It isnt just eBay where you have to take care.
Recently there was a driver who had bought a reasonable looking kart from an MSA driver. It was clean, straight and the right price.
The driver used it for a few practices and did his Arks and got through 2 heats, without being bashed but then the metal bumper cracked. OK, this happens and teh bumbper had clearly been bent once or twice before.
He replaced the bumper but was orange balled in the third heat because it was falling off. The entire chassis had cracked where the bearing hanger is welded on. Looking at the tube, this was an old crack that had suddenly failed the rest of the way. The crack had propagated from the weld.
Fortunately Mike at Clay Kart Shop was able to do a very nice Tig weld before the Final.
I suspect that a really careful inspection might have found the crack when bought, and certainly after several days practice I am not accusing the seller of knowing about it when it was sold, but it just goes to show that when you buy a used kart you need to inspect everything and preferably use a glass to examine for cracks.
It might not have been such a happy ending if the crack had been at the other end of the bearing hanger and the axle come adrift in mid-race.
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