This has been an interesting month so far. I haven't had much to post for reasons described below. This is a start up company with no crowd funding. Either I do it by myself, for myself, and my customers, or I don't do it at all. I refuse to compromise any part of a ebike, so it must be a sole entrepreneurship or nothing.
Just to set the record straight, I'm not some big money pants who can buy tons of inventory. Just the opposite. Work that pays well has been almost non existent since I left the Plumbers union. I'm far overqualified for most jobs, but lack some silly credentials required to perform the work. We live in a world of Hacks with impressive credentials and no mechanical aptitude these days. Apparently this is what the market demands. I never thought I would see the day that someone qualified to build a nuclear power plant or a hospital, would think that a burger flipper job at McDonald's would be better than where they are now. Believe me when I say, this is the best motivation to build the BEST ebikes you can find! I won't even get into the deal about what ebike rip off junk is on the market. I've covered that topic before, and will again shortly.
I've taken a job as an apprentice A&P mechanic at the local airport in order to get ebike supplies. I had this same job with 100% more responsibilities when I was in High School back in the 80's. So far that's been as big a fizzle as a couple of old style Rolaids dropped into a cup of water. "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz etc". I went out and blew almost $100 on new work shirts for the job, and now there is no work. At least I still have the shirts on my back, and had a nice steak dinner to celebrate the first paycheck. NOTE TO SELF: Don't celebrate a first paycheck again. Always wait till the second or third check has cleared the bank.
So that's not all bad. It gave me the opportunity to get in touch with a bicycle company that imports Beach Cruiser bikes down the road from where I live. I've been meaning to go by the shop and talk to the owners about an electric version of a few models anyway. So far I have yet to see one of the owners after two visits to their store/shop, and have been playing phone tag. Apparently they were looking for some bike assembly people. I hope to get in doing that to make some cash for ebike parts. $15 per bike, and I figure I can do five or six per hour. That would be better than the airplane mechanic job if they have enough bikes that need assembly. I'm still working on my sales pitch for the owners on the ebike thing. It would be great if they could get the factory to add disk brakes to the rear dropouts! I have one of their bikes already. I may have to make it electric and show up on it to impress them enough to get them to understand the added value product concept as it applies to ebikes.
At least I had a good day working as an electrician yesterday, and have more work doing that this Friday. Out of that I'm trying to put away $200 (half what I need) for the battery pack on the Schwinn Wayfarer project. I'll run the battery in a backpack until I can afford a few more leather tools, some saddle leather and supplies for a proper battery bag that the project requires.
Bags on this bike are crap!
I've come up with another design for a bag that will fit inside the frame triangle. I should call it a Lithium holster, since it's based on a stretched leather design like many popular pistol holsters. I think it will be a popular design for everything from city commuter, to Beach Cruiser, to down hill racing MTB. They're easy enough to make, but very time consuming. Hand stitched leather ain't cheap because of the labor that goes into them, but it's the best money can buy. I can't ever see Chinese factories making anything of similar quality. These will be 100% USA made, including the cow hides! No imported leather! Ever! And hand stitched by myself with the highest quality cord.
So, this is the Duke's Moto Electric State of the Union Address for Thursday June 15 2017.
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