[Closed] Pact Bikes. Over there in the news >>>

Sounds like a complete nightmare to me tbh! The reason most bike mongers just stock std off-the-shelf bikes is because that makes things easy. Just the thought of having to please 15 different people, who all want a slightly different spec for slightly different reasons makes me stressed 😉

will there be a stw special?

[img] [/img]

Reinventing the wheel is becoming harder and harder it seems (Understandably)

I really cant see the numbers adding up but I suppose there will always be STW members with the spare cash to bankroll a new project like this to begin with, then.......well who knows.

26" Rigid
26" sus
29er
29er sus
650b
Fat Bikes

They all end up doing the same thing, some better and some worse than others. All brant is doing is starting another process. Its nothing new as stated before and unfortunately, if it was a successful business model it probably would have been used in the previous business he launched.

I give it 24-36mths tops. Then we will have another 2yrs of Brant back at one one and then he will relaunch his new version of an old subject again.

if it was a successful business model it probably would have been used in the previous business

Can't we say that about every new business model?

I can't immediately think of anything I'd necessarily want built, but I have thought that several times in my life, e.g:

- before Surly designed the Karate Monkey
- before IslaBike starting making kids bikes that look epic
- before Xtracycle built the EdgeRunner
- before Surly built the Ice Cream Truck

So I'm very willing to be surprised and delighted.

🙂

Miketually, yes of course we can.

Just sent Brant an idea myself....... 😀

3 already submitted.

One boring, one technically impossible (I think) and one which is absolute genius.
Ahem.

I'll see if I can come up with something a bit more sensible this week. 🙂

29 inch ragley ti basically.

brant - Member

No money up front. Unless you'd like to!

Newsletter coming tonight.

Get ideas in. We have two really solid ones already.

decent priced kids full suspension frame suitable for 24 inch wheels

I asked for mine to be yellow 8)

will there be a stw special?

FTFY.

[img] [/img]

Why give away your intellectual property with no upfront non-disclosure agreement or discussion of terms? Pop bands in the sixties signed royalty "agreements" and ended up with a pittance share of earnings. Has Brant suggested what royalty splits will range from yet?

As long as I get a bike that does what I want it to do for a decent price I don't care!!

Brant's going to crunch the numbers on whatever he designs so he'll put 90% of the work in anyway!

Has Brant suggested what royalty splits will range from yet?

Spot the Capitalist 😉

I will watch with curiosity, I have no bright ideas but it will be interesting to see what makes the cut! All the best.

Brant just so you know outlook put your email conformation in the junk file.

[img][URL= http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr188/GamerRiley/PACT.jp g" target="_blank">http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr188/GamerRiley/PACT.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL][/img]

10 minutes in and I'm a bike designer 😆

full suss, long chain stays low, slack, 120mm travel.

Great Idea. Good luck, I hope it goes well. 8)

Brant just so you know outlook put your email conformation in the junk file.

I'm not sure what you mean, but if you can forward me that to brant at pactbikes dot com I'll have a look.

Cheers

full suss, long chain stays low, slack, 120mm travel.

Great Idea. Good luck, I hope it goes well.

Cheers NickC

artists impression of the bike that will make me a millionaire in royalties.... er...surely?
[img] [/img]

I think its a very nice idea - hopefully it will be a genuine outlet for innovation with regular updates, and hopefully not just a token USP for a small non changing line up.

Having owned several of Brant's prevous designed frames, (I know like most of us on here) I'll be interested to see how it the process will work. Both On One and Ragley had/have some great frames but rightly or wrongly have publically let down by customer service or paint finish/quality control - both a result of 'stack em high sell em cheap' - not the actual design. Hopefully a more bespoke, limited run product will not have the same issues to contend with.

And nice to have a bike company back in Hebden - Just a shame you already used the Stoodley Pike logo!

Best of luck with it Brant.

Having owned an original mmmmbop I hope Brant returns to brilliant frames like that.
I think it is a brilliant idea. Good luck.

[i]"so already you've had 3 requests for the 'same' bike- who gets the royalty payment and the "incredible price"?"[/i]

I'd been wondering that myself, being as how I was the first to suggest it. 😛

[i]That's an interesting point that has occured to us. However, there's going to be more to this than just going "bagsy" on a project and writing an "I want" in two lines.[/i]

So, how much more detail do I need to give beyond simply "Rohloff CX frame" before I can claim my 10%? 😉

A few ideas;

Proper chain adjustment for SS or Rohloff, not using a tensioner.
A chain can need adjustment during an epic ride and EBBs can be impossible to move with a normal multitool, so that's sliding dropouts then.

Rohloff dropouts would be nice, but not a deal breaker, a Monkeybone works well.

[url= http://www.singularcycles.com/shop/index.php/catalog/product/gallery/image/528/id/176/ ]Modular cable guides[/url] with options for every possible combination of cable/hydraulic/electric brake or shifter.

Front & rear rack, mudguard and Salsa Anything Cage mounts, plus as many bottle cage mounts as can be fitted on every tube.

Overall, I suppose I'm thinking Rough Stuff meets Bikepacking, while still being suitable for commuting and looking like a CX bike.

So something along the lines of an aluminium version of this then?
[img] [/img]

A chain can need adjustment during an epic ride and EBBs can be impossible to move with a normal multitool, so that's sliding dropouts then.

I wouldn't bet against him.

Hey, [url= http://www.shandcycles.com/bikes/stoater-rohloff/ ]that Shand[/url] is pretty close to what I had in mind, apart from the £1500 price tag. 😕
I did wonder if I should have mentioned belt drive, but after having tried it and broken it myself, I wouldn't bother. Rohloff will only supply the adapter to approved frame manufacturers, and it limits the choice of chainstay length to match the available pulleys and belts, but some people might want it, so for the cost of a coupler, you might as well make it an option.

thisisnotaspoon, I've only used the internal expanding type, Bushnell and similar.
The bolt is in the end of the EBB, too close to the crank arm to get a bulky multitool hex key on. You'd need to carry a separate 4mm hex key.
Even then, and with the whole thing well copperslipped before assembly, I find it too tight to turn using the 5mm hex holes in the end. I use a pair of bent nose circlip pliers in two of the holes for extra leverage.

I'm intrigued by the idea, I've signed up but not had any email through yet, does all seem a little vague at the minute...

I don't believe I could ever front the costs for putting any of my own ideas into production, So it's not exactly "Giving away" IP.
If anything the model is weighted more in favour of anyone submitting their ideas, the possibility of deriving some royalties (any indicative percentages?) for no real personal financial or reputational risk... On the surface, at least, its a pretty sweet deal...

I like the name "Pact" it suggests a bit of honesty.

Brant, what precisely are you after from people:
-A wishlist/Spec'?
-Dimensioned drawings?
-Any specific Niches prefered Road/CX/MTB/BMX?
-what about materials?
-technical novelty?

Are there any real constraints on what you can develop or is this just a bit of a "dragnet", see what ideas come in and go from there?

I can't see how the figures will add up. What can us consumers come up with thats not already out there that will sell in numbers significant enough to make a load of money from it?

I've signed up but not had any email through yet

You can [url= http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=2ef5ad7836aec4002b0a133c9&id=412bd2b594 ]read the first Pactbikes email online[/url].

Well he's completely ignored my suggestion of a titanium SWB recumbent - even offered to design it for him 😉

miketually - Member
I've signed up but not had any email through yet
You can read the first Pactbikes email online.

TBH, having read it, I'm not any clearer, still all seems a bit vague...

It makes perfect sense selling a product you already know is sold and there's a market for

thisisnotaspoon, I've only used the internal expanding type, Bushnell and similar.
The bolt is in the end of the EBB, too close to the crank arm to get a bulky multitool hex key on. You'd need to carry a separate 4mm hex key.
Even then, and with the whole thing well copperslipped before assembly, I find it too tight to turn using the 5mm hex holes in the end. I use a pair of bent nose circlip pliers in two of the holes for extra leverage.

Fair enough, the Swift style one didn't have that problem, think I just put a smear of waterproof grease on it to keep it silent, unlike the expanding type there's nothing to release so turning was easy (I did it by hand on the external cups untill i figured out there was an allen key socket!).

I can't see how the figures will add up. What can us consumers come up with thats not already out there that will sell in numbers significant enough to make a load of money from it?

Maybe just getting in ahead of the curve? 650b+/29ers are already out there (RM Sherpa), but no hardtails AFAIK. But I reckon it could be a popular niche in the future. Ditto a disk braked racing bike, appart from Colnago bling and next years CAAD10 there's only commuter/cross bikes. And I still think even a budget priced rim braked aluminium race bike frameset, like an updated P-X team alu (not the sportive RT-58 alu) would sell if it were half the £800 price of a CAAD 10 frame which can't be a hard price point to hit. Appart from the Bird Zero is there even another 650b aluminum hardcore hardtail, and there'd be thing's I'd tweek to that if I were specing it (mainly make it an inch longer).

I got the impression he was looking for a purpose for a bike rather than a set of dimensions.

I want something I can ride cross country for an hour, fling round the local woods at silly speeds for another hour and then ride to the cake shop.

there seems to be a fair number of bikes around that allows that and, for me, my Liteville has come closest to delivering my ideal. There are things I'd change though.

I can see of brant can get someone to articulate their 'ideal' in a way he can design a bike for and it's sufficiently popular to justify a small production run to sell to people who have a similar requirement then that's job done.

It might be a lightweight cargo bike, some sort of xc/playing in the woods uber-bike or the perfect bike packing frame or maybe all of them. Something that takes his fancy and that he can work with someone to design, test and deliver (and sell).

I think it's an interesting venture and wish him every luck with it.

It's as much about the person, their ability to work with me, me with them, as about the bike.

ive popped him an email and see if anything comes of it.

[quote=brant ]It's as much about [s]the person, their ability to work with[/s] me, me [s]with them, as about the bike[/s] me?.

Sorry, had to be done.

Unless you've got an additioanl 50% on top of production Ti or high end Steel money, custom isn't an option.

One month on and it's all gone quiet...

Developing a new bike doesn't happen overnight 😉

MidlandTrailquestsGraham - Member
One month on and it's all gone quiet...
POSTED 17 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Having been through various methods of news leakage and in-public-eye development processes we decided to keep our gobs largely shut until we had something to sell.

However, if you were to lurk on Market Street in Hebden Bridge in the next half hour you might see something emerge for a test ride.

There's also a ti model of some description just headed to factory for final drawing alts.

And we are also consultants to a wonderful carbon factory in Xiamen, China too, which explores the word Pact in another direction.

More news when we have something of substance.

Updates, or even hints, about what's being developed, to keep the punters interested, don't take long to post.

Updates, or even hints, about what's being developed, to keep the punters interested, don't take long to post.

Ancient proverb says: A man who does not know that the rocket / rooster / pickenflick exists cannot moan about it being late.

Yes, but...
The USP of Pact Bikes is customer involvement. I don't feel very involved at the moment.