as well. Both are claiming over 40... so we'll see what they have done to get there. I know it's possible, because carter did a good job on power in the XTV.

 

does anybody no of a place or a website that has aftermarket parts for a go cart (a carter gocart that is)

 

You are going to have to get a lot more specific. Which cart exactly, and which parts are you looking for??? If it is the Talon 150 you are talking about (since it iis largely the same as the chineese carts this thread is about) there are links mentioned earlier on here. Just read back and you will find them mentioned several times.

 

Here is something odd.

viewing the pictures on the blade website, check out how short the upper a-arms are on the pictures of the two seat models (compared to the old style like the rest of us have) On the pictures of the older version of the 2-seater you can see how the upper a-arms are at a weird angle, like the suspension is compressed, they are not parrallel to the rack-n-pinion arms. You can also see this when viewing the pictures of the raider max at the www.teamdazon.com website (this is the identical cart) This would seem to hinder suspension and bump steer performance. The regular dazon 2-seater looks like the normal length.
You can view the closeup of the front of the blade to see what I am talking about.

why would they change this?

are they still selling these on ebay? I was going to look at there pictures there but can't find one.