Is it still possible to purchase Suzo 500 Joysticks with red or blue handles?

[Grasshopper]

Hi,

Due to many other real-life commitments, it's been quite a few years since I've been actively involved in this hobby, but I do occasionally still visit this site to keep up with what's going on.

When I've got more time, one of my long term goals is to built a control panel based around Suzo 500 joysticks. However, I was shocked to find out recently that they're no longer manufactured by Suzo.

I've therefore been hunting around for resellers who still hold old stock of those joysticks. Fortunately, the ones with black handles are still fairly easy to get hold of. However, I'd prefer to have some with blue or red handles, and I'm struggling to find them anywhere.

Does anyone here know of any resellers who still hold stock of red or blue Suzo 500 sticks?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[nick123]

the replacement i think is made by Happ and if we are talking about the same stick its a Happ series 500 universal STC but when i bought mine they were only available in black and the only reason i see your post is i was searching also as i want a backup stick just in case and from what ive just been told from arcadeworlduk.com they have been discontinued so may be only second hand when and if they come up. 

[adder]

are you in the UK? i would try the jamma+ forums, put up a post in the 'Wanted' section.

[BadMouth]

IIRC, Randy's Omni-Stick is based on the Suzo 500 and there is blue in stock.  Probably even made from Suzo 500 parts.
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=195

You might try emailing him to see if the shafts are interchangeable with the stock Suzo or if he has any of the cheaper, plain non-switching Omni-sticks on a shelf somewhere.
(or if the throw is the same, just use the Omni-Sticks)

[AndyWarne]

It is true that these sticks are discontinued. In Fact Suzo/Happ have dropped all the products which were previously made by Suzo in Europe before they merged. They are concentrating all manufacturing in China.

We have quite a few left but only in black.

[stavros693000]

these are the sticks that most aussie arcades had and what i was use to and loved the short throw but it didnt take me long to get use to happ competition batt sticks .
i would like to get these also i just not to keen on GGG's mounting plate for them.I have a happ trackball with mounting plate but that was before i new about utimarcs flush mount

[Grasshopper]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the late surge of interest in this topic. A week ago, I'd almost given up on the thread, and was considering giving it a bump.

Since my original question, things have moved on a bit. I've bought a few black handled Suzo 500s from Ultimarc, and fortunately he appears to have plenty more in stock.

Also, by an amazing coincidence, there's a guy selling custom hollow Suzo 500 shafts in the Buy/Sell/Trade section, so I've ordered a few of those as well.

With regards to GroovyGameGear, I did notice some time ago that he still has a few blue Suzo 500s left in stock. However, they're only being sold with a fairly expensive mounting plate that I'm not really interested in. And I can't really justify spending almost $50, plus shipping across the Atlantic, plus possible import duty, just to get a different coloured handle. However, on further reflection, I've nothing to lose by sending him an email, so I might just do that.