BoSoxYacht

...and there's no cog on the disk's hub.

Jabba Degrassi

I love that Don Walker, but I could have done without the red hubs and chainring. I love those wheels, but I would have gone with plain black.

That integrated seatpost is particularly *****-inducing.

Jabba Degrassi

0t: for serious tarck stars only.........

Jabba Degrassi

Also, hoods on track drops for that one Giant? WTF?

SingleSpeeDemon

Agreed. I think the blue anodized components aren't adding to the design, but the paint, lugs, and overall look make this bike a very strong contender.

BoSoxYacht

The wheels + hubs are ugly, but it comes as a frameset for $725

Those from the NW might recognize the logo font.

Cynikal 

I thought the same thing.

bigbris1

Shane, I appreciate that you went out & did your own thing. Sure, there's a learning curve, but how man people can say they designed & are selling their own bike? Bravo!

Hopefully you will read thru some of the criticism & see valid points being made by potential customers. Hope all goes well with your venture.

Philatio

any rear wheel braking system has the same maximum stopping power, whether it is a drum brake, disc brake, coaster brake, or back pressure on a fixed cog.

BoSoxYacht

It may have the same maximum stopping power, but you must be able to modulate that stopping power effectively. Coaster brakes are not the easiest to modulate.

Philatio

that's a good point too

GregLast

Nobody is saying that it isn't a decent bike. It's a ridable machine. Suitable for a big box type store. Slap a brand on it and give it a model name and you have something that could be seen in a small bike shop. Slap some better components on there and you have a Bikes Direct competitor.

What we are getting at is your marketing approach is awful. I feel like you should be pitching me from a booth at the state fair. Picking your brand name because the letters can make a bike is a little ridiculous. Your video has too much useless information. History of the OSOBike doesn't go back to the 1970's. It goes back to your garage when you decided to market single speed bikes. History doesn't belong in your video, it belongs on a seldom viewed page on a website. Your video needs to do a few things:

• Loose the cheesey elevator music. GarageBand can put together a better loop based sound track than what you have on there.
• Take some time and recruit a friend to help you video some better riding. Go through the city and have your friend setup in different spots. You don't have to think Linear here. Doing so will only hinder the process.
• Have a script. Don't sound like you are rehersed but know exactly what you are going to say when you are going to say it.
• iMovie does a great job at adding some transitional effects to make it look like you did a lot of hard work on your video.

I took about 10 minutes and came up with names and logos for two bike models. I did this with the mindset that if I was doing what you are doing, I would do it this way.

I would sell one model with a singlespeed rear with a free/fixed hub and front and rear brakes. I called this one the "Gulf Messenger"
I would sell another with the coaster brake, and a front brake. I called this one the "Gulf Sprint".

This is not meant to be 100% serious, but it is a good example of where you need to go if you ever want to escape the stigma of illegitimacy. Like I said, this took 10 minutes imagine what you could come up with 20?

Attatched are some rough basic ideas for logos. They actually mean something rather than a bunch of letters that make a bike.

mr_macgee

Shane, I commend you on your efforts. The bike doesn't look half bad and it may succeed on it own merits. However, please do yourself and your investors a favor; please change your videos and marketing approach. It's killing you & me (the public). At least find someone better suited in front of the camera to promote your product. Not everyone is good in front of the camera, including me but there are people out there who are. I bet your local bike mechanic can pull if off just fine. It represent you and your product very badly and makes me think twice about the quality of the bike.

Sorry for the rant and hope you succeed in your venture.

Live2Die

I think this may be my new dream build! This is hot beyond words! Does it have a model or is a concept at this point?

tepr

that parlee is ****ing amazing

and that is the felt tk1 i believe, its just becoming widely available this year

andre nickatina

L2D - that's the Felt that was being raced on in the Olympics. Tepr's right, TK1. Tentative to be released for mass consumption but no official date yet.

tepr

needs omniums

solly81

Is that Dog the Bounty Hunter's wife?

Also, that Fuji is the ish.

laredoshane

Greg,
I appreciate you taking time to evaluate what I doing. I have a bike from bikes direct, and the components on the Osobike are either same or better. As far as the name and logo, I like the ones I have better. The ones you came up with are too ordinary. As far a the videos, I guess I need to redo them, because everybody is telling me that.

GregLast

I think you are missing the point. The name and logo's I came up with weren't intended to be serious efforts at branding. This took 10 minutes, and it's a decidedly better attempt than OSOBike, and the sad logo with the distorted S. You should have taken some more time in considering your branding.

I guess your next step is to set up a booth at the flea markets and state fairs. Most people never knew bullhorn handlebars existed. At least you can turn a few heads that way.

Devolution

As someone who's been around the block a few times here's some advice - tone down on the forums OSOBike man.

middy

You're being deliberately obtuse. Don't disregard the safety of your customers for the sake of your pet ideas. Many people here, including me, think it's stupid to ride on the street on a fixed gear bike with no brake.

I've ridden bikes of various sorts my whole life, including a few with coaster brakes. I know what they're like, and I know what trying to stop on narrow, high-pressure tires with only a rear brake is like.

Sheldon Brown advises against riding a bike on the street without a backup stopping mechanism. That includes a coaster brake without a front brake. How exactly are you going to stop when your chain breaks?

daybreak

You are taking it the wrong way, completely. While you may feel people are being harsh, you are not seeing the positives of the situation. This is free customer feedback. They say your advertising sucks, and you should listen instead of taking it personally. The video is really bad. It's nothing personal, but it's production value seems to be straight out of the 80s.

People pay lots of money to get this kind of feedback from their target demographic. You should not take the comments personally and instead use it positively.

Did I mention you shouldn't be taking it personally ?

geoffvsjeff

+1

No company on this forum gets bashed more than BD - in practically every subforum! So what does Mike (from BD) do? Seaches this forum for "bikesdirect" a couple times a day - not to get into pissing matches with people, but to see what people are saying. Say what you want, but I think he does a pretty good job of giving feedback from his end and keeping his discussions positive and constructive.

Jabba Degrassi

If you're so attached to the name Oso why don't you just make that your company name and give your bike a proper model name?