overpriced motorized bikes pre-assembled

[Deleted member 12676]

Looking at what is available online I was shocked to see that vendors offer basically no more than a stylish frame with a crappy chinese engine and charge from $1200 to $2400 !!!
shameless creeps, all of them.
If I ever get back to the States I will make and sell bikes that
have front suspension
front disc brakes
fenders (god you know that is essential if you have ever ridden in the rain)
tail light
headlight
speedometer (with multiple other functions)
and the engine will not excessively vibrate because it will have a lighter wrist pin and the Jaguar CDI.
it will be more powerful from increasing the compression and expertly jetting the carb and making slight porting mods and having an intake extension.
I can do all this for $1000 no sweat, using a real nice mountain bike like the Micargi RX 0.3 (god, what a head turner!)
It is bad enough that the engines come from China needing balancing, a stronger and more reliable CDI, more compression, and better porting but then people who know their shortcomings stick them as-is into a snazzy frame and charge hard-to-believe amounts of money for them.
And stupid suckers buy them! The sites often say "sold out"!

 

[grinningremlin]

Most people want to profit, got to get something for the time spent building, even if it is a general POS.Remember, turn your fun/passion into a business and you may take the fun/passion out of it.
I thought of the same thing with GEBES, but I'd have to say it's probably better if the rider builds his/her own ride.It's the only way to really have a little sympathy for it, and when you work out the bugs it becomes part of the next-better build.If you build for others they're more likely to rag it out, and bring it back to you with complaints of breakdowns.One gremlins opinion.

 

[Deleted member 12676]

I understand the profit motive. I too would be doing it for a profit but with all the modifications and necessary accessories thrown in I would definitely be earning my money, whereas those fatazzes would be getting lots of money for one simple installation. Crap, I could teach a 10 year old to install the engine. What gives them the right to overcharge? Well, the same applies as what they say about politics, the people get the lying sucky politicians that they deserve.
I hope to attract sensible people that know better than to throw their money into the wallets of those sharks.

 

[Deleted member 12676]

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

It looks good but that is as far as it goes. You could buy a good used moped fully street ready for the price this guy charges.
$1650 from Jake's. Advantages: Nice street tires, comfy seat, some front suspension, pretty red paint job, strong wheels. Disadvantages: unbalanced engine (vibrates too much), standard ignition (weak spark and no timing curve), standard weak compression (causing low power), standard intake track length (not taking advantage of the resonance effect which crams more fuel mixture into the engine at low revs for more grunt), standard NT carburetor which is non-adjustable, expansion chamber which does nothing more than make it look slick and make too much noise, no fenders (so fun to get a mud streak up your shirt and god-knows-what slung up into your face from your tires when riding in rain), no lights, no speedo, too expensive.

 

[BigBlue]

Often quoted to PT Barnum - there's a sucker born every minute. Fools or the non mechanically inclined will pay the price for the convenience.

Chris
AKA: BigBlue

 

[Dankoozy]

$1650 for that yoke is an awful ripoff. My car isn't worth that much

still some good for nothing fat kid with rich parents who watch TV and goes on Facebook all day will pay that

 

[professor]

By the time you add up all the costs, you will not want to work for peanuts, that Micargi bike is $375 at sears, add a motor + your mods and I bet you would dump the idea of selling it for a thousand. Then add in the aggrivation of dealing w/ the public?

I do wonder how many of these bikes sell. "Out of stock" may mean- I'll build one of someone calls.

Ever see a post from a guy with one where he says he bought a bike pre-built and now it doesn't run? I don't recall seeing any.

There are a couple of long time people here that build bikes / frames for others, I wonder if they will kick in their 2 cents?

 

[grinningremlin]

Dealing with the public, that's about $60 an hour for me.If I built one for anyone who wants a "turn-key" bike, they would have to understand I'd SHOW them how to fix it, charge them $60 an hour to fix it, or start with the stipulation that once it's bought it's on them to come here and learn for themselves.A GEBE new with engine is $700-$750 and you don't want to put it on a crappy bike, there's your thousand, before any wrenching.

 

[Dankoozy]

By the time you add up all the costs, you will not want to work for peanuts, that Micargi bike is $375 at sears, add a motor + your mods and I bet you would dump the idea of selling it for a thousand. Then add in the aggrivation of dealing w/ the public?

I do wonder how many of these bikes sell. "Out of stock" may mean- I'll build one of someone calls.

Ever see a post from a guy with one where he says he bought a bike pre-built and now it doesn't run? I don't recall seeing any.

There are a couple of long time people here that build bikes / frames for others, I wonder if they will kick in their 2 cents?

If they are going into a dead ordinary brick and mortar shop to buy a brand new bike that's where they're going on. Really if they want to make a few bob they should be restoring old bikes from car boot sales and flea markets and putting engines on those. They should also be making some of the more overpriced parts themselves and not just buying ordinary run of the mill kits with happytime engines to put on. If you hack something together from bits of scrap and very cheap parts it might be possible to make money over here but I don't think anyone is willing to pay over 1k for a mb, if they are spending that amount of money they'll build it themselves

 

[grinningremlin]

America is a weird place, to generalize, we have MANY "Veruca Salt's" here, they exult the new and belittle the old, they don't care how it works, they don't care how much it costs, they want it now, and will be the first to complain about the builder when it breaks.Verucas usually come from hands off rich parents, but there is a sub-set that come from little to no experience.
I have a friend that can't believe nor understand that I buy old used things made of metal when I can buy a brand new one made of plastic; when I tell him "this was made in 1968 and works like it was new, and that POS will break in a few months and then can't be repaired" he looks at me as if I were speaking alien and says "but it looks old!".
Through generations of conditioning Verucas are more impressed with what you say, not what you do, and what it looks like, not how it performs.Opportunistic swayed-scruple businessmen make a good living off this, then breed more Verucas, gotta keep the system going.