7 replies to this topic

[gen1]

my message to koni

 

I have been looking for koni's for my 1985 Honda crx-si and think they have been discontinued. there are a lot of people who will/would buy them for the first generation Honda crx if you still offered them. I mean the people of red pepper racing forum will search and search for them then pay a very large amount of money to have them rebuilt/revalved. so if you will not have them available are they any way I could get a set made for my car? or if I could get said number of people to pay up front for them could you do a limited run of them for us? thanks for your time I have always bought and ran koni on all of my vehicles from Honda's to fox body mustangs love the ride quality and handling. hope you can help         Thank you for contacting us here at KONI NA. You are correct the KONI dampers for the 85’ Civic/CRX have been discontinued, and are no longer available. In order to see another production run of any discontinued part a KONI dealer must agree to the upfront purchase or generally 50-100 car sets, before a onetime run is made. If the demand from the KONI dealers is there additional runs can be made, however individual sets or very low volumes will not warranty the production of just a few car sets.         so I can get 50 people to preorder them then you would make them? if so what would be the price per set? thank you        No, not exactly.  Before a production batch of any discontinued part number is made, a KONI DEALER must have enough interest and demand from the market before they will commit to purchasing a full production batch. If you can find a KONI Dealer that would be interested in pursuing the purchase a full production batch, which usually  requires a minimum of  50-100 pcs, they can contact their KONI sales representatives to discuss the possible or minimum number of parts required, and the pricing for such. KONI NA does not sell direct to the end consumer but rather through a network of distributors and dealers.             final reply                 Your first step for you would be to drum up interest online through the forums. See if you could spark the interest of Dealer in possibly taking over exclusive rights to the discontinued shocks. Meaning they would be the sole provider and the only available outlet for the dampers. Unless a KONI Dealer or specialty company is interested in stepping up and taking over exclusive distribution to justify another production run, it’s very unlikely these will ever be remanufactured. If the demand for the product was still sufficient, likely one of the Honda specialty companies would have done so already, as these have been discontinued for quite some time.  We may rebuild 1 or 2 sets of these early CRX dampers a year, in our rebuild shop.    SO IN SHORT WHO WOULD BUY THEM IF AVAILAIBE NEW ???? READ THE EMAILS SAYS 50 TO 100 SETS DO YOU THINK WE HAVE THAT MANY PEOPLE    IT'S WORTH A SHOT TO TRY                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

[CSPCRX]

Which ones? The double adjustable yellows were the ones everyone wished for. How much? Just a few questions to answer before your going to get people on board.

[squareback]

Who were you discussing this with at Koni? Lee Grimes is in charge of motorsports stuff for North America, and he's a huge Honda nut. If there was any way to make these again, he would do it. The production run would likely be single adjustable normal length units, as you would never have enough interest in shortened double adjustable units for their price. If a person wanted proper race units, he would have to send in regular units and have them converted, just like now. For the record, the cost to do that is around $650 apiece plus the shock. Many years ago, Koni offered an off-the-shelf shortened/revalved/DA shock for our cars that ran $600 each, and I wish I would have bought a couple of sets. The likelihood that this process will get anywhere is super slim.

All of that being said, a set of dialed-in DA Konis on these cars is MAGIC...

[gen1]

i did not specify which ones as i didn't really know that they were different ones offered for the first gen crx as for price read the back in forth emails i asked and got told that first needed to see if there was enough interest in them as in 50 to 100 sets being sold. i thought that everyone on here would be wanting them guess i was wrong seems like no one wants to try guess everyone who wants them has them???

[GeezRX]

I think, judging from your original post, that you are approaching this wrong. It would appear that you need to have a KONI DEALER on board first in order to know what the actual minimum order and pricing would be so that you could then start to generate the interest in the end users. I personally would love to have some performance shocks and struts but find it very hard to justify the $1K+ costs for a complete set of even BC Racing or Tein units (which are available) for my daily driver. I'm afraid that the costs for a set of Koni's on even a minimum production run would likely far exceed that amount. If you do, however, follow through on this, you should also post on the RedPepper facebook page as that is where it would seem that the majority of the forum has gone. All that being said, I feel your frustration and appreciate your interest in trying to further the cause of these vehicles!

[gen1]

i seen the bc racing coil overs  on ebay  as for going about it wrong the rep said drum up interest then take that to a koni dealer and see if you coiuld find a dealer that would be interested in taking over the complete rights to the discontinued shocks or doing a limited run of them. as for face book I do not do it  and as far as this thread it can be erased or closed thanks

[GeezRX]

Check out this link to the Tein setup:  https://www.heeltoea...mperkit166.html which has been purchased by forum members here and seems to be highly thought of.

[CSPCRX]

When i was in search of DA Konis i called and spoke to them about getting some made. They would not even make me a custom set, no matter what i was willing to pay. I ended up finding a pair, paid a lot, and send them in for rebuild. But i do now have the best struts ever made for these cars. I agree it is a shame the will not make them again. As stated Lee is a honda fan but its a big company.