Nandska

Wolf95

Who cares about licensing them? Spend that money on a trailer and take it to rip on the tracks instead!!

JonBoy

It'll be a lot tougher without support from the Atom community, that's for sure. No parts support, no tech support, no information being shared. Not sure I'd want to try it.

Even WITH the support, building one isn't a walk in the park.

s.hasan546

Shit I'm about to buy one and put it into one of my import containers I bring from china.... Time to make some calls

Syn

Nice, I didn't realize they weren't knock-offs.

I don't think I'd sweat the whole no factory support thing, because if I were building something like this to begin with I'd want to be confident in my own ability to solve any problems that come along using my own independent knowledge and research online. Ariel can't keep their owners from sharing knowledge/experience across the entire internet

As for replacement parts, how much is proprietary from them directly? My understanding is that most or all of the moving parts are sourced from a donor car or purchased independently from said donor's OEM. I guess if the car got wrecked, fixing the chassis itself would be more or less impossible without access to Ariel's parts but if you find a good machine shop you can probably "make do" on your own and still come out a ton cheaper than buying a whole car from them.

JonBoy

I think a set of instructions would be pretty good to have...

TrumpetTitan

"Overnight parts from Japan..."

vader1

I am not suggesting that an Atom would be anything other than a disaster in a serious crash, but I think people are forgetting the Chinese copycat car crash test videos. You are probably looking at cheaper steel and lower quality welds.

I am not sure that it would come apart during a high G corner, but think about the safety the Atom provides and cut it in half and you probably have the Chinese copy. Death trap might be extreme but just don't hit anything at all with it.

I mean, it is not like any Chinese factory ever cut any corners and had anything but pure product safety in mind, right?

There are tons of Honda Scooter clones made by Chinese companies that bust welds, have bolts sheer off, crack mounting brackets, and have transmission cases crack in half.

The price is tempting, but I know the first time I drove it hard it would scare the piss out of me thinking what is going to break. With Chinese stuff it is when, not if, and you just hope the failure is nothing serious. What happens when a chasis shows up incorrectly welded and warped in one direction or another?

You are looking at the Ariel Atom version of an Ebay Chinese exhaust system.

JonBoy

You need to reread the thread. These are ACTUAL Atom chassis', licensed for Chinese manufacture and approved for sale (by Atom) in China. They're ticked that they're being made available in the USA, that's all.

I can tell you that Chinese fabricators are extremely skilled. Their welders are every bit as good or better as/than what I've seen in typical American factories.

Again, these aren't copycats. They're actual Atom-approved chassis!

vader1

Ok, but it still seems strange to me that they are official approved Atom chassis, that can't be sold as Atom chassis. If they (Ariel) were worried they would hurt their brand they could have bought them up and used them, the fact that they are not leaves me wondering a little.

If people buy these and can build one for pennies on the dollar, why does Ariel not scoop them up and sell the regular premium priced from the factory models with them to prevent losing sales? Is there something about the chassis that makes Ariel NOT want to use them in their own US factory cars? Let's face it, these chassis at this price will make it much easier for an unauthorized manufacturer to measure, copy, and make knock offs which could hurt Ariel IMHO.

I hope everyone who plunks down the money ends up with a nice product, just not something I would do.