I really do believe that everyone is doing their best, and that we are all doing our best because we actually honest-to-god love Husabergs.
I think we should try to defuse the situation. Here's my share in that task:
The owner's doc wiki at one point had a picture of the sledge/crescent mod under here:
http://husaberg.org/wiki/index.php?titl ... e_upgrades under "Taff's crescent mod". The picture is missing. Given that the part is for sale on EBay and the EBay listing has the picture smudged, I can understand that people become suspicious and/or annoyed that the picture is missing ...
BUT
I've been reading through the Owner's Doc wiki a lot during the past year or so. As most of you know, lots of pictures are missing there. Broken links. From my not-insignificant experience with computers and web servers especially, I am 100% firm in my belief that the missing images are in ALL CASES due to server trouble. The links to the images are still there, but the files they point to aren't there. The interesting part is that there's a web archival engine that has been running constantly for years: archive.org's Wayback Machine. This engine trawls the entire internet and saves websites for the noble mission of archival for the future. This engine has scraped and stored the entire owner's doc since 2010 or before.
What's interesting is that the archival engine saves a snapshot of the sites it crawls, so there is a timeline. The Husaberg owner's doc has different images randomly missing in successive crawls, which clearly indicates that there was web server trouble for a while. There is no method or pattern to what images drop out in each snapshot. It so happens that the web server was worked on and has stabilized - frozen in the last half-broken state - and it is pure coincidence that the kickstart crescent is missing from the doc as it stands now.
I'm actually looking at all three pictures of the kickstart sledge mod in an archive.org snapshot from 2010. Right now on my monitor. Around it, there are missing images - images that are not missing in the current site. I'm 100% confident that nobody went in there and broke the image links ... it was a malfunctioning web server setup all along.
My take on the smudged EBay pic: It makes sense to me that the EBay listing is smudged so rip-off artists trawling EBay for a quick buck can't bodge together a correct-looking kickstart sledge out of tin and plasticine and compete. I believe the intention was always to keep the pictures of the mod around on the website, where they are pretty well hidden from the world of EBay scammers. (Back when I was building/customising hi-fi amplifier kits, I saw the craziest Chinese ripoffs of popular designs. Looked similar-ish from a distance, but all the components were completely wrong - clearly made and marketed to participate in the churning world of EBay ********. That's not what Taffy is doing. At all. EBay is a strange network that spans the entire globe - it's a wild west, and I totally understand why people would employ countermeasures and camouflage. It's actually more protection for unwitting customers than sellers that sellers perform mild obfuscation of their goods.)
As I understand it, Taffy developed the mod originally himself and did the deed of manufacturing and testing. Not a trivial task. Then he himself put pictures and info on the owner's doc. Based on that premise, I feel that the smudged image on EBay is a healthy and normal part *of doing business on EBay*.
For some, the modified sledge is certainly worth $40 or whatever it costs - for peace of mind, for the support in getting it to work, for not having to learn and understand the trappings of the kick start.
The DIY discussion in this thread is also worth at least $40 ... but personally, with my still very limited mechanical knowledge, I'd probably go for the EBay kickstart crescent. Then once I have torn a 'Berg engine apart and understand everything, I'll come back to this thread, feel a little sad about the misunderstanding and frustration, and enjoy in fully and deeply understanding the mod and how it all fits together.
That's the story as I see it.
Here's to Husaberg! Long Live Husaberg. If not the marque, then the philosophy, the thrill, the ideas - and the community.
See you on the trails.
