Guys, I wasn't complaining or bashing or even in any way talking about novak specifically, I was just curious about the law of "made in the usa".

For instance, my mother has a small business selling a novelty item of her own design and assembly. She has "made in the usa" on her site. The main component is made for her by a plastics company in the states, but who knows where the actual plastic comes from. Then there are some foam parts and nylon straps that all come from an american supplier. Then there are two rivets. These are bought from an american supplier but I bet they are actually made overseas (though I have no idea). Is one tiny, completely inconsequential part of ambiguous origin really all it takes to kill the "made in the usa" label?

Hope she is not manufacturing or selling product into CA....

Yes, so much as a .0001 cent part voids the "Made in the USA" designation. All it takes is a hungry lawyer, who targets small companies.

Just saw something funny in the for sale section. There is a guy selling 1/8th buggy wheels made in vietnam. Not only are they Proline clones, they even have the Proline logo on them :flaming:

At least these people put their own label on the motor. :D

Assembled by "Bob Novak*" and manufactured in Irvine California.
*Replaced with whomever did.

(If you wanted to get more specific)

;)

I mentioned, elsewhere, that we are preparing a (web-site) slide show of our Ballistic motor production---step by step. I'm beginning to think we will have to put Bob in every picture.....:D

You can make it a game... "Where's Bobo?" Have him hidden in the background! :)

Interesting.

Well Does any one have a tear down of each motor ?
Novak VS Clone ?

Also what parts are all from Germany on these original motors ???

AFAIK, no Ballistic parts originate in Germany; however, components purchased from major US electronic parts distributors may be sourced from anywhere in the world.

And, Proline is well aware of these clones. If it were not for consumer demand for these cheap knock-offs, Asian companies would not bother to copy American designs. Americans have become addicted to "cheap". As long as it's cheap, nothing else matters---quality, customer service, upgrades, race support, innovation.

With each clone purchase, customers hammer another nail into the coffin of USA R/C innovation. If our companies cannot recover their considerable up-front R&D expenses and tooling, testing and manufacturing costs, they will no longer be able to invest in future products for this hobby.

We can all fall by the wayside like Kraft Systems, Royal, Delta, Proline (radios), Ace, Associated, Trinity, Losi. These companies were powerhouses once---back 33 years ago when (Bob) Novak first began designing for the electric car segment of the R/C hobby.

Hey guys, I was just browsing Ebay and I saw these knock-offs again and it got me curious. I Googled the company name and I saw some pretty interesting stuff on their website that I thought Novak might be interested in. Sorry if you guys have already seen this.
http://www.inix-racing.com/inix-nova...novak-p-7.html

I know Novak would not find it too funny, but I almost rolled around on the floor laughing when I saw how many times the word Novak is used on their site. They call them Inix Novak motors, and even pasted part of the spec sheet from Novak's own website. Even funnier to me is that if you read their brief description right above the spec sheet you can see the Kv is not even close to the same for each given wind.

You are correct...Novak is not amused.

But, even after contacting this knock-off company, they (apparently) would rather mislead potential customers than change their copy. Novak has no relationship, whatsoever, with them.