So my internship is at a new startup... PublicBikes.com

[Homerboy]

http://7x7.com/blogs/get-out/public-bikes-aims-get-san-franciscans-out-their-cars

The Yuppie crowd want fixies... not this... and I am pretty sure these guys know what they are doing...

So his vision is to turn the SF area into Amsterdam? To get people to ride bikes more? While a great endeavor, that option has been there for them forever already. Using pretty much identical bikes as to what Public Bikes (I will agree too it is a HORRIBLE name). Why would people now magically jump on this bandwagon at a WAY overpriced price point? I don't see what the selling point is that wasn't there before for these people?

 

[MikeMike]

So his vision is to turn the SF area into Amsterdam? To get people to ride bikes more? While a great endeavor, that option has been there for them forever already. Using pretty much identical bikes as to what Public Bikes (I will agree too it is a HORRIBLE name). Why would people now magically jump on this bandwagon at a WAY overpriced price point? I don't see what the selling point is that wasn't there before for these people?

Use the internet to change the way things are done in an industry...

 

[ManBearPig]

You realize that same mentality was taken with EVERY company EVER started right?

haha, yeah...but i guess it's expected he'd say that, he is interning there after all.

 

[Homerboy]

Use the internet to change the way things are done in an industry...

People have been selling and promoting bikes online for 20 years?

1/3/5/7 speed "simple" commuting bikes (yes with European Styling) have been available for decades (Hell Schwinn has been been making them for 70 years+) for much cheaper amounts. Yet people still love and use their cars.

I'm sorry even with "using the Internetwebs to change the way things are done..." isn't going to do anything. BTW what "things" are you talking about?

Anyways, I thought the Segway was going to be the big thing people were going to ride to work in areas like this? How'd that go? They used the internet to change "things" didn't they?

 

[MikeMike]

People have been selling and promoting bikes online for 20 years?

1/3/5/7 speed "simple" commuting bikes (yes with European Styling) have been available for decades (Hell Schwinn has been been making them for 70 years+) for much cheaper amounts. Yet people still love and use their cars.

I'm sorry even with "using the Internetwebs to change the way things are done..." isn't going to do anything. BTW what "things" are you talking about?

Anyways, I thought the Segway was going to be the big thing people were going to ride to work in areas like this? How'd that go? They used the internet to change "things" didn't they?

Things are Things for a reason... im not going to explain everything, you will just have to watch it happen.

 

[preslove]

Use the internet to change the way things are done in an industry...

How exactly are you changing things using the internet? You have not answered any of my questions and your website is very vague. Are you making the bikes? Is it online sales? Is it one shop location? Multiple locations?

All I've seen from you and your site are poorly explicated buzzwords. Give us an idea of what you're actually doing.

 

[fantolay]

DUDE STICK WITH THIS STARTUP YOU ARE GONNA GET LOADED THIS IS GONNA BE BIG.

TBH... how big could this possibly get even if it was very successful...

 

[Hector13]

What's with all the negative comments? I personally don't think this company is going to revolutionize the world, but who knows? There's no need to be insulting. It's an internship, after all. It's not like he's investing his entire life savings in this company.

Any, good luck MikeMike. Whether or not the company is "gonna be big," take this as an opportunity to learn as much as you can.

 

[MikeMike]

How exactly are you changing things using the internet? You have not answered any of my questions and your website is very vague. Are you making the bikes? Is it online sales? Is it one shop location? Multiple locations?

All I've seen from you and your site are poorly explicated buzzwords. Give us an idea of what you're actually doing.

I am being vague as I don't have the proper way to word everything, I have to much knowledge that I don't believe i am allowed to share in terms of what is going to be done, who is behind it, how it will work if it goes right...

That is why I am being vague, I don't have the ability to share the knowledge...

Sorta, yes, maybe, maybe...

 

[preslove]

I am being vague as I don't have the proper way to word everything, I have to much knowledge that I don't believe i am allowed to share in terms of what is going to be done, who is behind it, how it will work if it goes right...

That is why I am being vague, I don't have the ability to share the knowledge...

Sorta, yes, maybe, maybe...

Are you making the bikes? Is it online sales? Is it one shop location? Multiple locations?

 

[Homerboy]

Are you making the bikes? Is it online sales? Is it one shop location? Multiple locations?

If its online sales, it will be a failure right there and then. Non-professionally assembled/tuned $800+ bikes? The yuppies will scream bloody murder when they try do it themselves with their single flat head screwdriver and adjustable crescent wrench

 

[MikeMike]

Are you making the bikes? Is it online sales? Is it one shop location? Multiple locations?

Re-read what you quoted... towards the end.

 

[preslove]

Re-read what you quoted... towards the end.

Well, if you can't answer the most basic questions about your company, then you shouldn't have started this thread. You just come across as a somewhat naive douchebag.

 

[PaperclipGod]

Damnit... I just realized; we've all been Had!

This is exact same way the segway was hyped up before launch. Make it so ambiguous that everyone will be driven mad screaming "WTFU??" In the process, everyone gets to hear about your product when it launches.

I'm betting that today is a new traffic record for their site. Not to mention the SEO-bump an anandtech thread is going to get them....

 

[MikeMike]

Well, if you can't answer the most basic questions about your company, then you shouldn't have started this thread. You just come across as a somewhat naive douchebag.

It is called not knowing exactly what specifics of the company i am allowed to divulge in public... hence me being vague...

 

[DaWhim]

I prefer someone like this u can get in amsterdam.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

if you have any questions on them, let me know, I will find any information out you need...

Well, if you can't answer the most basic questions about your company, then you shouldn't have started this thread. You just come across as a somewhat naive douchebag.

It is called not knowing exactly what specifics of the company i am allowed to divulge in public... hence me being vague...

I thought the whole point of this thread was for people to ask questions and then you'd find the answers?

What kind of questions were you planning on finding the answers to? Something as simple as "do you make the bikes?" is beyond the scope of what you can figure out?

 

[MikeMike]

I thought the whole point of this thread was for people to ask questions and then you'd find the answers?

What kind of questions were you planning on finding the answers to? Something as simple as "do you make the bikes?" is beyond the scope of what you can figure out?

We design them, or outsource to well known designers. manuf in taiwan, ship in to us, ship out to customer...

 

[xanis]

We design them, or outsource to well known designers. manuf in taiwan, ship in to us, ship out to customer...

So you don't custom-tune or physically work on them at all then? Yeah, I agree with some of the other posters... the price seems a little high in that case. But hey, if there's a market for it and the company can make money off of it, why not?

 

[PaperclipGod]

The finest european styling comes from skilled hands of taiwanese sweatshops.

 

[MikeMike]

So you don't custom-tune or physically work on them at all then? Yeah, I agree with some of the other posters... the price seems a little high in that case. But hey, if there's a market for it and the company can make money off of it, why not?

No, there is a bunch of stuff we do when we get it in to the warehouse to prep for the customer, truing, some assembly, and what not... I havent worked there yet, so I am not 100% sure on absolutely everything, I have a lot of files I have read through, but i haven't actually been there and done anything...

 

[Meghan54]

We design them, or outsource to well known designers. manuf in taiwan, ship in to us, ship out to customer...

So, what you're saying is the bikes are actually made by Giant or Astro or Ideal or Fairly or Kinesis or A-Pro or Hodaka in Taiwan, right? My guess would be Giant, seeing as Giant Bicycles is the largest frame maker in the world and has no problems producing for small indies. But wouldn't surprise me to see them being made by Ideal, either.

But "outsourced to well known designers" almost makes it a Giant, as very few other "designers" are "well known", unless you actually managed to get Gary Fisher (unlikely as he's restricted under contract via Trek) or Waterford (not likely, while an excellent steel frame designer, your company couldn't afford him) or some other such American frame designer....which I seriously doubt, as snagging a top flight frame designer would be trumpeted all over the bike's web site. It would be a major coup and not worthy of hiding.

 

[Meghan54]

No, there is a bunch of stuff we do when we get it in to the warehouse to prep for the customer, truing, some assembly, and what not... I havent worked there yet, so I am not 100% sure on absolutely everything, I have a lot of files I have read through, but i haven't actually been there and done anything...

Well, since your bikes are made in Taiwan and shipped over, there's very little to really be done at the shop end. True, checking out the wheels for true is impt., but other than that, sticking in a stem into the headset/headtube and adjusting the handlebar, attaching the front wheel onto the bike, sliding in the seat/seatpost into the frame, making sure the hub shifts correctly....that's about all that's done.

But then, that'll all have to be undone, outside the wheel truing, to ship.....basically putting the bike back into its shipped configuration.

This is experience talking. After opening thousands upon thousands of bike boxes in the approx. decade I wrenched and sold bikes (incl. Cannondale, Trek, Giant, Schwinn, Klein, Lightspeed amongst others), the manufacturers attempt to have the bikes as close to fully assembled as they can. Road bikes and recumbents are the most unassembled out of the box.....your bikes will be the closest to fully assembled and shouldn't need much work at all to get on the road. Maybe 30 min. of work......if you're slow and only have an adjustable wrench to work with.

Oh, and I'm very, very surprised given the price of those bikes that you went with such an "antiquated" stem/headset combination. That headset, using a threaded fork tube, was put out to pasture well over a decade ago by the Aheadset style of headset. Almost no one uses the threaded fork/headset any longer, except in the most bottom end junk found on Murray, Huffy and other crap made by Pacific Bicycles....all found in Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and other low end big box retailers. Sad, really, their choice in that.

 

[Homerboy]

We design them, or outsource to well known designers. manuf in taiwan, ship in to us, ship out to customer...

So you design them... or somebody else does. There's a big difference there. They are Taiwan made and you ship to the customers.

You ship un-assembled, un-tuned bikes to untrained/educated customers who are going to bitch that their ~$1000 bike, while looking good, doesn't really work that well, and everything is ill-properly fitting.

I'll go back to YoYo's question and point:
"What kind of questions were you planning on finding the answers to? "

I'm sorry, but I can imagine NO "invention" or why of doing "things" differently on the internet that is going to actually promote these bikes successfully. Pushing bikes to communities like SF and the like has been attempted for several decades, with varying, but all (very) marginal levels of success. At a MUCH cheaper price level.

Now maybe you guys are inventing the Apple of the 2-wheeled world though?

 

[Homerboy]

Well, since your bikes are made in Taiwan and shipped over, there's very little to really be done at the shop end. True, checking out the wheels for true is impt., but other than that, sticking in a stem into the headset/headtube and adjusting the handlebar, attaching the front wheel onto the bike, sliding in the seat/seatpost into the frame, making sure the hub shifts correctly....that's about all that's done.

But then, that'll all have to be undone, outside the wheel truing, to ship.....basically putting the bike back into its shipped configuration.

This is experience talking. After opening thousands upon thousands of bike boxes in the approx. decade I wrenched and sold bikes (incl. Cannondale, Trek, Giant, Schwinn, Klein, Lightspeed amongst others), the manufacturers attempt to have the bikes as close to fully assembled as they can. Road bikes and recumbents are the most unassembled out of the box.....your bikes will be the closest to fully assembled and shouldn't need much work at all to get on the road. Maybe 30 min. of work......

30 mins by a trained professional. How much time to do it PROPERLY buy an untrained yuppie with no Park tool set and no knowledge of a crescent wrench vs an allen wrench?

Not to mention who's going to get sued when the 1st improperly adjusted brake pad slams into the spokes on the front wheel sending the rider head first into a busy street intersection? ANY new, out of the box, bike requires a fair amount of PROPER adjustment before I'd feel "OK" about somebody riding away on it (this comes from my opening thousands upon thousands of bike boxes in the approx. decade I wrenched and sold bikes too 🙂)