Originally Posted by Peterpan1
Realistically for it to be equal or cheaper than a BF, say 350-400 retail, It needs someone to place a taiwan volume order. There are a lot of Bike Shops going direct these days. I have a friend who is into that for recumbents. He found a "handmade" german frame was sourced in taiwan. This thing must already exist over there, or they are seriously asleep with the volume BF does.
What would you think a job would cost if sourced overseas? Do you have experience with designing the specs for such parts or know of some small quantity fabricators overseas?
About 15 months ago, I had a titanium frame built in China (Changda). We corresponded exclusively by email, they sent me a CAD drawing, I made comments, and a design idea was finalized. When they confirmed receipt of my money transfer, I had the frame in less than 10 days. The total bill was under $600. It seems like building something out of steel and just giving the specs for the frame components (all assembly here) could result in something perhaps for $200 or less. Assuming a few people wanted to divide this design up here, it could be better since the shipping/money transfer fees were a significant part of my expense (some $140 between both).
I personally like the Bromptom design for its compactness, and not having some of the components they elect would allow for overcoming those shortcomings (ie. handlebars, limited gearing, etc.). Just the frame and perhaps fork. Standardizing on normal part sizes (ie. 130 or 132mm rear dropout width, 110 front fork dropout) would greatly in finding less expensive components even if sacrificing a tiny part of its folding.
Anyone have leads for starting investigating in finding a fabricator? It seems we could fairly easily find demand for 5 frames from the discussion.