My .02- Pick a chassis/brand that you can get help from someone, whether local or not, and most people would be fine.
Now for the fun part and my version of history-
@James@PRC
First things first, accept that the Recon was a good thing for almost every PRC customer in 2016/2017. Circa end of 2017/2018 the people voted not just with PRC but mostly across the industry for a harder biting and "softer" chassis. HOWEVER, not all "083's" are created equal, not all "1.125's" are created equal, not all "harder biting's" are created equal. Fact is the information/tuning is very different from a fundamental level when you look at tires when you end up down this rabbit hole. You give the people what they want, and they can't consistently figure them out. So the default is who has the best information, who's the hot tire program, who's got the latest inside information.
Most seem to have forgotten the state of the karting industry in 2016/2017 and the sheer number of Recons that were on the market.
Fast forward through the Minecon, people complained about the Deuce, even when PRC was telling people to stop setting them up like a Recon or a 60+ left side chassis of a different brand, and people just didn't listen/didn't follow through on the tire information and tuning characteristics to make them work, or the Deuce was simply a little too far beyond the workable range for the majority of the karting public. Is that a PRC problem or a People problem? ObViOuSlY a PRC problem, cause hey, never the peoples problem. I remember PRC selling Recon's in 2019 in a stripped down package because hey, why not try and give the people what they want. Start the "but you already made this chassis you can't go back crowd". So, down the rabbit hole to build a chassis that gives the people what they want.
And then the 083 Scythe is available in clear after all, as if giving the people what they wanted was finally being rewarded. Welp, with a harder biting, softer chassis, comes the inevitable problem of maintaining a tire program that can span the highest of high bite to the lowest of low bite. If people can't decide what tire to normally run, they'll struggle even more on a kart that is harder biting, and "softer". So now PRC edits the Scythe and makes it stiffer and gives the people what they want. Oh boy, not this again.
Now you have a chassis available that is the opposite of what the people wanted just a year before. Now, as the "PRC is the bad guy" crowd continues to circulate, PRC says hey, tell us what you want and within reason we will make it happen. Maybe some of you see the plot now, those that don't never will. So now again, PRC gives the people what they want. As if they haven't worn out the welcome mat already.
Now the Recon is back in production and the people that wanted it, well, I guess they got what they want because I haven't heard any of the conspiracy theories about those darn 22 Recons just aren't what those silver ones were. BUT, the "PRC is the bad guy" crowd has had enough. They wanted a softer chassis, they wanted a stiffer chassis, and then they wanted another NEW chassis, because well, if you don't build a NEW one then they can't complain that you told them to buy the NEW one.
Well that was fun. BUT back to the topic at hand. PRC would still be receiving the "PRC is the bad guy" flack I believe just about any way. In a perfect world, maybe PRC doesn't listen to what the people want, and then they get criticized but so be it. Maybe they build the 095 Scythe against popular demand for a "083" type kart. Would they have built the 095 kart if they didn't design the 083 Scythe first? I don't know. Maybe people would have responded how they did going from the Triton to the Recon in 15/16 and figured the "095" out. You'd still have the same people saying its not this or its not that because people simply aren't as brand loyal as they used to be. Maybe they would have built a different chassis, one that gave the people exactly what they wanted. 50/50 whether it would be a flop or a hit. You'd still possibly be having this same conversation today.
Curiously Charger builds 3 versions of the Prodigy, the other builders (Millennium, Platinum, Ultramax, Kinetik) offer both 1.25 and 1.125 versions, and then Slack and Premier have their design. Sure, PRC is offering the different models in a different way, but compared to the other builders offering the 1.125 and 1.25 chassis or the 083, 095 how is it different than one dealer riding the 1.125 and one dealer riding the 1.25, or the 083/095. I will tell you from experience they're on different tire programs and different setups, and the information is not going to be the same. But sure, build them different and call them all the same and it does seem to be less of a hammering point from the outside. From the inside its all the same.
I sold and rode Kinetik's 2018-2021. I went back to PRC because of information available through a PRC distributor that I trusted to get my program back on sure footing.
Truth is most people simply want to drink the koolaid from whoever they can get it from and run 3-5th and have a shot to win a race once in a while. Some are loyal and will ride what they ride whether they have success or not. Few will take a chassis and make it work without constant outside intervention.
Pick a chassis/brand that you can get help from someone, whether local or not, and most people would be fine.
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