[Closed] Remaking the San Andreas: Welcome to the 90's.

are you for real

depending on the tooling costs, yes I assume he is. CNC has always had a gucci, factory, high end reputation precisely because it was traditionally used in low volume (eg. factory/prototype) manufacture where tooling costs were prohibitive.

edit: the cost would only be for a jig if they were buying in predetermined and formed tubing.

I really like the look of the Empire but the interrupted seat tower and small seatpost size look like it was designed years ago and only just got made. Surely building a new seat tower with a larger dropper-compatible diameter would be a doddle?

edit edit: just got dirt link to work and seen price. Erk, good luck with that.

Headtube is clearly too short too.

Really, it's 125mm? That seems a bit long actually, the NP Mega's is 115.

I prefer this

[img] [/img]

It's beautiful and different, it just needs a 44mm+ headtube.

Swarf (metal "wastage" from machining) is a commodity.
I've made components where the profit came from selling the swarf, so describing it as abject waste is silly.

TBH, I wasn't that against the bike, but then I saw the close up of the headtube and the ropey machining behind it.
Sort out yer bullnose!

I've been trying to find some pics of the machined parts of an Alleweder velomobile - there are some components in that where I swear they've machined away 98% of the metal. There's one piece in the nose which started as a 500x500x20mm lump, and all that's left is a thin ring and some spars.

Dunno what my point is, really...

I thought that this was a post about a new Grand Theft Auto.

Could somebody please explain to me the point of the Empire? I'd like to like it, but it makes no sense to me. Surely it's heavier, more expensive to build and harder to clean than an Orange Five? Has anyone here ridden one?

£2,400 is a lot of money for a single pivot frame made out of ally, no?

All those square edges would hurt a bit if the bike landed on top of you, or you on it.

Complex, expensive and wasteful manufacturing techniques being used to produce a frame that's heavier and more expensive than the competition.

I'm all for trying something different, but this isn't a bike they should be selling, it's a prototype that needs to be miles lighter and cheaper before it becomes viable.

How on earth is a headtube "too short"? Oh no, I can't get my bars high enough, if only there were some way to raise them.

It's heavy, fundamentally flexier and weaker than our good friend the oval/circle and ridiculously expensive. I remember an engineer friend asking a lot of questions at the Ft.Bill world cup and pretty much exposing its only merit as being "different looking" which is OK I suppose but doesn't do it for me. Did the same with the man from Mojo who needs a haircut - I'm no engineer but I could tell there was a lot of tosh being spurted. Awful lot of marketing hype in biking.

As a concept bike, I love it

As a production bike, I wouldn't touch it

Thing is, if I'd designed such a distinct item I'd be offering it for sale too, if no one buys one then it doesn't matter but if someone does buy one then I'd be quids in.

It's obvious to anyone that the way you make money is buy a container of far east made frames but thats no fun is it? Machining your own frame is fun.

How on earth is a headtube "too short"? Oh no, I can't get my bars high enough, if only there were some way to raise them.

frame requires a clumsy and ugly solution to get bars to 'normal' height.

should imagine there's a (probably imperceptible) stiffness loss as a result also.

looks it's not a fundamental point, just a bit of an ugly feature that shows a lack of thought (imo etc.)

Stiffness in the headtube is the least of your worries after what they've done to the swingarm!

A bit like when the media focussed on Bin Laden's porn stash, worrying about the waste from the machining process is missing the headline news - that the application of a machined I-beam to a structural member subject to torsional loads is fundamentally wrong.

your moustache is fundamentally wrong.

? The lack of?

i've even offered to help them reduce their machining costs.

as in, i'm totally serious, e-mail in profile, etc.

Are you going to machine it for them or just supply them with free arrogance? 😉

😆

A bit like when the media focussed on Bin Laden's porn stash

theres a bloke who just sold 25 golf clubs to a load of buisness men 25k each ..laughing all the way to the bank ...