I'm Jay Bean

JayBean

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Hi. I've been in the cycling industry for several years now and am getting ready to start up my own motored bike shop with my sons in Vermont. Does anybody have any helpful hints for getting started? Sage advice? Stern warnings? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Here's my 2 cents:

I have learned a lot about these motorbikes and I am doing well with it. I could start slapping kits on bicycles and sell them at a modest profit. But these things are fickle! There is rarely a day that goes by without me fiddling or fixing something.

Right now, my 2 stroke is perfectly tuned for cruising at high revs, running a bit lean. But this makes the bike hard to start. A cold 2 stroke wants a rich mixture to start easy. I could rejet the carb to a #70 and it would start easier, but would likely 4 -stroke at high RPM.

This is just one example of how you might need to deal with a customer who expects easy operation and dependability. This, to me, is more if a hobby than a possible job creation plan.
 
You gotta check Vermont laws regarding motorbikes. It seem stricter than many states and similar to California. So, its not impossible but part of your selling point could be helping them with the entire registration, titling, and road worthy process.
 
Perhaps there is value there. That's one of the things you can determine. The bicycle industry and the motorized bicycle market are two different things. I welcome your addition to this hobby and I hope you can find ways to make these things reliable.
 
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I've pondered building and selling these bikes, too. And I've learned enough that I can now build a bike that's pretty stout.

But I can see two possible headaches that could be severe enough to make it not worthwhile. One of them was illustrated pretty well above. That is, the customer who refuses to make any effort to 'learn' his bike and instead just complains that you sold him garbage. An awful lot of people will do just that.

The other is my fear that someone will buy one, then do something stupid and get himself killed. His widow will sue me. And I'm not sure at all that she'll lose.

One way around these troubles would be to build bikes of truly high quality. Stuff like KCVale or Sportsman make. But getting to that level of worksmanship will take some time.

So while I wish you the best of luck in the world, I'd advise you to be careful. You'll be exposing yourself to some measurable risk.
 
One way around these troubles would be to build bikes of truly high quality. Stuff like KCVale or Sportsman make. But getting to that level of worksmanship will take some time.

The other thing to consider is price also. Most people don't want to spend big bucks on a motorized bike and just looking for some fun or cheap transportation. Think about it this way, a Chinese 50cc moped is like $500 new and used mopeds are $300-500. The bike has to be priced below this or if not there better be a good reason why not.
 
The other thing to consider is price also. Most people don't want to spend big bucks on a motorized bike and just looking for some fun or cheap transportation. Think about it this way, a Chinese 50cc moped is like $500 new and used mopeds are $300-500. The bike has to be priced below this or if not there better be a good reason why not.


Not a bad point at all. I'd be reluctant to buy a even good motorized bike if the price were similar to a Honda scooter. And, once again, those who only have $500 to spend will likely be unqualified riders/maintainers and are likely to come back and haunt you.

With the Honda things like legality, dependability and qualified mechanics would not be an issue.
 
Not a bad point at all. I'd be reluctant to buy a even good motorized bike if the price were similar to a Honda scooter. And, once again, those who only have $500 to spend will likely be unqualified riders/maintainers and are likely to come back and haunt you.

With the Honda things like legality, dependability and qualified mechanics would not be an issue.

Yeah, I didn't mean to be discouraging. There is definitely a market out there for handy folks that can professionally assemble and maybe add a few key upgrades at a reasonable price. But, then there are other factors like pricing to consider too.
 
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