Forum menu
Not sure there is much money in that, not when you consider the time taken on the craft.
Getting to volume is where it's at.
1. Get on the buzzer to [url= http://www.apro-tek.com/ ]Apro[/url]
2. Order £20K worth of blank stock frames at £40ish each.
3. Stick some nice stickers on them and hey presto you are the proud owner of a bicycle company.
4. Once you have sold the lot, ring up Apro again - but this time ask for some subtle, custom changes to their stock products. Repeat steps 1 to 3.
Think Mondraker, Solid, UMF etc...
I remember Super Cycles in Nottm producing the DDG shooter frame amongst other awful concoctions (including the DH bike with the spelling mistake stickers). They made an incredible amount of money in 2/3 years from selling a reasonably priced but ultimately dogshit, hardtail frame.
Just make some dropper seatposts that work and are less than 200 quid and the money will come rolling in.Or sell them at 200 quid a pop and make even more money.
FIFY
😉
I thought about doing this a couple of years ago. With rising cost of TW frames I thought there was a niche for a sub-£600 UK-built Reynolds steel 29er frame (if you don't believe it could be done, Bob Jacksons retail at around £400 for a UK built 631 road frame). I even had the money to finance it but gave up after getting zero interest from a variety of potential UK builders. I still think it's a viable niche but got more of an insight into why, on top of the financial arguments, new brand start ups look outside the UK for a partner.
...viable niche...
Isn't that an oxymoron? 😉
Niche doesn't need to be that big to be viable - steel frames would be a good example - tiny proportion of overall market but viable enough for Brant, Cy et al. Though admittedly they're not driving Ferraris!