Purple/Violet 1996 KDX radiator shroud plastics UFO Group Purchase? ('95-'06)

[Chuck78]

UPDATE:
80 pairs of violet (purple) UFO H-series shrouds have been ordered by a fellow enthusiast Jason Jacobson who took over the logistical fulfillment/payment end of things for me!
Previous EDIT - I've started putting feelers out there to see if we can get enough people to pre-order close to the minimum production batch quantity of 50 sets of these at retail price. So far in 15 hours I have almost 60 sets verbally(digitally) requested from approximately 44 individuals elsewhere on other KDX web-based groups...
If anyone is interested in pre-ordering a set, state your intent and how many you would buy please!


I've previously emailed UFO Plastics to ask what it would take to get them to make a batch of purple 1996 KDX200 shrouds for the '95-'06 KDX200/220. They replied saying any non-stocked color requires a minimum 50 pieces to be manufactured.

Purple is not for everyone, but those who appreciate it often REALLY love it, and supplies have become very scarce on the used market, $150 was the going rate,now as high as $250!!!

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Every time I see a '96 KDX for sale with purple shrouds, or see someone with some spray painted shrouds with some purple showing through, I make every attempt to email / message them on whatever platform to see if they would sell them to me if I send them a brand new pair of green or white shrouds + cash on top of that. No luck so far

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If I have any luck, I'll certainly be posting up on here.
I have one set on my primary trail riding bike now, but I'm always afraid of tackling the rugged hard enduro terrain that I love the most, for fear I might damage the beloved and scarce purple shrouds...
I'd love to have a set on both of my 220's plus a spare set or two... Told UFO I'd pay more than the green or white shrouds by a good margin, & I'd buy 2 or 3 sets depending on price

Let's see if they come back with a minimum quantity pre-ordered in order to actually produce some. I'm not sure if they still make anything purple, but I know you can still buy purple KX Plastics of the 1996 era. I'm not certain if that's old stock at this point or something they still produce.

[Chuck78]

UFO Plastics:
customercare@ufoplast.com

[Chuck78]

For those of you who may be wondering, the purple full cut protective graphics with the '96 KX checkered flag background came from Ringmaster Images P/L aka Action Sports Decals out of Australia.

They're pricey, but I got quoted $220 to have a set of these made in the USA by TFB designs, so $119 from Ringmaster Images seemed a little better. They are by far my absolute favorite KDX look ever when on top of purple shrouds...

On top of green shrouds with the green borders showing just looks a bit off to me, so I'm trying to get another 1-3 pairs of purple shrouds. I might try to dye my flogged white plastics purple with Rit dye, and see if I can get them anywhere close... Maybe spray purple spray paint on top after that if they don't turn out as hoped for. Then apply the full cut heavy duty extra thick graphics.

[KDXGarage]

Good luck! I have a near complete set stashed away in the KDX hoard for my 1994, plus some for 1995+. I like the purple.

[Chuck78]

I think Evo Bits n Bobs in the UK, they have purple 89-94 shrouds & maybe rear fender as well!
No such luck on 95-06 shrouds though...

[Chuck78]

Well.... I heard back from UFO, and they basically showed zero interest in making a production batch for them to sell, however they did say they would make any part in their catalog in any non-stock color we wanted anytime as long as the order is 50 pieces or more...
So what I'm thinking is we need about 20 or 30 people who would be willing to buy 1 to 3 sets each!
Perhaps we could convince them to hang onto a dozen pairs out of the 50 and then the number of pre-orders would be a little bit more do-able. 18 people to buy 2 sets each, that seems a bit more realistic.

That's a fairly tall ask, to coordinate a group purchase of 50 pairs of purple shrouds.
I still might entertain the idea of hitting up a couple of the forums where KDX people post, as well as all of the Facebook groups, and direct people to this post here to sign up...
I'd gladly shell out $100 for 2 pairs of purple shrouds. Heck, at this point, I would potentially pay $125 just for one decent pair! They are THAT scarce.

[Chuck78]

I've started putting feelers out there to see if we can get enough people to pre-order close to the minimum production batch quantity of 50 sets of these at retail price. So far in 30 minutes I have almosy 20 sets verbally(digitally) requested...
If anyone is interested in pre-ordering a set, state your intent and how many you would buy please!

I also had two guys ask me about possibly getting some of the purple rear fenders made, UFO did make these at one point but they are very rare I have only seen two on the internet, zero in person. If anyone is interested in that as well, state your intent now please!

[Chuck78]

I've pursued every avenue possible to solicit interest in getting a big group purchase of custom order violet / purple 1996 KDX 200 radiator shrouds, and three of the seven places which I put out feelers to solicit interest have returned an overwhelming amount of positive responses, and we may actually be able to get 50 or 75 sets of these produced if everyone puts their money where their mouth is!

Sadly no interest here yet, despite this being the number one best resource for KDX information on the entire internet...

[Slick_Nick]

I just don’t think the purple plastics will garner enough interest to support more than a handful of orders. There’s a reason they were never popular.

[Chuck78]

I just don’t think the purple plastics will garner enough interest to support more than a handful of orders. There’s a reason they were never popular.

We were both wrong Nick, as I've got nearly 60 sets being requested in only 15 hours, soliciting 7 different KDX groups/forums on the internet yesterday...
I thought maybe I could get enough interest in 15 or maybe 20 pairs, never 50... Wow was I wrong!
Zero on here though, sadly.

[KDXGarage]

What does a set cost? People usually already have a set of plastic on their KDX. It would be a fair penny to convert to purple if you didn't already have a 1995 - 1998 model when it was the thing.

I hope that you can pull it all together, though. It would be great to see.

[Chuck78]

What does a set cost? People usually already have a set of plastic on their KDX. It would be a fair penny to convert to purple if you didn't already have a 1995 - 1998 model when it was the thing.

I hope that you can pull it all together, though. It would be great to see.

Yes of course everyone generally already has a complete bike, but shrouds get damaged over time and trail abuse, and 1997 models didn't come with purple shrouds, only purple tanks..."Violet" shrouds as Kawasaki names them, were '96-only.
So over half of the purple tank bikes ever produced (220 was introduced in '97 in addition to the 200) likely either don't have purple shrouds now ('96 models that had broken their shrouds or owners who didn't like the purple), or never did (97 models like my 220 which came with purple tank + green shrouds).
These bikes were produced in mass quantities, so that's a lot of bikes out there that in the opinions of many, would look even better with purple shrouds to match a purple tank. Seat covers and fender bags also get torn, so what better time to get a brand new pit replica purple seat cover and fender bag?
Not a whole lot of cost really... People who want the purple and already have a purple tank would definitely be likely to jump on all of the above... Others may so badly want a purple bike that they'd pay $240-$270 for a well used purple tank + all the other parts...



UFO new shrouds are $55 retail for green. I'd expect the same for a special order non-stock color.
Currently everything on the UFO Plastics site is on sale, $37+shipping on shrouds.
Perhaps at 80+ quantity, we'd get a price break?

So far the interest I've solicited, just verbal (digital) commitments/requests:

48 individual people requesting, + 1 fenders-only

up to 66 pairs of purple/violet shrouds requested (several people said they'd possibly buy 2, 3, or even 4 sets)

17 violet/purple KDX UFO fender sets front & rear

1 purple/violet side plates set

1 purple/violet headlight shroud?

Wow!

[KDXGarage]

I will PM you for more info. Thanks.

[Slick_Nick]

I just don’t think the purple plastics will garner enough interest to support more than a handful of orders. There’s a reason they were never popular.

We were both wrong Nick, as I've got nearly 60 sets being requested in only 15 hours, soliciting 7 different KDX groups/forums on the internet yesterday...
I thought maybe I could get enough interest in 15 or maybe 20 pairs, never 50... Wow was I wrong!
Zero on here though, sadly.

As someone who's organized online "group buy" style purchases before in the automotive world, are these firm orders where people have ponied up the cash? In my experience, it's super easy for everyone to say "yeah sure I'll take a set!" until the time comes to pay for them, and all of a sudden it's radio silence.

[Chuck78]

I just don’t think the purple plastics will garner enough interest to support more than a handful of orders. There’s a reason they were never popular.

We were both wrong Nick, as I've got nearly 60 sets being requested in only 15 hours, soliciting 7 different KDX groups/forums on the internet yesterday...
I thought maybe I could get enough interest in 15 or maybe 20 pairs, never 50... Wow was I wrong!
Zero on here though, sadly.

As someone who's organized online "group buy" style purchases before in the automotive world, are these firm orders where people have ponied up the cash? In my experience, it's super easy for everyone to say "yeah sure I'll take a set!" until the time comes to pay for them, and all of a sudden it's radio silence.

In my past experiences on custom piston orders from Wiseco and custom big bore head gaskets from Gaskets To Go, I had a very high rate of commitment, but on cosmetic parts like plastics, perhaps not as much follow through.

However... We're pushing 80 pairs of shrouds requested now... Plus 17 people wanting purple KDX fenders and a few asking for purple side plates (not sure if they'll get the molds out for just 4 or 6 pairs...)

The 50 minimum quantity is no problem on the shrouds at least.
I'm hoping that they'll do a run of 20 front & rear fenders for the sake of those that badly want them. I'll buy a set of fenders and side plates if produced, but probably shelve them unless they have the same effect on me as bringing home the purple tank/shrouds/seat 97 220 did. Planned on shelving all the purple parts when I first bought it, but after having it home for 30 minutes and staring it up & down, it immediately started growing on me very heavily... Now I can't live without the purple shrouds & Ringmaster Images graphics!

[LaughingHamster]

Is it to late to get in on that group order?

[Chuck78]

No not at all, UFO has been back in the office from their summer break or over a week and have yet to reply to my email to discuss further details.
I'll give them a few more days and send them another email. They're probably pretty overwhelmed catching up on requests after being closed down for a short time.

I know they are completely out of KDX headlights and rear fenders in green, so I'm sure they are out of a lot of other things and batch in purple might take a little while.

[Chuck78]

I've added your forum name to my notepad list for contacting everyone once UFO lets me know how things will work for this batch.

Thanks!

[LaughingHamster]

Perfect, thank so much!

[Chuck78]

My apologies that I've stalled out on this, it was a bit overwhelming thinking of receiving an entire pallet shipment of shrouds from Italy and processing all of the individual orders myself. I'm looking into alternatives to ask a few KDX related small businesses to see if they were interested in handling this and taking a cut.

I still could see if my wife would handle it, but I didn't want to get her involved unless it seemed to be the best option.

In other news... Definitely not my favorite look as the shrouds look a little bit odd, but I found this rare purple IMS oversized tank that a guy had been holding on to for several years since selling his 220 to a new owner who did not like the purple whatsoever...
SCORE!

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I think if I get some custom shroud graphics to match my checkered flag 96 KX style graphics, this will look pretty awesome... I also thought about trying to modify some stock UFO purple shrouds to fit the IMS tank.


I have a green IMS tank that I would sell now as of this purchase, as well as a black Clarke Mfg oversized tank. One or the other.

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