I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no stretch. Racing friends of his raced an entire season and the only brake adjustments they made the whole season was to account for brake pad wear. These are not inexpensive to make relative to steel cables.
My question is there a market for such a product? Is this enough to start a small business around? How much would something like this cost at retail? If these performed as advertised what kind of volume would be reasonable to expect? Of course price would be a big factor.
Obviously I am new to performance biking. I am interested in understanding this market and who like to find out the potential size and elasticity of the bike cable business. Any suggestions, help or a recommendation to web sites etc. is greatly appreciated. TIA.
"Idahojoe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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Obviously I am new to performance biking. I am interested in understanding this market and who like to find out the potential size and elasticity of the bike cable business. Any suggestions, help or a recommendation to web sites etc. is greatly appreciated. TIA.
If you're lucky, you can get people to spend US$2/gram for weight savings. I think that's kind of steep, but some people will pay it. I may have done also.
As far as paying for a better product, who knows? There are crappy products that sweep the market, and great ones that crash & burn.
I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no stretch.
My question is there a market for such a product?
The standard rule of thumb is that shaving a gram from a bike costs $1. If your friend's cables weigh 1 oz. less, that's worth about $3 at retail prices. That's a pretty slim margin.
But the right amount of marketing can sell the latest "innovation", regardless of its real benefit. -- terry morse Palo Alto, CA terrymorse.combikeOpen ↗
The standard rule of thumb is that shaving a gram from a bike costs $1. If your friend's cables weigh 1 oz. less, that's worth about $3 at retail prices. That's a pretty slim margin.
marketing is everything. bad products sell in large quantities if marketed well. it helps if your customer is clueless about what truely adds value, as many are. titanium bolts for instance.
conversely, good products with real value frequently fail in the market.
rocky
"David" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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"Idahojoe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Obviously I am new to performance biking. I am interested in understanding this market and who like to find out the potential size and elasticity of the bike cable business. Any suggestions, help or a recommendation to web sites etc. is greatly appreciated. TIA.
If you're lucky, you can get people to spend US$2/gram for weight savings.
I think that's
Quoted message said:
kind of steep, but some people will pay it. I may have done also.
As far as paying for a better product, who knows? There are crappy
The standard rule of thumb is that shaving a gram from a bike costs $1. If your friend's cables weigh 1 oz. less, that's worth about $3 at retail prices.
Originally posted by Idahojoe I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no stretch. Racing friends of his raced an entire season and the only brake adjustments they made the whole season was to account for brake pad wear. These are not inexpensive to make relative to steel cables.
My question is there a market for such a product? Is this enough to start a small business around? How much would something like this cost at retail? If these performed as advertised what kind of volume would be reasonable to expect? Of course price would be a big factor.
Obviously I am new to performance biking. I am interested in understanding this market and who like to find out the potential size and elasticity of the bike cable business. Any suggestions, help or a recommendation to web sites etc. is greatly appreciated. TIA.
Is that 1 oz for all four cables? Does that include housing? I don't have any data here in front of me but I doubt if all four naked cables together weigh 1 oz. Most of the "high-end" cable market focuses on less friction. Lower weight might be a selling point if it includes the housing but low stretch would be marketing hype since regular cables don't stretch anyway.
"Idahojoe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
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I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no stretch.
I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no stretch.
How much do you suppose steel cables stretch, out of interest? -- David Damerell <[email hidden]> Distortion Field!
David Damerell <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
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Idahojoe said:
I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no stretch.
How much do you suppose steel cables stretch, out of interest?
Thanks for everyone's feedback and comments. It is very helpful.
For what it is worth I am not a rider. I was told stretch was an issue that racers and other performance bikes deal with. I have suggested that my friend get hard data regarding stretch and we are going to send some samples out to an engineering lab. My guess is perhaps over time steel cable might stretch about 1/4 inch due to the braid etc. but there is no data backing that up. The real issue is if this is a real market or market hype and no real added value. More research is needed. Thanks to all for the comments.
applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no stretch.
How much do you suppose steel cables stretch, out of interest?
For what it is worth I am not a rider. I was told stretch was an issue that racers and other performance bikes deal with.
How unfortunate that you weren't told that that "stretch" is largely down to freshly installed cables and outers bedding in. -- David Damerell <[email hidden]> Distortion Field!
