Originally Posted by
Sherfy
Jim,
Maybe I'm missing the point, but I personally feel that this would be difficult to market, and extremely hard to sell considering the large price you've placed on the bike. "...
The figure which I mentioned the bike sold for, twelve hundred fifteen dollars, is what the bike brought in.
But, I also said the cost of materials was only two hundred seventy dollars. The Nine Hundred Forty Five dollar -difference was my profit.
If I had the ~$3,000.00 , I would have built ten of these bikes and sold them for $700.00 each. Which would have left me with a profit of $4,300.00
But I didn't have enough money.
I did this project as an Economic Experiment and Feasibility Study.
There were in fact ten bidders who bid in the range of seven hundred dollars.
I had the notion in my head that I should build ten identical bikes, and declare it a limited production run. Otherwise, they are custom bikes, or "one-off" creations.
I don't have enough capital to put a bike into production. What I'm suggesting , is that if there is an entrepreneur who has a sufficient sum of money to buy enough materials and components, it might be profitable to pursue such a venture.
I would have put better components on the bike if I had more money. The cheapest components were used, like stamped steel calipers for the brakes, (not even cast aluminum) and the cluster was five speed. (There were very few five speed clusters left in 1991).
I don't think I'm too far off the mark, because in the intervening 17 years, there have been a lot of semi-recumbent or "crank forward" bicycles introduced. In addition, Electric Bicycle sales exceeded one-million in 2000, four-million in 2004, and 19 million in 2006.
This bicycle design blurs the distinction between a bicycle and a moped. Mellisa intended it to be that way when she designed it. Any number of hub-motor conversion kits could be added to this bike, and it would be a moped.
IMHO, this bicycle was at the very first position in catching-the-wave. Since it's 1991 inception, we have studied the sales growth in electric bicycles and scooters, Vespa made a comeback, and sales of Harley Davidson Motorcycles to women have increased 500% (five hundred percent).
"Whats the point of it? (I read the advantages, just doesn't seem feasible)
"
The main point is that the Type 9 is a Ladies Bicycle, designed by a woman.
Feasibility-wise, it might not be possible to ensure that the bike floats, especially considering that the fairing will be loaded with extra batteries or a generator, or the customer might want one without the fairing.
But I did have the chance to ride the prototype eight thousand miles before I sold it, so I am sure the design meets all those parameters.
Again, the customer has the choice of the bike being either with or without a fairing, and if he/she chooses without, then there is no front bumper.
The frame and fairing were cast in one piece, therefore it is a monocoque.
Thank you for your input.
PS-I think it would be awesome if the same bike design was cast in carbon fiber, instead of glass-fiber, a lot of weight would be saved.
The reason I wrote this post was to encourage some custom builder to try something similar, i.e- a moped style, Fiberglass Ladies Bicycle.