Rebel Racing Front Bushings vs. Elephant Racing Sphericals Options

[yeahmag]

Did Elephant Racing buy the RSR Front Bushing design from Rebel Racing? They look identical!

http://rebelracingproducts.com/Suspension/Steering.html

http://www.elephantracing.com/suspension/s...1sphericals.htm

-Aaron

[0396]

I remember discussing this topic with one major aftermarket mfg....they response was: theirs a lot of monkey see monkey do copying going around

[Jeff Hail]

There is essentially 12 major manufacturing players in the market. There are more but I will call those niche parts fabricators and specialty manufacturers. There are thousands of distributors and internet sales business that "carry" without a store front and "drop ship" products. Its simple supply chain B2B 101.

In this day and age if you do not have a store front why keep inventory if you can have it drop shipped directly from the guy who makes it? Its smart business. The middle man gets retail price and pays the first guy his cost (wholesale).

Or say you do manufacturer a product(s) that is limited to a small market.. how would one stay in business on that alone? Diversity is the key.

For example fuel stations. The wholesale cost of fuel is not that wholesale anymore and everyone is competing so the station owner piggy backs a mini-market to supplement his fuel business. Now the owner is a retail outlet for Hostess cake products, Coke, beef jerky, Frito-Lay, New Car Smell christmas tree's.

Going back to the top paragraph: the players get free advertising for the products they "make" and are sold by someone else. Its working smart not hard. This same practice also works in reverse.

A lot of these guys are engineers and machinists by trade. They choose to stick with what they know.. making cool trick stuff that you want to buy. They market it through some else because marketing and sales is the other guys calling and specialty.

Then you have someone who makes, markets and does it all. For example would be a guy like Mickey Thompson when he was alive. Mickey Thompson literally did it all while managing Lions race track, as he also ran his El Monte muffler shop, was a pressman for the Los Angeles Times and was simultaneously building a speed parts enterprise - including construction of his four-engine Bonneville streamliner "Challenger".. He did this all before he became really BIG.

Remember BASF's slogan ! " WE DON'T MAKE A LOT OF THE PRODUCTS YOU BUY. WE MAKE A LOT OF THE PRODUCTS YOU BUY BETTER."

Agree also, there is a lot of copying going on. Like the aftermarket parts industry if you change one thing it's no longer copying. Look at Taiwan and China how they invaded the aftermarket body parts market. Insurance companies love them. Billions saved in claim payouts.

[worn]

Did Elephant Racing buy the RSR Front Bushing design from Rebel Racing? They look identical!

http://rebelracingproducts.com/Suspension/Steering.html

http://www.elephantracing.com/suspension/s...1sphericals.htm

-Aaron

I don't know, but I bought the Elephant bump steer product and was amazed at the design quality and service. Not a plug, it is just that the thing was made right and it is nice to see good engineering on a product that could kill me when (as I see in advertisements) made wrong.

[Harpo]

The frt does look identical but the rear looks wider. Also the Rebel one is available in black.

David

[TravisNeff]

While they look the same, the Rebel racing fronts use a Teflon insert for the bushing and the elephant fronts uses steel bearings (they say for proper collinear operation).

[ChrisFoley]

While they look the same, the Rebel racing fronts use a Teflon insert for the bushing and the elephant fronts uses steel bearings (they say for proper collinear operation).

AFAIK the inserts are not Teflon. They are Teflon impregnated Acetal copolymer.
It is a very expensive engineering plastic with excellent lubricity and machining properties, however overkill for the application imo.

[Harpo]

Lets also not forget that the elephant bushings are $100 more than the Rebel bushings. I know it is overkill but they are cool (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

David

[yeahmag]

Anybody have instructions for the Rebel Racing RSR front bushings? I can't find mine to save my life... I've contacted Rebel Racing several times to no avail.
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