Midwest is a distributor not a company, if I hurt anyone's feelings about Ultima I apologize.$1000 for a Baker really? We can't even get our gears made, ground and cut for that. We will never be able to do that so I am glad Ultima is around to help the less fortunate, you could say they are like the Mother Teresa of the motorcycle industry. All hail Ultima.

 

you sound like ur typical business owner or @least the one i dont BUY FROM....you had me thinking boy an economy version of the baker what a great idea! then u talk like a jerk the less fortunate?? really the avg american salary is 26,000 ur trannys are 3000 a pop! whats the overhead on these trannys
im not knocking baker obv theyre the best but jeez man talk like u care about those buying ur product

 

No kidding; I would expect more professionalism from a company with such supposed high quality AND high prices.

 

New here, anyway I've had an ultima 107 in my bike thats done 80 odd thousand k's and never had a spanner on it except to have the heads flowed, I've flogged the guts outta it since run in period and take it down the strip numerous times and its never let me down, I'm on my 2nd ultima gearbox due to the fact a layshaft bearing disintegrated, the gears themselves are still fine, with the treatment i give it I'm more than impressed, great value for money.

 

In a free market society, there will always be different levels of the same product. The new Corvette does exactly the same job as the Porche 911, but there are a world of differences between the 2.

Baker makes an outstanding quality product, there is no doubt, but every consumer doesn't require that level of quality. They are willing to have a lower quality product for the cost saving.

If I was racing my bike, there would be no other choice, but for the average under 100hp scoot, there are a lot of options. A consumer has to to consider the cost/durability/reliability carefully when diciding on these products.

As for Mark P's comments, Baker products sell themselves by reputation. Maybe he doesn't care what people think of him on a web forum.

 

Ok... my comments were not directed at any of my potential customer's if you don't have the money, you don't have the money. If I sounded upset or arrogant or whatever it is for this reason. Before my boss Bert Baker designed the 6 speed there was no 6 speed for american V-twins. No drawings, no patents, no ideas. Bert rolled the dice cashed in everything(including his kids college funds) and went into business for himself. He designed, tested, promoted and gave everything he had to get this product up and running. Guess what he did it. Then the the thief's came, and stole his design using **** steel they stood on his shoulders and said look what we have and we will sell it to you dirt cheap because we don't care about quality or our employees or anything but our pocket books. So to say we were a little pissed is an understatement. Forward to today, are we a little cocky? Yes, we survived their unslaught of garbage and undercutting, we survived this recession and now we are stronger than ever and making better products than ever. If I offended anyone in any way I'm sorry. I hope you folks never have to put everything you have in to something just to watch some cowards steal it. I am actually the crazy one around here. Everyone I work with are amazing people. Bert and Lisa Baker are some of the most kind and generous people I have ever met. So when people start throwing bulls*&t statements that could possibly hurt their reputation I will be there to deflect the bulls%#T. The one thing you don't see in our overhead is people like me on this forum here to help you in anyway I can with your technical issues, or my friends that work along side of me when you call us for help. I don't know of too many companies who can compare with us on that level.

Thanks

Mark Pavlica

 

I am currently installing the ultima. several of my friends installed them and love them. I have read good and bad so did more looking into it and it turns out that if you compare the baker od6 ratio with the ultima 6 they are identical. As I hunted more online i found that although baker builds his cases in the US he get gears from a factory in Korea. The same factory that makes gears for ultima. I am sure he does something a little different but 600 vs 2500. Got to say the saying you get what you pay for doesn't add up in this case. Just my thoughts.
Later
John A. Gonzales

 

I am glad you dug up an old thread to once again put out false information. Our gears are made in Massachusetts, so where ever you "hunted" for your information you may want to find a new hunting spot.If you would like to meet the man who runs the company that makes our gears you can. He will be in our booth in Daytona during bike week. His name is Gary stop by and ask him what he thinks of Korean made gears.

 

Good to know. Can you post some links for this new information???

 

I know, I know it's an old thread and I'm not defending anyone or a product however I am gonna give my one nickel...... I hate when someone ask's for a little help it turns into a bash of who said what and what is, is not. Remember that some products are better than others and that fact will never change and as the quality increases so does the cost. You get what you pay for. If you don't like the way your tranny sounds, i.e. too loud or whiny get a louder exhaust and don't worry about it......someday I will have a Baker......