Porsche bike concept

[Turbo Dave]

Hi, all;

It's been several years since I've posted (not since I sold my '73 911T R Gruppe car, in fact). I'm writing to see if there is any interest from the members in my producing a limited production run of a bike that I designed, which is based on design elements of the 911. It was designed as part of the Fast Company / Porsche design competition which was part of Porsche's 50 year celebration of the 911. I've been contacted by a wealthy collector who wants one for a Singer 911 he apparently intends to order, and I've been working with a frame builder who is capable of building it to the standards I require (i.e. high-end steel). What do you guys think, would there be a market for a few dozen of these bikes among the following, assuming spectacular build quality? Price with many custom components is likely to creep past $10k...

http://www.behance.net/gallery/3750449/Porsche-bike

[Turbo Dave]

Here are a couple additional pictures:

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[Bill Simmeth]

A really lovely design. Lots of neat design cues. I particularly love the small fans on the handlebar caps and the little ducktail is awesome! Good luck with your project!

[mepstein]

Pretty. I like it. Might look nice with a brooks swift saddle.

[Olivier]

Hello!

Your design is absolutely GORGEOUS (far better than this hairdryer thing...)

Unfortunatelly I wouldn't be a customer for 2 main reasons; first i don't have 10k, second I hate biking.

Anyway, if I can, may I ask some questions (technical) that may (or not?) help with your project:

- where is the braking system? Inside wheel hub? This kind of thing could easylly ruin your design if not taken care now. Your design's best quality is its purity, and lack of bling IMHO, and it could be disturbed by this kind of things
- Are you aware that your frame, the way it is designed now will be a pain to build? Those 2 flats on the tubes surrounding the rear wheel will take a lot of work.
- your wheel design would probably drive you to have the rims cnc'ed ($$$$) and what would you use for the wires? they are only 20? I know nothing about bikes, but there is probably a limit spacing under which the wheel colapse? A solid design made of carbon fiber would probably make sens both technically, and design wise.
- seat tubing: how do you tighten it? same question for all the other hardware. Keep in mind that you'll need some, everywhere, and if you don't want them to be too obvious, you'll have to make a lot o tricky parts, with pockets machined and so on.

Everything is possible, it is a matter of time, and money.

All those questions are not intended to tell you "you won't never be able to" Just sharing a few years of heads scratching in mechanical engineering...

best of luck, and please keep us updated.

Olivier

[QWKENF-911]

Are these bikes already in production?? I'm an avid cyclist, having owned the finest Italian bikes such as Colnago, Pinarello, DeRosa, Bianchi
and a custom build steel frame from a local builder, Mikkelsen. Your bike is beautiful but tbh I wouldn't pay $10,000 for it. What's the value of
your bike in 10 years' time?? And with all due respect, who are you again??? I can see $2-3000 but for 10 grand, I would own a bike with
'provenance'
Have a nice day

[Bill Meyer]

Wow, tough crowd! As a hobbyist frame builder myself, all I can say is it's all doable. I can also see the $10K price tag for a custom build like that, the frame alone in steel by a reputable builder will be several thousand by itself. Probably a pretty small market, but if you actually had one built and could show off those wonderful details, that would go a long way to spurring interest.

[dummkopf]

I understand what you are trying to accomplish, but that is not near enough "sugar for a dime". Pictures of it would look cool in the man cave.

The drive if belt is more energy consuming as is the transmission (assuming it is a variable in the rear hub). Plus the curved design of the frame would cause the tubing to have to be larger and gain more wanted weight to retain strength as compared to a straight tube frame.

I used to ride at least 70 miles per week on an ATB. Some on the road. I need to get back on it.

And 10 grand would be me a lot further down the line for my restoration. No offense. Some one that has the excess and that just has to have one. I wish you luck!

How much for a poster?

[super9064]

As a comparison, Porsches latest bike is $8,299.84

http://shop3.porsche.com/usa/sport/b...e-bike-rs.pdds


Custom bikes are expensive, the price point is not out of line.

[Richardnew]

When I'm not messing with Porsche I'm restoring my bikes. The price point is interesting. My local bike shop moves a lot of $10,000 bikes. Most are Pinarellos. These are custom builds and the buyers are long time riders. They could care less about Porsches.

You can restore a normal Bianchi for less than $3,000. You can't sell it for that much when your done though. It's sort of like restoring a car. You're going to be upside down when it's all said and done.

I just don't see people paying $10,000 for a bike that has no heritage. The Porsche connection won't do it. btw - most riders think the bikes that you buy from your local Porsche dealer are trash. Real bike riders don't like them. That won't help you attract high end riders.

Here's the link to my bike restoration blog. Enjoy.

Here's my next project. A Vitus. I'm going to turn it into an R Gruppe bike.

Vitus 2.jpg

Richard Newton