Do I want to build motorbikes?

[eastwoodo4]

well if you plan on selling the Happy Times
plan on having some spare parts -- they will be wanted by your customers soon

my cousin just bought a Happy Time from a very small dealer down the road -- maybe two weeks ago

he has been back already to purchase
petcock -- broke on day 2 ??
new muffler -- orig fell apart on day 4 ??
head gasket blew out on day 6 ??

something else also happened -- I just do not remember
oh yes -- rear wheel came loose day 1 -- that could cause someone to get killed !!

ride that THING

if these things fall apart so easy then why sell them?imho i think these r bad to sell to the public do to there problems.for the price of around 125 dollars u can buy one of these kits.so for someone with a little mechanical skill it might be the right choice if the moneys real tight.but to expect to build bikes for around 250 and sell them for 500 or more[which i see on craigslist all the time]is a bad idea to me.because its bound to break and leave a bad taste in the customers mouth as far as motored bikes go.which in my opinion is bad for all of us.i wish someone could produce a decent friction drive kit for around $250.they run for ever.

 

[fasteddy]

Worked for a guy building fiberglass race car bodies. He also owned a small dirt track that served beer.

When I left he was being sued by the wife/lawyer of a chronic drunk who was killed in a car crash because he had beer at the race track and they should have known he was a drunk and not served him.
Trouble with that was he had the beer at the track 3 days before he died!

The cost to defend himself was high but the other lawyer was willing to settle out of court for ten thousand. That was admitting guilt and the beer licence was gone and a big fine. He had insurance but if they settled he was unable to pay for it and the track closed.

Don't know how it turned out but he was in a lose/lose situation.
Steve.

 

[Junster]

One of the first principals of US law is you can not/do not have the ability to sign away your rights. So waivers only work when it's not a rights issue. Waivers don't supersede the law. However to get sued over a bike crash the person doin the suing would have to prove negligence of the part of the builder. That can be easy if you are and hard if you aren't. Unfortunatly Lawyers make money on injury cases by winning not by playing fair. Alot of it would depend on how much real assets were available to take. They automatically go where the money is. Whoever involved that has it. Incorporating would be very wise. Looking for liability insurance maybe. Sometimes it's a matter of simply exhausting the othersides ability to fight. What would I do? Talk to a good lawyer first. We are ALWAYS looking for somebody else to blame. At least if you incorporate a small bike shop has little to lose and your protecting your personal assets. You need a lawyer to figure out if building at/in your home is putting your home on the line. The deepest pockets usually win. Knife makers get sued for people cutting themself. Birdhouses may be spreading bird flu. The whole thing is ridiculous, but we're stuck with it.

 

[bamabikeguy]

A bike is a vehicle, and the person controlling the bike is the operator.

Every new bicycle has a booklet which includes an outline of safety and risk, and any owner/operator of a bicycle is assumed to know these rules and tips.

Honesty is the best policy, I leave on the little sticker that the bike manufacturer attaches, saying "don't motorize this bike".

Liability usually falls one of three types, a manufacturing defect, a design defect, or a failure to warn.

What I do is give a lot of warnings in my demonstration rides, and never sell a bike until a person has rode one around my rural area, and can ask me all the questions they can think of.

When the money passes hands, I am no longer the owner or operator of the vehicle.

They have front and rear reflectors and the best mirror (Mirrycle) when I'm done, and it's now up to the owner to customize with all the accessories.

 

[Flapdoodle]

Honesty is the best policy, I leave on the little sticker that the bike manufacturer attaches, saying "don't motorize this bike".

I did not know some say that. Are there many manufactures that do that? Do they say why?

 

[bamabikeguy]

Some do have the motor warning, some don't (Sun Comfort Rovers do, they are my best sellers)

It's usually a variation of:

WARNING

Read manual
Always wear a helmet
Add lights to ride at night
Do not add a motor to this bike

 

[bamabikeguy]

Do they say why?

The implied warning is messing with the integrity of the frame, i.e. drilling a hole into aluminum tubing.

At least, that's what a bike shop owner told me, it's from the old days, before frictions and rack-mounts worked around that danger.

 

[clay]

Waiver don't mean jack...
ask six flag's that , they have a sign not responsible for injurys..
when someone get killed the family get 8 million dollors.
sigh's and waivers, contracts dont mean jack if the judge rules against you..
Anybody can sue you for anything anytime !!!!!
This is America for gods sake !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

absolutely right . ask any lawyer if a waiver means anything

 

[williamsk1936@yahoo.com]

If I sell it , it will be as my personal bike and broken in. (I don't trust a new owner to pour 2 gal. 2:1 fuel through it at 20 mph. ) It would be the same as a garage sale purchase. The guarantee post is at the end of my driveway. With no title, etc pre-ownership would be hard to prove in court. The motors don't even have a serial number.
I will not sell one that won't stop well.

 

[agcat111]

HT engines?

What are HT engines?