Custom Frames and New Builders

[zlin]

Originally Posted by colker

Isn´t Instagram a bit superficial to make you buy a custom frame? A 1x2in picture and a list of likes?

True, but FB makes a lot of money selling that dream in ad revenue.

[zlin]

Not to debate (for me at least) but if we have any HS Econ teachers in the bunch, their students could solve this in their lesson of supply and demand... as I think a lot of people are getting into cycling and want to buy a bike outside of a 'big brand'

I would be curious what youth think of what's being called influencers, micro-influencers, and an actual store. Or what they even think describes someone as established.

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

10 frames/year?

you're talking about hobby building i assume, not full time?

less than a frame a month would be a tragically low number for someone trying to earn a living selling bicycles, no?

of course, but let's be realistic about how many frames a builder is going to sell at the beginning. And I don't know how many builders are really putting out more than that. People don't really advertise their day job on instagram, do they?

I think the year I had insurance ($2000) I could sell $20k worth of stuff, but I never expected to sell that much that year. So that was 10% off the top. I don't know what it costs to increase that number, probably not 10% I feel like a lot of the people that start selling frames are not insured.

Outside of production/semi production shops, I really don't think there are many independent builders that are full time. I figure it's less than 10, but it's really hard to tell and it's a bit rude to ask.

There is more to my story than this, but I know for a fact I can build far more frames than I can sell. With not much more investment, I could probably build 2 a week and then my house would be even more full of frames than it already is.

The other thing that happened when I tried to start up was that I was temporarily blind in my right eye for a few months. That will really slow you down. Probably for the better in the end.

[PaMtbRider]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

...
Outside of production/semi production shops, I really don't think there are many independent builders that are full time. I figure it's less than 10, but it's really hard to tell and it's a bit rude to ask.

...

I don't have the data to back it up but I would guess it is at least double that amount if not more.