I've been thinking about buying a set of hinges for my Nova for a while. I have looked at Ring Bros., Fesler and EMS...and without question go with Ring Brothers now!!!
Is there a price difference between the two?
With that said, could this be a "you get what u pay for"
If there priced equivalent, than its basically up to the consumer to chose from there. I definitely understand the RB's frustration, but as most of posted theres not much you can do. It basically comes down to marketing/customer service in my opinion. RB has innovated a lot of really cool products over the years that most likely will continue to be somewhat copied.
I look at it this way, its like buying body panels... most tend to purchase Goodmark ("the original/preferred") in lieu second hand overseas companies following suit. Personally I like to stick with "the originator"
I started thinking about what you wrote Matt.
On my camaro I have the old style Ringbrothers Hinge. It has the shock pointing downward. Also my early version has an adjustable link that tie the 2 arms together (they stopped doing that) . These were the only Hinge at the time of purchase. attachment 1.
Looking at the pictures you can see that his hinge is more then a 10% difference. The base is different, his shock placement is different, the arms are different.
The weird thing is that now Ringbrothers changed the camaro hinge to a base and shock position that look more like the Fesler ones. attachment 2.
One reason why I can think of is cost of manufacturing. The base being smaller and the one arm being smaller.
Like I said before I have both the RB and Fesler stuff on my car. What you shouldn't do is call out someone for taking an idea when its happened the other way around also.
Billet parts is a hard business to get into and not have competitors run with your ideas. Look at the Billet motorcycle parts. Most of it is now made in China. It hasn't reached the pro-touring parts yet but it will. Ever walk the Asia market section at SEMA?
You need to market and brand yourself as the First, and having a more superior Quality than the competitors. Also to be successful you have to be first to market with new products. That way your selling as much as you can before the competition can make a similar product.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
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