Steel road bikes with disc brake mountts

[meamoantonio]

Hi guys I'm exploring a possible business venture.

I just met a storied frame builder who used to make all the steel bikes used in the pro peloton.
This builder is Nonet Dioquino, today he makes only a few frames with modern features.
I'm thinking about funding for him to produce frames with paint jobs done by artists kinda like what Wilier Triestina did with their Filante x Jun Inoue line

my target pricing for these would be a little under $1,000 USD

Thoughts?

[ichitan]

You should be more familiar with bike prices in the Philippines than the rest of us.

There is a slow down in many parts of the world, where less bikes are selling than in the past.

Can you buy a lot of new mountain bikes in the Philippines between US$100 and US$300?

Would your bikes sell? When people can buy any bike made by any company, your bikes need to have something about them which people would want. What would that be? People normally look for something which gives them better performance.

If you think people would want them, start with a small number, and see how they sell.

[ichitan]

You can order bikes direct from manufacturers.

In the example below, you can buy bikes from the manufacturer for $25. These may retail in S E Asia for around $100.

https://forums.bikeride.com/thread-8743.html

[Rasmus]

We really appreciate all the helpful replies and interesting discussions that both ichitan and Painkiller provide on this forum. It helps people with their questions, and helps us all to enjoy cycling more.

Having different opinions on topics is always welcome and can create good discussions, but we would appreciate not seeing posts that are meant to hurt someone personally.

I have cleared this topic from unrelated posts now, and hope we can get back to thoughts on meamoantonio’s possible business venture

[Painkiller]

Thank you, and I apologize to BikeRide and the OP

[meamoantonio]

(01-01-2024, 04:24 PM)Rasmus Wrote:  We really appreciate all the helpful replies and interesting discussions that both ichitan and Painkiller provide on this forum. It helps people with their questions, and helps us all to enjoy cycling more.

Having different opinions on topics is always welcome and can create good discussions, but we would appreciate not seeing posts that are meant to hurt someone personally.

I have cleared this topic from unrelated posts now, and hope we can get back to thoughts on meamoantonio’s possible business venture

Thanks for this, since you're here anyway, care to share your thoughts about the topic?

[Thomas Kennedy]

I think the artist-painted concept could be really interesting, especially if the frame builder’s history gives the project a story beyond just the paint. The big question for me would be whether you can keep the quality and artist involvement high enough at just under $1,000. Starting with a small limited run might be a good way to test demand before scaling up.

[Jesper]

To be able to build a complete bike from scratch with quality tubes, built by a master builder, and then have one of a kind custom paintwork for anything close to a $1000 is not feasible unless the tube set is sourced a low cost, and the builder and painter work nearly for free
That does not even count the components or cost of paint/materials.

Average quality tube set is ~$200 or more, paint (quality, durable), easily $100 or more, mid range quality groupset is $500 minimum (without tires, rims, saddle, bar, or stem; another $200-$300). Even if you divide those costs in half (by wholesale bulk ordering) you are looking at $500 before paying anyone to build the frame or paint it.

So building a quality custom bike will cost well over $1000 before figuring out a selling cost. If trying to build just an entry level frame with a basic one color paint job, and equipped with entry level components you might just be able to pull off making a S1000 bicycle, but not where I live. Any frame builder around me is going to charge $1000 labor at minimum (more like $2000) even if using the cheapest straight gauge high tensile steel tubing to build it with. A single tube repair can cost $200 for labor alone. Just look at what many repair shops charge for the most basic service work and you get an idea of what specialty work will cost in your area.