Mid to low pressure washer with no need for electricity or batteries. Portable and rugged. Can be filled from tap or stream.
Good idea?
What price range?
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if i invented a dirt blaster without the need for power would it be a good idea?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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You mean something like this?
Posted 1 year ago # -
With your reputation?
Joking aside, yes, of course. Compare with the current crop and you'd have to be not too far off their price to get an edge in the market. Even though the running costs would be lower, persuading people to part with their cash up front is the tricky bit.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Sam - similar but better. More rugged. More compact. Higher pressure. Greater water through put and control
Posted 1 year ago # -
My initial thought was also the pump action plant sprayers. Suppose you could do an mtb version with added Gnarrr
Posted 1 year ago # -
Also the excitement knowing that I designed it so it could burst into flames at any moment
Posted 1 year ago # -
Power it from a track pump rather than the pump handle built in, then you've got a truly bike orientated device!
Posted 1 year ago # -
It'd be a lot of work to pump up to enough pressure to be a dirt worker, imo. A solar/car charged battery powered one would probably be better..?
Track pump powered would not be good - it would have to force air through a small valve which is where a lot of your work goes when pumping up a tyre. You want a wider bore valve.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Its an empty washing up liquid bottle isn't it?
Go on, you can tell us, its only the internet.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Not quite sure why you need it unpowered. If you are washing it to go in the car then you have 12v available, if its for use at home then there is power, too. If it is to be green, then don't wash it or use a sponge and bucket. I'm sure it would sell as bikers buy anything shiny
Posted 1 year ago # -
nickjb - Member
Not quite sure why you need it unpowered. If you are washing it to go in the car then you have 12v available, if its for use at home then there is power, too. If it is to be green, then don't wash it or use a sponge and bucket.Pretty much sums up my thoughts. How do you carry it around? In a car perhaps? If so, then 12v makes sense. If it's for home use, then run it off mains (via a transformer). What niche are you seeking to fill?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Think green. Think Environment. Think it is a lot cheaper without fitting the 12v sh1t.
£25 for a 3 litre cleaner that you can throw in the car, or drop out of a car at 40mph without damage because you left it on the roof.
Seems to be a market for me.
PS none of you have actually infringed my patent yet
Posted 1 year ago # -
BigBikeBash
I'll trial one for you and if it's any good I'll pay your £25 - deal??
Posted 1 year ago # -
3L?
Posted 1 year ago # -
a 3L bottle of coke? it'll clean your bike alright
Posted 1 year ago # -
Link FAIL!
Hozelock do a 7L portable shower hose thingy for £20Posted 1 year ago # -
i've seen a pump type one that was designed for watersports types for washing boats down, cant remember where it was. so far been happy with my mobi washer, just need to remember to charge it, but if i dont i can always run it from the car, just more hastle
Posted 1 year ago # -
Okay. 6 litre.
The prototype cleaned my bike using 2 litres so I just upped the size by 50%
I tell you what, there is a range from 3 litre 'Easy carry' to 60 litre 'This needs a truck' size.
There are loads of 'nearly good enough' products out there but I can't find any that include the possibility of spontaneous combustion and bike specific features.
PS 3 litres at 200 psi will clean a bike without destroying seals etc
Posted 1 year ago # -
if i invented a dirt blaster without the need for power would it be a good idea?
No. As mentioned above, too big to carry with you so will be used either at home or from the car, where there is mains or 12v power.
However, if the lack of electrical parts, pumps etc makes it cheaper than a dirtworker I would definately be interested.
Posted 1 year ago # -
BBB, not patronising but do you understand patent law?
Posted 1 year ago # -
PS 3 litres at 200 psi will clean a bike without destroying seals etc
That's a lot of pumping with a shock pump to reach that pressure though
Posted 1 year ago # -
Very small market, existing hardware that does the same thing already, some powered ones for when you're near a power source (every time you ride really!), your numbers don't stack up and for that reason I won't be investing in you, I'm out. Plus if you put 200psi near my seals I'll kill you, but from a distance I'd be more accepting.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Something that takes a standard CO2 cannister maybe?
Is it a converted Sodastream?
Posted 1 year ago # -
another solution for a problem that doesn't exist? marketing peeps will love that.
Posted 1 year ago # -
What he said. Go back to your problem definition stage - Bikes get dirty when you go mountain biking. So?
If you're a bit bothered, you use a plant sprayer, or water from your camelbak / bottles. If you're very bothered, you use a dirtworker or one of those rechargeable camel things that were advertised on here.
Or you sidestep the issue by using a £5 tarp or old sheet in the back of the car.
Personally, I doubt there are enough people who want something approaching dirtworker levels of performance in a human powered form to make this worth your while. You're basically creating a niche within what is already a niche market, and I reckon you'd need some very clever ways of minimising your development & marketing costs in order to get this off the ground and turn a profit.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I have a 8L garden sprayer which works really well, minimum amount of pumping and can be used at home AND out and about due to the universal power supply - my arm.
You might want to up the capacity, 8L is only just enough to clean my bike when it has been properly doused in Pentlands mud. To be honest, it's going to be difficult to get something to appeal to the environment conscious and bring it in at a comparable price (£10).
Posted 1 year ago # -
or drop out of a car at 40mph without damage because you left it on the roof
Apart from the damage to any following car.
I'm not really with you on the 'green' angle, surely anyone that does the 'driving to the trail' thing isn't that bothered about their 'green' credentials.
Good luck though but I'm out.
Posted 1 year ago # -
the industrial plant sprayers are pretty good for this; we tested a load that were used to spray chemicals down mole holes.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Can be filled from tap or stream.
Hoses can be attached to a tap and bikes washed in streams.
Nope can't see the need.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Washing a bike in a stream isn't so good, gets lots of oil in the water. Washing it on dirt at least means the oil can sit in the ground and decompose before it ends up in the water course.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Lots of oil or do you mean the small amount that may be left from a day riding through mud?
Posted 1 year ago # -
What we need is something sonic powered. You know, something that emits a noise of an appropriate frequency that makes dirt fall off bikes.
I think I've seen prototypes being tested in the South Africe World Cup
Posted 1 year ago # -
iDave - not patronising but do you understand patent law?
Enough to know that nothing on this thread would invalidatre the patent.
Unnecessary - Quite possibly but how many people spend sily money on phones and gadgets that do stuff they could do almost as well with something else.
Why by a satnav when you can use a map?
Because it is easier or it was an easy present to buy for someone or it shows your mates that you need/can afford the best.
Clearly if you all have spent time getting the other things to do this then there is a need there.
Posted 1 year ago # -
BigBikeBash - if you don't have a patent then it cannot be invalidated. If you have a patent then the design is openly published and publishing it here would not the protection afforded by it in any way.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm sure it would do very well if for example you happened to be Steve Jobs and called it the iwash. On a serious note it might be a bit too niche, if on the other hand you could make a dirtworker esque one for much cheaper (say £50.00) I and many other cheapskates like me would bite your hand off for it.
Iain
Posted 1 year ago #
Topic Closed
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