I want to prototype the ideas and I think I could get away with mainly using plastic to make the end products. What steps should I take to get to prototype stage and how should I best protect the ideas? At the moment, I know what problems I want to solve and I could draw up some designs on paper, but that’s all I can think of doing. Believe it or not I design and launch online business information products for a living, but physical product design is completely new to me. Any advice gratefully received!

3D printer? How big / complex are they

Yes, that could be the best way of prototyping them on my own without risking giving the ideas away.

Firstly how likely do you think you are to make any money out of this? You’ll need to develop it and market it. A good idea is not enough. Has anyone ever made money from a single good idea in the bike industry? In terms of protection what will you do if someone does copy it? Do you have the time and money for court action? Basically it’s a tough way to make any money.

If you want to do it as a hobby or for your own needs then why not. I’ve made loads of tools over the years. 3D printing is an option but it isn’t usually that strong unless you spend a lot. 3D milling is generally better but takes a little more design effort. Lots of companies doing this but expect to spend a few hundred. Maybe you could mould something by hand in sugru. I mostly lathe or mill with a bit of hand finishing. I do have a 3D CNC milling machine which does make things a little easier.

Thanks Nick, my day job means I spend hours fully validating ideas before making any big time/resource decisions. And when we do progress we do it in an agile way. If I do develop anything it will be along these lines. Will look into sugru, thanks.

Even if you do protect your idea someone will find a way around that protection

Better to get it out there and earning money

I will happily send you a signed non disclosure form meaning you can legally kick me in the nuts if I spill your ideas. If it’s worth my time I can help you design and kick out a prototype on my 3d printer. If it’s not worth it to me then I’ll let you know why and you can take it from there

try this lot.

They’ll do various plastics and laser sintered steel, ti and brass etc…

Prices are cometitive and subject to Euro/GBP exchange rates so time it right and you can save a little more.

Their online estimator tool is very handy as you can upload a model (*.stl) get prices in different materials with no commitment to buy, you pay based on qty of material used rather than number of machine operations as you would with a lathe/mill so the more time you spend modelling and optimising the less you spend on your prototype…

Ideal for trying out a concept.

You’ll know this already if you’re in the product / ideas business, but if you’ve had a good idea then someone else already has.

Nothing is new, everything is refinement or a mash-up of something that already exists.

The idea is not what defines if it will succeed or not, the execution, timing and market desire will determine that.

Have you had a look around to see if your ideas already exist in the market, and if they’ve failed or are succeeding? Failure of your idea in the market is a good sign that the market was either not ready, or the execution was poor.

My point is, forget about protecting your idea – and focus on the design, execution and market.

Get it made, and get a good idea for a pilot sorted.

Great looking site, thanks!

Has anyone ever made money from a single good idea in the bike industry

Pete ‘crud guard’ Tomkins?

Pete ‘crud guard’ Tomkins?

Maybe. Is he on a yatch somewhere now? Even is he is then 1 example in 30 years shows how unlikely it all is.

You’ll make a few beer tokens, at best. That’s all I got for my brake tool. Unless you think that 90% of bikers will want this product, then there just isn’t the money in it these days.

I work for a design consultancy if you need anything doing, design, prototyping or production. Give me a shout.

website is http://www.tsdesignuk.com btw.

And when we do progress we do it in an agile way.

Sorry, but what does this mean? is it you deploy it quickly?

make a prototype, working or not.

If its not something you can “craft” yourself, can you work in 3d with computers?
The library in Exeter has a “fab-lab”, which is basically a room full of free to use 3d printers and laser cutters etc. Wont be all that too far to a “maker space” i wouldnt have thought.

There is also a webservice, whereby you email them a file and they “print” it in whatever material you want. Their machines are badass grade, so you could have it printed in metal, or laser cut in steel if its flat ish, etc etc. Blue something…

http://www.bluesparq.com/

[edit], thats more electronics based, but there is a materials based one with blue in the name….

Good luck with your project, as over the past 30 + years the MTB market has been full of great ideas and products which have fallen by the wayside

For example the pamir Hypercracker

And when we do progress we do it in an agile way.

Usually the term relates to production line manufacturing, creating small batches, releasing, learning, adapting, making more batches, so that you don’t end up with a shed load of parts that your customers don’t like or want.

This crossed over to the IT industry in the 90s, and is a grouping of development methodologies that value communication and a working product over documentation and process. Breaking a large development down into smaller, manageable chunks, releasing to market something small that meets the initial need, learning from customer feedback to improve it, achiveing early return on investment.

Now, I’m not sure how that relates to tools. For me, if its not a multitool, it has one job, and it better do it right the first time I use it, or its gonna be a waste of my time and money.

Has anyone ever made money from a single good idea in the bike industry

The Trimnells have done well from MucOff (OK, so they had a start with X-Lite, but I’d say MucOff is a single good idea).

See also Mike Sinyard (Mass producing those new fangled mountain bike things), Paul Turner (Made some bouncy things), and, of course, Zak Tempest.

Thank you for the explanation Rickon that makes a lot of sense.

Pamir Hypercrackers? Zak Tempest?
Sounds like someone invented a flux capacitor and went back to 1991. What next – Missy Giove racing World Cup DH I suppose? 😀