Customising Bikes - Your opinions are wanted (or long time lurker finally manages this year's only p

Emma@work wrote

As others have told you in this thread they are going to need some sort
of history before anybody will consider them seriously when it comes to
spending dosh.

How much, for example, will they want to trike my K100? And how does
this compare with people who already have a reputation in the
marketplace. And are they prepared to do a deal against an advertising
video on it?

And, being as you are talking about people customising here, how much
will declaring their sexuality in public affect their life insurance?

We will ignore the broked sig for the moment.

Enough in fact for the proposed workshoppe to demonstrate its
capabilities.

Which is what they should be doing. They should be buying a couple of
bikes and getting on with the job. Rolling advertising if they are any
good at it I would have thought.

 

First off, the custom bike market is limited. Fanatical and possibly
free-spending but limited, and a lot of people who are into it like to
DIY.

If you want to tap the mass market, you're looking at producing bits for
all the sports and naked retro-style riders out there.

You ought to look at Japanese bikes and consider, not what people like
about them, but what they *don't* like and aim for those gaps.

Things that come to mind are: fuel tanks that are too small (but tooling
up for and producing bigger fuel tanks that will bolt on and not foul
bars, etc will not be cheap), mirrors that only show your elbows,
controls that are non-adjustable (on cheaper bikes), uncomfortable seats
(see fuel tank tooling comments), ugly mudguards, the list goes on.

However, I'm tempted to say that if you produce something, anything, in
anodised alloy and colour it something tasteless, or in carbon fibre and
name it after a race circuit, dopey cunts will be beating a path to your
door.

 

*perk*

 

At about this point in the thread, I started to wonder if it was someone
like TOG having a bit of a giraffe.

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The Older Gentleman wrote

Amen.

 

Probably not...

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Yeah, do what Owen's work does (they're a body shop). Occasionally,
they buy an old car to restore, although that's not really what they
do. Boss buys summat that screams good value and needs loads of
bodywork done, but engine good. Then, when time happens to hang heavy,
they all work on it in small stages, leaving it again when work picks
up. Then boss uses it for a little while. Then they sell it. Good for
learning on, good for keeping busy, makes a little money. So far, I've
heard about a Morris Minor convertible - looked lovely when finished,
sold last week - and the current Aston Martin DB6 - now this one
should make serious money.

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"You're a national treasure" - porl, 18.1.03

 

Don't tell Cheryl - she has ambitions to have her
Morris Minor hotrodded..

Phil

--
Phil Launchbury, Network & Infrastructure PHB
Triumph Tiger 955i
'Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they
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Yeah. The MMC[1] in Bath does a 1.3 Toyota engine refit that includes
disc brakes on the front and an upgrade from the agricultural grade
suspension[2] the standard Moggie is fitted with

She wants hers to start frosted purple at the front shading
to frosted metallic pink at the back. She's a very disturbed woman..

Phil.

[1] Morris Minor Centre
[2] Apparently when they designed the Moggie they thought
that the suspension torsion bars would be the weak point so they made
lots and lots of spares. Most of which are still unused.. The
floorpan tends to give way first.

--
Phil Launchbury, Network & Infrastructure PHB
Triumph Tiger 955i
'Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they
are quick to anger and have no need of subtlety'
Remove sick person to email me