Best comment of the day from ir_bandito...
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/we-know-who-is-to-blame-for-the-weather/ ]£59 for a mudguard?!
A mudguard that will only fit a limited range of forks?!
You’re 4 days late….
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I agree. While I'd love to support a new UK based company, I do rather have to ask how they can get it to £59.
Crud Catcher and a bit of old inner tube FTW!
😀
Isn't it just going to clog as it's so close to the wheel in really sticky clumpy mud.
Not really a STW product as you have to go fast enough to clean the mud off the tyres I guess 😯
I'm a self-confessed mudguard fetishist.
I saw of the prototype ages ago:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/whats-this-front-mudguard
I like the idea of a front "hugger" mudguard, rather than big Moto-X one mounted in the crouwn, but £59 really does take the p!ss for a piece of plastic.
late april fools isn't it?
I'll stop ranting on the front page now.
My initial thought was "that won't fit on my Thors" due to the double-arch, then realised how naff it was being model specific.
Then I remembered, Marzocchi use to produce their own specific mudguard by Acerbis. The difference was it only cost £20 new, and looked a whole load better.
[url= http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3557/3818595758_afba0a75e8_b.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/ir_bandito/3818595758/ ]DSC_0509[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/ir_bandito/ ]ir_bandito[/url], on Flickr
£59 for a mudguard... 😆
I think I'll refrain from snapping one of these up any time soon...a piece of innertube and four zip-ties is probably slightly less efficient, but at 1/100th the cost I'll stick with it for now. If I want to make it look less of a bodge then I'll make sure I'm neater with the scissors and will slap a Hope sticker on it too.
That's almost as hilarious as the cost of tyres these days.
looks good but the price is a joke
fully made and assembled in the UK - that's what you are paying for. I guarantee if it were made in china it'd be half the price, everyone would be raving about it, and in the next breath complaining about the 'death of british manufacturing'...
fully made and assembled in the UK
That may well be the case, but I'm pretty sure it's makeable and assembleable within the UK for a good deal less than £59.
fully made and assembled in the UK - that's what you are paying for. I guarantee if it were made in china it'd be half the price
At half the price it would still be a rip off!
And it would still be a product trying to be the solution to a problem that has already been solved quite effectively, by another MUCH cheaper alternative... Namely the Neoguard... Or if you're (quite rightly) tight, an old bit of inner tube and some zip ties!
i have something similar that i fully made and assembled out of the back plastic cover of a black and red notepad.
hoops over and zip ties to the fork legs, a bit like those mucky nutz ones but both sides and longer.
cheap it was. pretty much £0.
I mean, let's face it - a front Hope hub is pretty much designed and built entirely within the UK (okay, so bearings will be sourced elsewhere), and is only about £50.
I reckon there's a lot more to that than a bit of plastic you attach to a fork.
But why price yourself so far out of the market, when ultimatly its a piece of plastic with some bolts? What does it matter that its made in the UK? Apart from the mold-tooling, its not complex, so ideal for sending to the far-east. Knowing that I'm paying for a Brit to take one of these out of a machine and put it in a bag, rather than a foreigner isn't enough to make me "buy British".
Have a look at Chain Reaction. The most expensive mtb front mudguard is the Topeak [b]Defender[/b] (classy name huh?) at £25. Fugly, but less than half the price of the Dfender.
I'll be amazed if I ever see more than 10 of these on the trails (that aren't freebies given to journos/sponsored riders). Maybe thats why they need the high price. Not the best bsuiness plan IMO
I reckon there's a lot more to that than a bit of plastic you attach to a fork.
why?
plastic tooling is expensive.
Would like to Brant's take on this 'design' and 'business model', seem to remember something being said about celebrity designers by someone the other day 😉
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Now [b]that's[/b] fugly.
a front Hope hub is pretty much designed and built entirely within the UK (okay, so bearings will be sourced elsewhere), and is only about £50.
And Hope stuff is comparable in price pretty much to most "name brand" far-east manufactured stuff.
The tail edge of the mudguard is further from the tyre than the middle.
It will act as a funnel, clog with mud and stop the wheel rotating.
It's a basic law of mudguard design that the mudguard should get further from the tyre towards the front.
Like this.
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plastic tooling is expensive
Powa have obviously been ripped off into paying double what everyone else does...
Crud seem to manage to make plastic things for reasonable prices within the UK.
plastic tooling is expensive.
Proportional, isn't it?
HIgh price, try to recover costs quickly, keep margins high, leads to low sales, and perhaps storage costs for unsold stock.
Surely selling at a lower price would lead to a better reception for them.
Not the best time of the year to launch, either.
I presume CNC machines are pretty cheapplastic tooling is expensive.
ohCrud seem to manage to make plastic things for reasonable prices within the UK.
Anybody watched the installation video, I think they got CRC to design the packaging, that box is massive.
Bender Fender FTW, costs under a tenner, looks like a pair of briefs, and you get a free Maoam 8)
Sam - Memberfully made and assembled in the UK - that's what you are paying for. I guarantee if it were made in china it'd be half the price, everyone would be raving about it, and in the next breath complaining about the 'death of british manufacturing'...
Sorry Sam can't agree with you on this, I have visited the company who manufacture Crud guards and they are located in Pickering North Yorkshire.
They are being greedy that's all
D0NK - Memberplastic tooling is expensive.
I presume CNC machines are pretty cheap
Crud seem to manage to make plastic things for reasonable prices within the UK.
True plastic moulds are very expensive and you can be looking at £50-100k + depending on size and complexity. Cost for CNC is usually around £30-50 per hour and also you have to take in steel costs which is high these days.
I've seen these in use at recent uplift days and in very muddy conditions they work well. But dam expensive!
The mudguard is strapped to a pair of £900 forks, so it looks cheap by comparison.
way way too expensive 😯
way way too expensive
which brings me onto...
http://www.burgtec.co.uk/products/offset-shock-hardware/burgtec-titanium-offset-shock-hardware/
presumably hope don't hire them by the hour.Cost for CNC is usually around £30-50 per hour
Out of interest rough cost of cnc machine?
I have no idea but pricey I'd guess.
Out of interest rough cost of cnc machine?
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Metalworking-Milling-Welding-/11804/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A1%257C66%253A4%257C39%253A1&rt=nc&_nkw=cnc+mill&_catref=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=3&_sc=1 ]Bargin[/url]
Haha, the wonders of Ebay
I think the mud guard itself is pretty ugly TBF, oh and the price is insane.
59quid for a mudguard?!?!?!!??!?!?!!?!?!!!!111!1!11 1oneoneone!
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BNIB stoner?
The cost of the CNC machine is irrelevant surely?
twin cavity mould tool for that mudguard about £35-50,000 if made in UK, c.£25,000 in China. Raw material? I'm a bit out of touch, but say, £1.00. Packaging? £1.00. Then you've got assembly and packaging labour costs on top. How many will they sell per year? 2000? 5000? The finance for the tooling has to be paid back in, say 18 months. Do the maths ..... Still pretty profitable, I'd say.
cost of cnc machine was linked to the £50 hope hub example.The cost of the CNC machine is irrelevant surely?
Chris Porter may be many things, but stupid he isn't.
expensive then Brant
I dont recall you over pricing your goods
That is stupid money for a piece of plastic - there can be no debate of that
I dont recall you over pricing your goods
too right! 😉
grab a bargin!
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They're supposed to work very well, don't think I'll be buying one until I break/lose my collection of other front guards though.
Happy to 'test' one though 😉
twin cavity mould tool for that mudguard about £35-50,000 if made in UK
They didn't buy the tool to make that, don't be stupid. they out sourced it to a company who has the machinery
Development costs are most likely reason for the cost, however I reckon they're going to sell quite well.
Development costs are most likely reason for the cost
a few hours with CAD in a lunch our and giving the CADS to a local product design company to knock up. test.. refine... done!
Depends how it was done, I did work for Mojo..
Depends how it was done, I did work for Mojo..
I know that but trust me...
this is how it was done
a few hours with CAD in a lunch our and giving the CADS to a local product design company to knock up. test.. refine... done!
