Actually, I don't know who got tortured more...me or the bike! I took the infamous Schwinn-Te***seh hybrid for a long ride on a whim this morning. Charted a backroads course to my buddy's house over in Wayne, Michigan and made my way along what jokingly p***es for roads in this state! The bumps and ruts were brutal, but the bike survived without a single thing bending, breaking, coming loose...or falling off! It ran flawlessly and gave me a chance to map it's fuel consumption more accurately. It's just over 16 miles one way as I elected to go, which means a 32 mile round trip. I stopped for fuel halfway there and halfway back, and used less than 45 cents worth of fuel for the entire trip! At about $1.50 a gallon here, that means a third of a gallon will take this thing over 32 miles...indicating fuel mileage in the 100 mpg range!!! I may be a little sore after being subjected to the piss-poor conditions of Michigan roads, but it was a great ride...proving to the nay-sayers that my overly simple design is both rugged and reliable! I love throwing something together and hitting the road...even if it IS "just a stupid mini-bike"!! Now...anyone want a tough little bike that goes along at 20-30mph easily and delivers 100mpg? I'm gonna build me a few more of these contraptions to finance my car projects! Ride on!!
Hack I don't want to rain on your parade, but about a year ago some-one posted a motorized bar stool and it was suggested that he make em for sale. It was mentioned by some others that he might want to look into it regards some sort of insurance. It was said that if some-one was to hurt or injure them selves in anyway due to using the motorised bar stool they might just sue his ***. Just some-thing to think about john.
[ QUOTE ] I really think it's silly to pay someone else for something any **** could build, but I'm finding that many people out there are too dumb or too lazy to do it themselves! I'll gladly do it for them if it ****ers my bread!!! [/ QUOTE ] Silly? yes. Profitable? hell YES. God, this whole damn country was built by people to lazy or dumb to do it themselves. If you can do it and make some money, great. Dave
Hey Fat Hack, That is a cool idea you have. And, DAMN....100mpg! BUT, I am curious how you are gonna use a brand new bike, brand new engine and still be able to sell it for $400 AND make a profit. What will your profit margin be like? New stuff is expensive! Maybe I have missed something. You probably have everything figured out already, but I just paid $200 for a brand new engine and I know bikes are rather pricey..... The blue ***** rocks by the way! I can't wait to see more from your lab... Later, JT.
I don't see a chain?... does the clutch "rub" on the tire or rim? I was at the Del Mar ( Houston) swap meet about a month ago and there were 4 or 5 bikes like this tooling around the swap meet...home made...one was a trike with a big basket on the back....beat the hell outta a wagon for a parts hauler!
it's pretty simple. see that circular black thing above the back tyre? that's touching the back tyre... hack, i'd be avoiding a bike that cheap. i think you'd be better off making the base price $600, use a hundred dollar bike, and keep more profit. cheapie bikes have cheapie bearings, headsets, cranksets... they just... well, ****, and if you're putting that much into one...
I think you'd be wise to charge more than $500 per bike. The companies that I've worked for typically charge 3X material costs with a little padding for labor. Think about how much time it will REALLY cost to build a bike. Factor in sourcing the parts, trips to the hardware store, time spent learning a new bike when Toys R Us is out of the usual model, etc etc. Do you want to recoup your R&D expenses? I'm not suggesting that you bleed the customer dry. Just make sure you don't bleed yourself dry. Ed
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