Everyone THAT LOVES BIKES HELP!

I own the kit.

By the time you are done you are going to spend a lot and not get it right. You might save $50 if you are are lucky

You could always design your own, doesn't look all that hard its just some sprockets steel nuts and bolts. Are you a mechanical engineering student? That would help

Oh BTW I thing that some time last year the folk that are "Sick Bike Parts" came up with the design on their own. I seem to recall seeing a thread somewhere describing parts of the experience.

Why not come up with something original that you can sell to buy the kit. Or offer your welding skills up to help other motor bike builders.

I am not in anyway affiliated with SBP.

perplexium said:

I am a college student that rides 35 miles round trip to school 5 days a week. I want to purchase a Shifter kit from sick bikes but i cant afford it. I was wondering, I am a welder and the parts are not that hard to find to make one. I would just need help with the front hub set up. If there is anyone that can step by step guide me through the building of the hub I would much appreciate it. You can post directly to this page or you can email to me directly but why not help those who want to do the same by posting it here. I don't think its right that Sick Bike get all the money for a hub kit that was designed in the 70s. So guys and gals if you know how to effectively build the front hub I would very much appreciate your help. Thanks again Matt

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SBP may not have invented the shifter kit, but they made it marketabel and it's making them some money. They have had to adapt the system for our specific application. As lordo has said, it may cost you more to build it yourself than to purchase it. Think of the labor they have invested in each kit. Not to mention R&D, marketing, and supplies. It's fair they get the money, they put in the time. But that's just my opinion. When you are ready to market your shifter kit, let me know. I cann't afford SBP kits right now and if your prices are lower, I may be able to afford yours.

Matt,

Let me be certain I have this straight. You want to copy (ie. steal) their idea and you want us as a community to help you with it? I don't think that is going to fly.

If you are keen to argue that your proposal isn't theft please try to put yourself in the other parties shoes and imagine:

You have an original idea for a speaker system for your bicycle. You then spend months of work designing the prototype. sourcing suppliers and materials, negotiating contracts, writing a business plan, obtaining financing.

You then start work on writing the installation manual, preliminary marketing, web site design.

You do your first production run and have to figure out how to take orders and get paid, package your product and ship your product etc. etc. etc.

You enlist the help of a community to market, test and improve your early speakers (that community is us)

You work hard for many months with great financial risk to further improve your design with the feedback of the community and solve any problems that users may have.

One day you see a post from someone that states that they think all your hard work and risk isn't worth anything and that they want to copy your speakers for themselves. They then ask for the help of the community to do just that.

How would this make you feel?

By the way. I know that Pablo worked hard to create his own unique Avatar for the forums. You seem to be using the same one. Did you ask for permission?

If you didn't get permission then that is theft too.

If you go to Alibaba.com and search motor kits you will see that a company in china is selling kits with the shifter kit,so im not sure whos came first.

perplexium said:

I am a college student that rides 35 miles round trip to school 5 days a week. I want to purchase a Shifter kit from sick bikes but i cant afford it. I was wondering, I am a welder and the parts are not that hard to find to make one. I would just need help with the front hub set up. If there is anyone that can step by step guide me through the building of the hub I would much appreciate it. You can post directly to this page or you can email to me directly but why not help those who want to do the same by posting it here. I don't think its right that Sick Bike get all the money for a hub kit that was designed in the 70s. So guys and gals if you know how to effectively build the front hub I would very much appreciate your help. Thanks again Matt.

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First of all I must ask that you cease and desist using my avatar and my images without asking permission. Strange thing is - I may have actually granted permission if you asked first.

Second, clotho and the other folks answered better than I could for most aspects.

Third, we certainly did not invent a front freewheel. On the other hand have we actually claimed that we did? Did we invent a jackshaft? No. Are we claiming we did? No. But to say "Sick Bike get all the money for a hub kit that was designed in the 70s." Is just so patently wrong on so many levels. I just want to state absolutely that there was no shift kit designed in the 1970's. That's just a crock. On another level, if you think we get all the money, you are living in a fantasy world......but let's take this at another level. Let's say we make a profit on the kits. Is that a bad thing? You don't seem to think it's "right". Hmm.....so you are anticapitalism (fine, in style, I guess) - But on the other hand you seem to think there should be no bounds, ie a free market on other people's ideas, graphics, etc......

So to this I say, knock yourself out! Have a great day.

PS We were first, the China company is trying to steal from us as well - that kit pictured is OUR kit!!!.

Don't sweat it - in reality we sell quite a few products to guys doing their own thing.

Well I'd build one if I thought I could. Then again I'd build a new house with a pool if I could. I guess house builders across America would want there "cut" Fact is I'm disabled and live on a fixed income and to buy one ,well but it this way I'd have to go without food for 6 weeks or so..... Do they give a senior discount, AARP..? Nope I'd have to go it on my own. Now don't take offence.. Cause I'd BUY ONE if I could but thats not in the cards. Thats why I got 4 burned up engines from Dax (for 40 dollars) and rebuilt mine and got another full summer out of it and it still runs , if a bit slow, but ya do what you can........the problem with a rebuild H/T is the cheep flash chrome job that makes up the factory jug. It can't be bored out so your stuck there. I'm a disabled machine mechanic and built or rebuilt my wheels . I drilled and installed a different hub,three speed and 11g spokes. There's a guy selling H/D wheels on this site but I ain't got 170 dollars for wheels either.I was tired of broken spokes so I built my own thank you.......geezzo peezo I wish I could build a new car!!! Tom

Instead of trying to make a shifter kit in an attempt to save money, here's another idea..........

With enough torque, you DON'T need to shift gears!

Get a big 6.5HP Lifan engine from Harbor Freight tools, and build it on to the bike (or make a bike trailer for it) and use a really high gear so you can go fast and never need to shift. I get 50Mph that way, and only one gear ratio, and plenty of torque to take any hill, and still have good top end.

I think what makes it seem like a lot of money is because we tend to compare the price to the engine kits. I'm sure if SBP was selling thousands of kits and had them manufactured in China, they would be able to sell them for less.
The way I see it, the freewheel alone is worth around 80 bucks (just a guess) and if you were to pay five bucks for each additional part (I counted ten) you are at around 130 bucks. Throw in the cost of a website, along with the other hardware and you can see that there is not much left over.
Here is a pic from a guy who saw my bike on one of the electric bike sites to give you some ideas.
I really like the boxed in , one piece frame and the adjustable idler on the drive chain. The owner of the bike said I could show them to help others out.

perplexium,
Irvine is fairly flat and you would not really need a shifter kit. If you want speed, be carefull. I got pulled over in the area for going 38 in a 30 zone. If it has a motor, it is subject to motor vehicle codes as well as bicycle.

Hello to all, I wasn't always quite so broke as I am now. Being disabled and on a fixed income ain't easy. I really want to get a kit from Sic but it will take months to save up the 200 bucks . In order to do it I'll have to skip lunch and eat alot of mac and cheeze but in the end it'll be worth every cent and probably save $ in the long run in broken spokes bent rear wheels etc.On the other hand for 200 bucks I could put an engine on the back and belt drive the rear wheel . I've seen those set ups go thousands of miles without a problem.........Tom

You can look at it another way. That 200 bucks mean your engine will not ever need to over rev because you decided one day to "see what she will do." Your engine will purr at it's optimum rpm in my book it's about 3/4 throttle whatever.
And you WILL save on gas and pre mix.
If that bike is your daily commute you will make that money back in a season of riding.
I would assume you would also be saving on back wheels. Nothing bolted to your spokes although proven to be good when aligned right I would assume should last longer having one drive chain instead of two.
So it's well worth it in my book.
In fact one day that's bike #4 or maybe #5.

toytime said:

I think what makes it seem like a lot of money is because we tend to compare the price to the engine kits. I'm sure if SBP was selling thousands of kits and had them manufactured in China, they would be able to sell them for less.
The way I see it, the freewheel alone is worth around 80 bucks (just a guess) and if you were to pay five bucks for each additional part (I counted ten) you are at around 130 bucks. Throw in the cost of a website, along with the other hardware and you can see that there is not much left over.
Here is a pic from a guy who saw my bike on one of the electric bike sites to give you some ideas.
I really like the boxed in , one piece frame and the adjustable idler on the drive chain. The owner of the bike said I could show them to help others out.

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This set up is genius!