Please let me know what you think of my design?
Discussion
Firstly - bloody good effort. Looks lovely!
In terms of commercialising I think you may shoot yourself in the foot quite a lot without the ability to do two bikes from day one.
Perhaps I am just old but most round me are MAMILs who either ride with their mates and share a lift or they are dragging the Mrs+kids somewhere with bikes and need all the space they can find.
Even for yourself - if your significant other (or future SO) wanted to join you how bad would it be to show off your bespoke bike carrier and for them to ask "great, where does mine go?"!
In terms of commercialising I think you may shoot yourself in the foot quite a lot without the ability to do two bikes from day one.
Perhaps I am just old but most round me are MAMILs who either ride with their mates and share a lift or they are dragging the Mrs+kids somewhere with bikes and need all the space they can find.
Even for yourself - if your significant other (or future SO) wanted to join you how bad would it be to show off your bespoke bike carrier and for them to ask "great, where does mine go?"!
walm said:
Even for yourself - if your significant other (or future SO) wanted to join you how bad would it be to show off your bespoke bike carrier and for them to ask "great, where does mine go?"!
Ah ha! Perhaps this is where I'm going wrong with women....Cheers for the comment. You're right I suspect, but I think I should be able to add another bike on pretty easily, perhaps doing an upgrade kit for £50 or so.
Bored S2 - that's a great idea. Being in land-locked Sheffield means I don't really appreciate the size of the market or the challenges associated with loading other gear onto your car. I'll absolutely look into it though, cheers.
I think its a great idea again, but a bit too ambitious if you wanted to sell it, the QA testing and insurance you would have to offer would be immense. How would you test it across a huge variety of cars? What happens if a bike fell off and caused an accident? I know nothing about this area though, it just looks very daunting/
Not only that but there are lots of proven examples out there, they don't have the USP of yours, but they do have long and established reputation behind them
If you are still keen on developing a rack, I would concentrate on a specific car, where there is a shortage of options. For example when I had an MX5, I couldn't realistically take my bike anywhere. Perhaps offer a cost effective solution for this?
Or perhaps look at developing a product where the risks aren't so high if it fails?
What about a great looking/industrial/modern art bike stand that looks the mutts nutts, but is fairly cheap to produce, I can see lots of people wanting to show off and securly store their bike from falling over @ home.
Not only that but there are lots of proven examples out there, they don't have the USP of yours, but they do have long and established reputation behind them
If you are still keen on developing a rack, I would concentrate on a specific car, where there is a shortage of options. For example when I had an MX5, I couldn't realistically take my bike anywhere. Perhaps offer a cost effective solution for this?
Or perhaps look at developing a product where the risks aren't so high if it fails?
What about a great looking/industrial/modern art bike stand that looks the mutts nutts, but is fairly cheap to produce, I can see lots of people wanting to show off and securly store their bike from falling over @ home.
Jayfish said:
I like your design but I have issues with your sales pitch, why is a boot rack 'plain dangerous'?
I've done thousands of miles with bikes on the boot, including 1200 miles in a week with two off the peg (read heavy) MTB's visiting every corner of the country often at PH velocity.
Depends on the car, obviously, but most of them are fitted illegally to hatchbacks and estate cars as they obscure the lights and the number plate.I've done thousands of miles with bikes on the boot, including 1200 miles in a week with two off the peg (read heavy) MTB's visiting every corner of the country often at PH velocity.
Whether or not you'll be pulled is down to how bothered the cops can be that day, but the only safe (read legal) way to transport one of those is with a full lighting board.
As for the design, I've often wondered why there wasn't a roof mounted solution that would hang out perpendicular to the road to allow you to lift your bike on which then swings up and onto the roof so that there's no way you can scratch your car with the bike.
It seems it's a little like your design but turned 90 degrees so that the bike is upright.
Edited by Kell on Wednesday 1st October 16:43
You know, insurance is something I have looked into and I'm really quite shocked (pleased) at the affordability. To get £5M worth of product liability cover I'd be paying about the same as I do to insure my Golf! I don't require buildings cover or anything like that as I'm leasing a small workshop with all costs like that inclusive. This is of course based on a very small turnover business, which I'd expect it to be.
As for tackling a smaller project, this is as small as I'd like to go really. My day job for the last 8 years has been manufacturing R&D in aerospace, developing processes for flight critical parts. Quality systems and processes are second nature to me now so I'm not really scared of a complex manufacturing challenge.
Kell; I had considered that as an option, especially useful for people with injuries, low upper body strength and high cars/short bodies! It's something I'll pursue in the future as it could allow less able people to get out on their bike, and who wouldn't want to be the guy who made that happen?
As for tackling a smaller project, this is as small as I'd like to go really. My day job for the last 8 years has been manufacturing R&D in aerospace, developing processes for flight critical parts. Quality systems and processes are second nature to me now so I'm not really scared of a complex manufacturing challenge.
Kell; I had considered that as an option, especially useful for people with injuries, low upper body strength and high cars/short bodies! It's something I'll pursue in the future as it could allow less able people to get out on their bike, and who wouldn't want to be the guy who made that happen?
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