What is the best bike to build to sell?

Here's my take on building to sell, I jumped on the get rich quick wagon and was very successful but also stressed every time a bike left the cave. Why you ask because I knew the bikes were cheap,most of the people that bought the bikes had no mechanical skill. $350.00 they went quick $450.00 was tuff.
I then started doing just installs on your bike $300.00 that was a bigger success but every bike was different so that required a lot off fab work. The guys that are building the high dollar stuff can sleep after a sale but hold on to the rides for a while. I like quick nickels not slow dimes.

All that being said it is possible to build and sell, but the sleeping thing is hard to get use too.

Adam

My 2 cents......

Selling cheap, new big-box store bikes is risk enough, lol. Selling them mounted up with with china made two-strokes is an eventual recipe for disaster.

I know one guy who sells them but always arranges to meet the person in a neutral parking lot, only takes cash w/all sales final and feels the best liability protection is to have zero assets in his name. Heck of a way to do business.

Now why didn't I think of that could of helped me sleep...............Not

Adam

"you drop the money in the trashcan by the duck pond and i'll leave the bike in the racks on the opposite side. come alone, or else..."

PSSSSSST....... Wanna Buy a Motor Bike

bairdco said:

"you drop the money in the trashcan by the duck pond and i'll leave the bike in the racks on the opposite side. come alone, or else..."

Click to expand...

good one Baird!

In 2 1/2 years of messin' with these; I've only sold about a dozen completed, ready to ride, bikes.

Each customer is pre-qualified to have one. Knuckleheads need not apply.

I can tell within the first 5 minutes of conversation whether or not a potential customer is going to be trouble. I just scare them off with a high price. One idiot even had the gall to insinuate that he was going to be my worst nightmare if anything went wrong. Around here, through Craigs list, you can buy a cobbled together mess for $350 or less. My cheapest builds are $550 and I don't budge on the price. The customer who wants to cheapen everything is also the same customer who will scream the loudest when things break!

Anyone who comes to the shop...looks at a bike...and then says "your price is too high, I know a guy that has one for $300"...is instantly disqualified. I've run off a lot more people than I have sold too.

Jim

Sold one to a guy that right away I knew not too but I did and boy was he a pain in the butt. Didn't like the coaster brake wanted caliper brakes at my expense,2nd day he picked up something and had a flat called me for roadside assistance. I said no and he then asked for his money back I said only if the bike looks as nice as it did when you bought it. Well the chain and lock he had wrapped around the the frame had wore the paint to bear metal in 2 days of riding( thank god for the vibrating 2 smoker) No refund.

Adam

I may be too new to reply here. but

I also wanted to get into selling these things after one build
I didn't want to get rich, I have already been trying that with Cigar Box guitars

What I have found is that the liability is just too great

I built a cranbrook as the first one for a friend
On the first try out ride I hit the coaster and not only did it not stop it threw my foot back up with enough force to almost knock me off the bike and the lever was twisted around the hub

We got that fixed and about a week later he rode it7 miles to my house and the wheel was so wobbly it looked like it might fall off

before I got into this I researched ,as I always do, and have found the least expensive way to get a quality bike is to shop for used

I bought a Point Beach that looks new for $70 and 2 OCC stingrays for $25 and $50
The $50 is very rough but the $25 looks new

There seems to be a never ending supply of bikes that people bought and then just hung up in their garage

Yes, I think a lot of people like the idea of a bike but then don't ride them much.

I cant seem to find a good price on a decent used, or old bike where I live... they are priced like they are made by a lost tribe of Oompa-Loompas in a far away land and only made under the first full moon of the year, then carted by Unicorns to My town.
Cheers

bairdco said:

"attractive nuisances" would be a good name for a company...

Click to expand...

LOL You sir are hilarious!!!! Ya that would be a good name for a company making china powered bikes. I'll give ya $1 million for the rights to that name. But on second thought it might be better to stick to your duck pond idea.

I've been giving this a lot of thought over the past year and at first there was the thought that I could have fun putting these things together and make some money at the same time. Then reality settles in when actual human beings become interested... not people you transact with in a dark alley in Gary, Indiana wearing a ski mask, but people you will see again in your local towns and maybe in your own neighborhood. Maybe a friend wants one and you start thinking about how it would be if they got hurt on a bike you built and sold. It kind of dampens the euphoria of a perfect little business churning out cheap bikes with cheap motors. So you start upgrading things with better frames and good wheels with better tires, upgrading the braking, making it so that the tensioner is not going to be a problem. Now the bikes cost more and are taking a lot longer to put together... so you have to get more for one or it makes no sense doing it. And there goes the quick turnover at a nice profit idea. I have a Chinese Huffy I bought at a yard sale last summer on which I put the cheapest ebay motor I could find. It looked really nice, all shiny and seven speed, cruiser tires... and I won't sell it, won't show it, don't want to ride it myself and am putting the motor on a real bike. The bike itself may yield some parts to use, but not much. My thinking has changed on this whole thing. I still like building and fabricating things, but I think now I'll sell my jewel lights and gas tanks, custom hand grips and things like that which I can be pretty sure aren't going to bring harm to anyone. I'll build a bike mostly to satisfy myself and price it according to what is in it in materials and time. If it sells, fine. If it doesn't that's OK, too. Even making just one bike a year with a sidecar is OK with a four stroke motor and bulletproof install so it doesn't come back to bite me later on. Maybe I'll become a dealer for good four stroke motors once I settle on one that satisfies my needs and which I know backwards and forwards. The only time I want to see a bike again which I built and sold is to go riding with the owner who has since become a friend.
SB

You nailed it SB. I am almost done building the first bike I want to sell and I have about 550 dollars into it and about 20+ hours. I will probably post it for 750 dollars and if it sells then great but if not that is ok too. Just another great bike in my fleet. I built it well enough that I would be proud of it to be mine and well enough that I would feel safe on it.

I saw someone mentioned a disclaimer...Disclaimer is not good if you are building and selling in certain states. You have to have a manufacture license...I was going to do the same thing here...Build the bike, run it through the break in and sell it as used but like new. I or should I say we built this bike for Mike...I told him to tell his wife (we are long time friends) if he gets killed on it I don't want to hear about it. You are responsible, I just help you build it.

http://s982.photobucket.com/albums/ae309/Ron-Becker/Mikes HT bike/

Al.Fisherman said:

I saw someone mentioned a disclaimer...Disclaimer is not good if you are building and selling in certain states. You have to have a manufacture license...I was going to do the same thing here...Build the bike, run it through the break in and sell it as used but like new. I or should I say we built this bike for Mike...I told him to tell his wife (we are long time friends) if he gets killed on it I don't want to hear about it. You are responsible, I just help you build it.

Mikes HT bike pictures by Ron-Becker - Photobucket

Click to expand...

Hello Al , I was thinking about the disclaimer stuff and came to the same conclusion . It would be best in my view to sell the bikes as used like new . I think the main thing is never sell to someone under the age of eighteen without the parents sighing some type of Acknowledgment of sell
. For instance my martial arts instructor never sells nunchaku's or any other weapons without parents signature's . But now for the pics of the bike you linked to here ; I really like the modification you made to motor mount . Looks like an simple piece of angel bar bent with an vise and mallet ? It looks like it asorbs some shock too. I will go with this idea instead of the drilling holes and spring idea I had in mind . Nice build ! Latter and still kicking

Creative Engineering said:

good one Baird!
In 2 1/2 years of messin' with these; I've only sold about a dozen completed, ready to ride, bikes.

Each customer is pre-qualified to have one. Knuckleheads need not apply.

I can tell within the first 5 minutes of conversation whether or not a potential customer is going to be trouble. I just scare them off with a high price. One idiot even had the gall to insinuate that he was going to be my worst nightmare if anything went wrong. Around here, through Craigs list, you can buy a cobbled together mess for $350 or less. My cheapest builds are $550 and I don't budge on the price. The customer who wants to cheapen everything is also the same customer who will scream the loudest when things break!

Anyone who comes to the shop...looks at a bike...and then says "your price is too high, I know a guy that has one for $300"...is instantly disqualified. I've run off a lot more people than I have sold too.

Jim

Click to expand...

You and I have a lot in common Jim. Not the years into it, I just started this year, but what and who you will sell too.
I work and sell from home so I have no overhead, and $10-$15 an hour for my build time (around $200 net a bike) this time of year is fine with me so my pricing goes like this.



No WallyWorld, the budget bike in this example is a 2Wheel bikes Maui delivered for ~$160 and a sturdy bike.
Nothing leaves without front and rear brakes that actually work.
I do more too but that's neither here nor there.

I realize this topic is a year old now, but back to the original topic of taddthewadd wanting to build and sell a Wally bike with a cheap motor for $1K and get rich just won't happen for anyone then or now.

Since you can't practically ship a completed bike, it is local customers.
Learn who your potential customers are in your area.
Here in the Phoenix area in the summer it is victims of Sheriff Joe's DUI crackdowns, and they range from the laborer to executive that lost their drivers license and need a legal way to get around.

Come October when the weather cools the leisure rider market should really increase until next June.
In short, make a business plan and know who your potential buyers may be and when, and stay a step ahead if you can.

I'm trying.

It's tough KC...It really is. Especially when you're trying to do it right!

There are customers out there who see through the "throw a kit on and sell it crowd". As you know...these are the customers you want.

It's a doable business, it will just take a little time for word to spread around that you offer good service and actually care whether or not your customers get a value for thier money.

Keep up the good work...and always remember to listen to your gut instincts. If a potential customer gives you an uneasy feeling...bow out any way you can.

Jim

Creative Engineering said:

It's tough KC...It really is. Especially when you're trying to do it right!

There are customers out there who see through the "throw a kit on and sell it crowd". As you know...these are the customers you want.

It's a doable business, it will just take a little time for word to spread around that you offer good service and actually care whether or not your customers get a value for their money.

Keep up the good work...and always remember to listen to your gut instincts. If a potential customer gives you an uneasy feeling...bow out any way you can.

Jim

Click to expand...

Like I said Jim, we have a lot in common.
I never made and sold crap computers the last 27 years and they don't even pose a safety problem.
I am pretty new to MB's but I am not about to change that with them.
If anything I am more diligent than ever with this new safety factor.

To me everything in business life can be summed in one word. Integrity.
Hard to obtain and easy to loose, and it never makes business sense at all to risk it even for a loss.

But back to the topic...
The 'best bike to sell' is one you feel proud and confident in the buyers safety to sell.
'nuff said.

silverbear said:

Then reality settles in when actual human beings become interested... not people you transact with in a dark alley in Gary, Indiana wearing a ski mask, but people you will see again in your local towns and maybe in your own neighborhood. SB

Click to expand...

LOL LOL Ah, Gary, Indiana, everyone's favorite vacation spot. I think that's where the Griswalds got their hubcaps stolen from their Family Truckster! I lived in Valparaiso, IN for about 2 years so I'm very familiar with Gary, IN. My cousin from Chicago used to make frequent treks to Gary for some wacky-tobbaco and some other more sinister recreational drugs.

Buzzard said:

Here is something you might want to look into, if you are building motor bikes for resale you may want to think about liability insurance or have a disclaimer on the bill of sale. I custom built some bikes for roadies a few years ago and a lawyer friend of mine told me I should have this in case some one had a problem with the bikes and I would cover my butt from a law suit such as society is today.
Life is like a bowl of jalapeno peppers what you eat today may burn your butt tomorrow
buzzard

Click to expand...

NEWS flash.....A parent can not release a minor's prospective negligence claims