Re: Build your own kit bike
Quote:
Originally Posted by
englishman in china
Hello lads and lasses,
I've been given the opportunity to get involved in a business producing and selling kit bikes. We have a nice looking cafe racer which has a Zongshen 125cc engine (full EURO 4 certificate) and the idea is to provide it in kit form with tools, instructions and instruction videos to enthusiasts who may like to build their own bikes.
The bikes will be branded 'Levis' which is an old, legendary marque that won the TT a couple of times back in the 30's.
The whole kit will cost around 20000 RMB (2 thousand quid) and will offer a selection of different colours, and certain parts.
I would like your opinion on the project before I start it as an ongoing business. Good? Bad? Daft idea? Inspired genius?
Please let me know
all the best
Dave
Here's the beast in question
Attachment 18267
Hi Dave
With stuff like this I say if you are not prepared to lose ALL the money you put into a project like this ??? and can afford to lose such money, then don't do it.???
Good luck
Re: Build your own kit bike
But look at those spokes...
BTW, Dave, something that looks like this pricey "Black Douglas" would be much more interesting offer.
Re: Build your own kit bike
Quote:
Originally Posted by
englishman in china
Hello lads and lasses,
I've been given the opportunity to get involved in a business producing and selling kit bikes. We have a nice looking cafe racer which has a Zongshen 125cc engine (full EURO 4 certificate) and the idea is to provide it in kit form with tools, instructions and instruction videos to enthusiasts who may like to build their own bikes.
The bikes will be branded 'Levis' which is an old, legendary marque that won the TT a couple of times back in the 30's.
The whole kit will cost around 20000 RMB (2 thousand quid) and will offer a selection of different colours, and certain parts.
I would like your opinion on the project before I start it as an ongoing business. Good? Bad? Daft idea? Inspired genius?
Please let me know
all the best
Dave
Here's the beast in question
Attachment 18267
Hi Dave, Nice machine! Are you working with this yourtube vlogger? https://www.youtube.com/user/serpentza/featured He makes custom cafe racers from copy CG's etc. :) If you are not working with him then perhaps you are on to something as he seems to be doing OK for him self cash/business wise. :)
Re: Build your own kit bike
SerpentZA used to be, or still is, a member here. I remember his name from a few years ago.
Re: Build your own kit bike
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ShuBen
AND ... Have a wife that says "no, not another bike"
Ha!! Plus 1
Re: Build your own kit bike
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ShuBen
In China that will fail. The rich guys don't want small bikes. The simple guys will buy 8k RMB 125cc bikes.
More or less all of them have no handcraft skills and if they have they have no space to work on this hobby.
And crazy guys like me ... Have money, space, skills, tools ... But too less time ...AND ... Have a wife that says "no, not another bike"
+1
On another note, how would one get the bike plated inside PRC LFZ? Will the kitset come with all of the documents required or necessary to complete those formalities.
Re: Build your own kit bike
Buying something that needs assembling is essentially an excuse gateway for buying more tools. Quality tools last a lifetime and having the right tool for the job will make all the difference and ensure skin remains on your fingers and nuts and screws can be undone again in the future.
While a kit bike will only be as good as the man that built it, and that is the problem if you are selling to the domestic market.?
But I do have 1 question......
What would be the saving on the kit bike compared to "IF" it came fully assemble by you.
Re: Build your own kit bike
That market segment in the UK is locked in a minimum price war, Direct Bike, Lexmoto, Sinnis and WK battle for sales of the little retro bike segment. The lowest is pegged right now at 899.00 GBS plus shipping. There are other versions selling for more, Like Herald asking 1,750 for their Classic and then their Mutt version for 2,750.00.
A flooded market always sets minimum prices.
All of those share parts, they all come from the same supply chain.
Selling custom/spare parts to them would be possible, but not very lucrative.
Selling kit bikes at a premium would not likely get many takers.
Re: Build your own kit bike
If you can supply a better version for less, then it’s a matter of finding a regional distributor that is willing to purchase them, the distribution in many regions is locked and if any of them fail as in collapse then, well anyone starting up subsequently after that, that be the old adage, repeating the same behavior and expecting different results.
It’s not a bubble that being the manufacturing side does not operate within one, they however are overly inflated and shrinking. They are connected to the markets and the markets are managed by others and they have set in place processes/networks/systems, they are controlling it as they should. That being there is no new buyers know that stage is over.
Basically your call is to outsource the labor to each hobbyist that has an interest in assembling their own motorcycle?
Also Zorge’s observation is astute, the Levis bikes were from primarily the same era as the Black Douglas, if any legacy is to be connected they should be based initially on that type of designs.
http://kickstart.bikeexif.com/wp-con...le-625x417.jpg
http://www.realclassic.co.uk/ridesfi...cc11081910.jpg
Re: Build your own kit bike
The next model would or could be a hardtail for Levis, labeling a very common bike with a name from the past is nothing if not rooted in something seemingly legit.
http://cybermotorcycle.com/gallery/l...-AT4852-09.jpg
Re: Build your own kit bike
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MJH
Just looking at the pics, damn that's a nice piece.
Re: Build your own kit bike
My point is that resurrecting a brand name needs to be taken seriously or should be, obviously the name could be put on anything there is nothing preventing that from happening, however how will the market respond?
The Black Douglass are custom builds, each made one at a time to order. The price reflects that. They seem to have sold a few.
Could that type of bike be made on an assembly line and sold for a fourth of the price, for sure, if it was made with a 125cc you could only wonder how many learners would embrace the model?
You need distribution partners they have the network and support to and in the market. That is the only way to test and possibly optimize sales, which a matter of maximum market access for consumers.
I do not believe that the CCW models offered through Sinnis are flying off showroom floors. Simply because the prices are higher.
Supply and demand is a simple model, raise the price and sales fall, lower the price and sales increase.
| Units |
Retail Price |
Profit |
Revenue |
| 100 |
$2,700.00 |
$1,700.00 |
$170,000.00 |
| 125 |
$2,600.00 |
$1,600.00 |
$200,000.00 |
| 150 |
$2,500.00 |
$1,500.00 |
$225,000.00 |
| 175 |
$2,400.00 |
$1,400.00 |
$245,000.00 |
| 200 |
$2,300.00 |
$1,300.00 |
$260,000.00 |
| 225 |
$2,200.00 |
$1,200.00 |
$270,000.00 |
| 250 |
$2,100.00 |
$1,100.00 |
$275,000.00 |
| 275 |
$2,000.00 |
$1,000.00 |
$275,000.00 |
An admittedly overtly simplistic modeling, there are always more variables, to attain a target sales advertising has to be done every dollar spent correctly adds to unit sales.
Re: Build your own kit bike
Aaaaa-Janus-chooo!
Sorry, it looks that I catch a cold...
http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/sick/sneeze.gif
Re: Build your own kit bike
You know what is funny, that my computer flags the Janus site as malicious, when checking the details it states malicious marketing/merchandising. WOW! Somebody must have made that entry into a subjective database for the site. It could not have been done any other way, I wonder if the people at Janus even know that they are flagged?
http://www.janusmotorcycles.com/
Here are instructions on how to make those
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoRH0xemuEY
Thats a joke, the man in the video is or claims to be the designer of these motorcycles. I personally cannot get past the prices, base of $8,200.00 and $700.00 shipping.
