Speculating on bikes costs

[Robert Holler]

Nobody is getting rich in the bike biz, y'all - with the exception of the giants at Trek etc - this is a labor of love. Small companies still have to eat and pay the bills.

Just like bikes - ask yourself about anything you buy - from socks to pizza to a car - can you take the money it costs and make your own from scratch? Rarely.

 

[Greg S]

Nobody is getting rich in the bike biz, y'all - with the exception of the giants at Trek etc - this is a labor of love. Small companies still have to eat and pay the bills.

Just like bikes - ask yourself about anything you buy - from socks to pizza to a car - can you take the money it costs and make your own from scratch? Rarely.

I'm 100% behind this. Frankly, I hope the people (including the Parkers) responsible for creating products I love make enough money from their efforts to make it worth their while. Passion for what you do will take you a long way but not if you can't afford to keep the lights on.

No problem at all that they make a profit, assuming they do, and am happy to support them.

 

[Frito Bandito]

Same here Greg. It's tough to make a business nowadays that pays well enough to stay open. Since I have my own business and know how hard it is, I make an extra effort to help the "little guys" whenever possible. 2 out of my 3 bikes are made by "little guys", and the only reason my 3rd isn't is because the role that bike serves couldn't be profitable for a small company.

 

[3bs]

as i have said many times when people ask me about small volume bespoke pastimes becoming the main line.....

why wreck a good hobby?

the success of many small bike mfgrs is often driven by the followings. here, the tribe.

 

[DavidCH]

I like to think in a few years time an engineer can stick his hologlasses on and design a virtual bike frameset and press a button and the virtual frameset gets sent to an AI system that then creates a structural lattice frameset out of 3d printing and then sent to production for customer 345 who then has the structural lattice frameset filled in with polyplex and then has his augmented reality paint job and then the frameset dispatched to the customer.

This really isnt very far off and has to be the cheapest option.

However... it's not an easy cottage industry agreed.

The Vendetta is a wonder bike. I ride a fancy looking df with an ultegra groupset. No one beeps me about that but when I am on the Vendetta... I get so many beeps and gloating looks. It's a vintage classic recumbent that holds world records... and that's its selling pitch. So why change a classic?

 

[Opik]

first, there are bike costs, and then there is wages.

People seem to forget that besides the material and process used to create the bike, you need to pay people too.

 

[3bs]

@DavidCH you are correct that is not far off. look at what 3d printing has done with frame lugs in all kinds of materials.

I think that as this evolves, respect for intellectual property and for the talents of craftsmen will continue to wane. this is a personal concern of mine. not that hand crafting will disappear or that 3d printing wont enhance hand crafting in the short term, but in the long term, it may go the way of the auto mechanic. you go from artist to parts changer.