Whats going on with PAR?

[sno-addict]

Does anyone know what PAR's story is? I tried his website the other day and its down. Checked facebook and his page hasn't been updated in years. Now I see MDS is making his heads. Did I miss something here? Did he sell out or what?

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

Does anyone know what PAR's story is? I tried his website the other day and its down. Checked facebook and his page hasn't been updated in years. Now I see MDS is making his heads. Did I miss something here? Did he sell out or what?

Karma got him.
Copyright infringements.

Sub par products.
People caught on.

The heads were decent.
Copied from a good design stretch to fit.

 

[sno-addict]

Karma got him.
Copyright infringements.

Sub par products.
People caught on.

The heads were decent.
Copied from a good design stretch to fit.

Interesting...

 

[The Bob]

He sold the rights for the heads to MDS and still manufactures them if I am not mistaken. I have used a lot of his products none ended in anything sub-par. Some had some issues with his 910 kits, and some love them, just like a lot of other performance shops we see. Their was a some issues with a competitor where that competitor threatened to sue, so Brad ceased with making that product and most of the more affordable PAR products along with them. He still builds some bad *** customs and engines for people and has a personal Pro based billet triple coming out I can't wait to see. Not to long ago I called him on some parts and he was still willing to get them to me.

To the stretch to fit comment and patent infringement. The one thing I have realized working in a couple Snowmobile performance parts manufactures is, they all copy each other.

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

He sold the rights for the heads to MDS and still manufactures them if I am not mistaken. I have used a lot of his products none ended in anything sub-par. Some had some issues with his 910 kits, and some love them, just like a lot of other performance shops we see. Their was a some issues with a competitor where that competitor threatened to sue, so Brad ceased with making that product and most of the more affordable PAR products along with them. He still builds some bad *** customs and engines for people and has a personal Pro based billet triple coming out I can't wait to see. Not to long ago I called him on some parts and he was still willing to get them to me.

To the stretch to fit comment and patent infringement. The one thing I have realized working in a couple Snowmobile performance parts manufactures is, they all copy each other.

Yup lots of copiers out there.

Quality control is the reason to buy from the original builder/tester.
Get what you pay for.
Also the warrenty.

 

[Reg2view]

The one thing I have realized working in a couple Snowmobile performance parts manufactures is, they all copy each other.

Same thing applies to the OEMs. Always an infringement claim between them somewhere. As you know, they also ripoff the little guys, and sometimes get they butts handed to them, e.g., Poo's EFI, Doo's precisions stolen from Val Simmons. Sometimes the little guy wins. Hey, could be worse, try to protect anything in China...

 

[rmkboxer]

not even close but hey you put it on the internet so it must be true.

Karma got him.
Copyright infringements.

Sub par products.
People caught on.

The heads were decent.
Copied from a good design stretch to fit.

 

[Quinlan]

He sold the rights for the heads to MDS and still manufactures them if I am not mistaken.

This. MDS bought the rights to design and retail sales. Brad is still doing the machine work.

 

[nighthawk285]

And I can say that Steve @ MDS is a great guy to do business with! I bought my clutching from him after picking his brain for about a week, and will be grabbing a set of the heads next season.

 

[PROPWRENCH]

I was at his shop last week and do a lot of business with Brad.
To be clear, Brad is still very active building engines, parts and customs sleds...just not for you...or the general public.

As part owner of a very large machine shop with huge growth from accts in big aerospace i.e. Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and ATK Aero, Brad had to make a decision as to where he should focus his efforts. Pursue growth in 100 employee machine shop or slug it out in a tough market with a $300K/yr, self employed distraction known as PAR? I know where I would invest my time.

The Motorsports market is always volital and unstable with aftermarket snowmobile performance being the worst.
PAR had actually grown to the point that Brad needed to hire more employees to service the existing customer base and it didn't make as much sense as investing those resources into the machine shop.

Speculate as you may, Brads decision for PAR to exit from the public eye was a choice, and an easy one at that. The part that I admire is the fashion he did it...sell off the assets, manage the inventory to zero then dissolve a business that is still in the black. Finish by choice and pursue other endeavors.

We have joked that this decision has had huge benefits in that customers like Boeing actually pay their invoices for services and they never call at 10pm Friday night asking for an opinion of setup for different pipes or elevation...

Good or bad, it makes me sad to see another performance shop exit as there are so few left. It has been my experience from being involved in this sport for 30 years that most shop owners are so worn out from servicing the general public that they are glad and willing to turn off the lights. I admire shops that tough it out yet feel pity for them having to deal with the pirahnas know as snowmobilers.

 

[sno-addict]

I have a feeling we will start seeing this more and more, now that turbo manufacturers are making affordable kits that give more bang for the buck and everything is pull and go. I mean spend 4k give or take on a big bore with custom parts that you can't get at your local shop, or 4k give or take on a plug and play turbo kit where if your motor goes down you can get parts anywhere. And the fact the factory sleds are extremely impressive off the show room floor. It sucks to see, but any custom powersport business usually never last unless one of the big guys buy you out, and it seems its hit or miss. But good for Brad getting out on his own terms! Maybe one day he will get back into it when he is ready.

 

[Kcjepperson]

It's pretty sad what's said about PAR, I have been more than happy with Brad his service and his 910 motor and parts. I have had my 910 since the spring of '13 and besides doing and axys crank last year because I wanted to try it and finally putting Pistons in this year I haven't had any problems at all with my motor. I bet I have close to 4500-5000 miles on it.

I think if people would of had a little more patience and knowledge Brad would still want to work with the public. But at the same time I don't blame him for wanting to only deal with a select few. And the few of us that's still able to get parts are very thankful.

I have been to his shop and seen first hand some of the self installed/built projects and it's crazy. And then they take the crap to him saying it's his fault it's not running right. And still have the balls to get on here and bad mouth him.

He was smart though, he is still able to produce his heads and misc parts to a middle man and they have to deal with us know it all sledders and he deals with one only guy.

 

[Pro crank]

It's pretty sad what's said about PAR, I have been more than happy with Brad his service and his 910 motor and parts. I have had my 910 since the spring of '13 and besides doing and axys crank last year because I wanted to try it and finally putting Pistons in this year I haven't had any problems at all with my motor. I bet I have close to 4500-5000 miles on it.

I think if people would of had a little more patience and knowledge Brad would still want to work with the public. But at the same time I don't blame him for wanting to only deal with a select few. And the few of us that's still able to get parts are very thankful.

I have been to his shop and seen first hand some of the self installed/built projects and it's crazy. And then they take the crap to him saying it's his fault it's not running right. And still have the balls to get on here and bad mouth him.

He was smart though, he is still able to produce his heads and misc parts to a middle man and they have to deal with us know it all sledders and he deals with one only guy.

Im very glad to hear your 910 works good kc. Im a happy 910 owner also and the Engine flat out rips and are very reliable. If you warm these up properly they will last a long time. When you get the mapping right its the funnest Engine i ever ridden. Im running pc 5 with mine.