conspiracy theory: no way wings should be so expensive

[papasmerf]

could an industry insider please do the wiki-leaks thing and let us know the true cost of a 5m wing, like thru the whole process,, made in china,,, how much? shipping to say port in rotterdam? what does ozone sell it to retailer for? just to satisfy my own curiosity.

was talking to a relatively new wingsurfer at local spot,, he is a very successful pilot and he was getting his 12 year old son into winging,, while i was getting my 19 year old daughter into (he was having more success than me, mine is busy with college) and we are both in the same income bracket but we were talking about the cost of a new winging set up for a kid or even a adult and we were just shaking our head. what normal family could afford this? answer-none. at least with kitesurfing, it was too dangerous really for the rest of the family.

let's face it,,it's way worse than skiing. i had high hopes for winging as a much safer water sport my kids could do (other than having their face sliced off by the foil in a gnarly wreck) but holy crap the entry level price per kids is wow,,, and i really shouldn't even be feeling the sticker shock all things considered but I freaking do. at least the wife doesn't want to do it yet,, but pretty soon she will feel left out or lose interest in going and just watching everyone else. then she is going to want the best of the best equipment no doubt. ha ha.

[Si_DB]

I think it’s going the same way as windsurfing, overly expensive and technical kit that no one really needs but advertising tells us we must have it. I think kitesurfing is hitting that peak, looking at £2000 for a decent sized kite and a bar.

[Slappysan]

The cost of the wings isn't that bad, it's the boards and foils that cost the most.

When it comes to cost to manufacture a wing, it's pretty much exactly the same as a single strut kite.

[Peter_Frank]

The cost of the wings isn't that bad, it's the boards and foils that cost the most.

When it comes to cost to manufacture a wing, it's pretty much exactly the same as a single strut kite.

True, and the wing cost less than the single strut kite, so not that bad.

Peter

[bragnouff]

Gear is evolving at a pretty fast pace, so latest gear will always be expensive, BUT you don't need that. If you get some end of season gear or things from a couple of years back, it is actually perfectly ok, and still plenty of potential for learning on that gear. There is a decent 2nd hand market too in some places.
There are however plenty of gear freaks very eager to spend top dollars on extremely refined kit, but it's the same in all gear sports, like cycling for instance. You don't need to follow them along that path.

[Lamilu]

From the perspective of glass half full or is it half empty…
It maybe is that gear isnt that expensive…its inflation…we are the ones getting poorer…
These stupid wars for global dominance…makes average Joe pay the price...
If you are in debt, rising interests will eat your gear up…
Now there is even a discussion about to whom the Moon belongs.

[kiterocky]

Now they do good Money they can sell at higher price and make more profit than kite. Its a good business , boring sport but good for the brands

[Saltyman]

+1 wings should be way cheaper.
According to google. Kiteboarding has been declining since 2018.
So it's become a niche sport like windsurfing was until the sales plummeted and they realised that to keep going. They had to get cheaper and not just offer carbon booms etc so they started to release cheaper more accessible beginners gear. In kiting with the advent of new materials blah blah they believe that they warrant a price rise and the prices will only go up not down like most things.
A kite and bar costs the manufacturer about 600-700 maximum. Then it goes through a few hands who all make a few bucks before it reaches the consumer.
I think that with inflation on the rise and pay increases that the kites will go up around $100-200 a yr for a few yrs until the industry drops prices or levels out because of lack of sales.
And there are so many kite companies now.
So one would think ok someone has to drop the price. But then the kiting public thinks that the gear is poorly made and not up to scratch because of the price comparison so it's a catch 22 situation.

[foursquare]

Alibaba wings are like $400, but its a total gamble with contract manufacturers making their own judgment on features without firsthand experience- resulting in goofy things like booms with handles the full length.

But GONG is finding ways to test and make decent products by cutting reasonable corners. They just came out with a $999 package deal of wing/foil/board. Not sure how they could do anything cheaper than that….

[ToeRag]

From looking at winging, it looks like something you would get bored of very quickly, so I would expect there to be a lot of 'near new' equipment to come onto the market yes?

FYI I haven't tried winging, so maybe my cynicism is coming from a position of ignorance.