Frankencycle Australia - Ebike n Small EV mechanic n 'shop

Ha! Thanks for the feedback guys. Knowing people are interested in what I'm doing is really cool.
Joe

Damn, freaking lost a post grr.

Gist of it all is that The new space is making truck loads of difference to my working environment, and I'm building a few more mid-powered rigs at the moment.

I decided to stop buying bikes, yet they are falling from the sky, local shopkeepers and security guards turning up with abondoned pedal only bikes, customers cleaning out their sheds and dropping off pedal only stuff and ancient Lead acid, brushed motor based stuff too heavy to cut it but heaps salvageable/ upgradeable.

Doing a steady trickle of mini geared hub conversion in the Aus legal power range + (less than 750W surge), have rented a couple of e-bikes to an international ES member (Thanks G! ), and have got good traction renting e-bikes to potential customers so they can "try-before-they-buy" with a money back policy if they decide to get a conversion or purchase an e-bike through me.

Latest blog post about a mid-powered Rig I built in the last two days:
http://frankencycle.me/2014/03/25/from-the-fog-of-a-build-a-beast-emerges/

Joe from frankencycle

Current Job List

this is taken from (yet another) frankencycle blog post...

Doing as much administration as I can at the moment, as available work is off the hook, and I am juggling hiring, custom customer builds, conversions, consulting and advising potential customers, as well as a constant trickle of pedal only fixes, services and assembly.



So.. here are my current Important Jobs by Priority

================

Prep hire bike ready for rental

Motor Test Rebuilt 3kw wheel rear 26″

Motor test re-wired 36v Mini-gear rear 26″

Controller test 36v 10 amp *3

Controller test 48v 20 amp

Controller test 36v 20 amp

Prep Batteries and Controllers for customer test-ride/fitting for Custom Build

Assemble Customer’s Pedal Only bikes off-site

Giant AC rebuild off-road 3kw/72v/40amp

Bernard 26″ MTB conversion 36v/10amp

================

Urgent “Shop” work (on a “whenever Time Permits” schedule):

Build Graecross Vintage racer

Upgrade trike forks and general service

Finish Lightweight Dual suspension 1.5kw

================



Looks Like I need to get to work

Joe from Frankencycle

Some Pics and Details of latest mid-power build.. 72v 3kw Giant AC Dually
http://frankencycle.me/2014/04/09/holy-crap-i-built-this/


It used to look like this

http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=47413

joe

OP serious rear pannier bags! wonder what he's carrying in there

From the blog...

Good Golly Miss Molly, What a day

two internet based enquiries in the morning (one potential conversion, one potential upgrade), one battery sale, finished off a conversion ready for delivery, 1 customer electrics troubleshoot and re-wire booked, 1 customer brake upgrade (from cable pull to hydraulic disc), and handlebar upgrade booked, one random tube change from a guy that found me on google maps, that turned into a couple of accessories sale and complete service for a vintage repco step thru, one racer service (pedal only), and finally got word of new batteries to pickup that I've been waiting on for 5 weeks.

Go hard or go home

Yeah!



Joe

From the Frankencycle blog... See link at bottom of post for pics


Too much work? Not quite but it’s getting close!

Posted on May 1, 2014

I can only guess at what is happening… but I think these points are all valid

-More public consciousnesss of electric bikes

-Developing a rep as a good e-bike mechanic

-severe lack of other places capable of services I am offering

-my prices are too low so my competitors are being bypassed by budget conscious customers who are coming straight to me.



BUT whatever the case, I am up to my chin in work almost to the point of not being able to handle it, and having to shuffle priorities on jobs.



I need the workshop up to a OHS level that I’d be willing to let someone else work there, plus concerned about initial ramp-up re training where I might be less productive whilst training someone up…

It’s a good problem to have… the too much work thing… but I gotta confess that it is starting to stress me out…

anyone got any ideas to help me overcome this challenge?



In the meantime… latest conversion, total legal, 6km/h throttle button primarily pedelec Norco Commuter.

————-

Delivered Norco Hybrid commuter conversion C's Commuter

————-

And Pedal only Racer Build

started as a frame, bb, handlebars/headset/gearset/brakeset, and rear wheel

added Carbon forks, front wheel, seat, Chainrings, new headset bearings, pedals, cables, and stuff.



6 year old racer tech, with some more modern accessories thrown in.. a good learning experience

————–

Back to the workshop now to work on:

re-wiring of mid power Chinese import

Completion of geared rear hub MTB conversion

Handlebar and brake upgrade of original Frankencycle shopbike/racer

Report writeup for possible top speed upgrade of BH NEO Jumper (BEST commercial E-bike I have worked on/ridden so far)

Prep for a dual service of two roadbike conversions (first free service as part of Frankencycle deal)

And I have to somehow work out logistics to bring my remote storage shed contents into my “new” next door storage space…

Need coffee and cloning kit

Link to Blog for pics:

http://frankencycle.me/2014/05/01/too-much-work-not-quite-but-its-getting-close/

Joe

I actually started a small ebike business here in Brisbane... I gave up on it.. I got sick to death of working on hub motors and controllers...
I dumped close to 20k into it..... I probably made even... But I just got bored of it....I like working on my own bikes.. just not anyone elses..
If this happens to you.. I would suggest hiring a worker to do it all...

I do wish you luck man...

Things I found annoying... Insurance for public liability and selling bicycles that were not road legal... e.g. over the 250watt or what ever stupid speed regulations they have... yes yes you can limit it... still I would be looking at some kind of legal disclaimer that protects you from any possible failure on a bicycle... lithium going up...WOT that is uncontrollable... ect ect... don't get sued

Another thing to think about is the consumer law.... if you are not fully aware of it.. its well worth reading about and making sure you understand it.. if you have that is good.... Here in Australia, the consumer laws are really good for protecting the consumers... Most warranties are just bs here and most people can make claims 5 years later if they paid a reasonable amount of money for that product...
don't want to be hearing from any ombudsmen...if you do... get ready to bend over because they will rape you.

I think its very worth while pushing marketing as much as possible man.. it takes quite some time to build it up and get known.. the sooner the better I think.


Anyway man... Best of luck, Don't give up...

Hey nechaus! Thanks for "dropping by" here, man, i've got mad respect for your build skillz n attitude

I "think" it's gonna take a while before I get sick of working on other's bikes, n truth be known, originally I had no idea that working on others stuff would be such a big component of the biz as it stands.

A hella lot of the builds I do for other people are in the legal power range, n seriously it doesn't frustrate me (too much ).
I even get an absolute $hit-load of pleasure just working on pedal only bikes, n working as my own boss keeps me grinning from day-to-day.

My main "fears and realisations" at the moment centre around the fact that I could work pretty much 24/7 and never run out of stuff to do, and even without some hard-core advertising campaign I am hard-pressed to keep up with the work (predominantly unsolicited) that Keeps rolling through the door.

I seem to be still way below my "competitor's" price points, and have really increased my self-confidence in the work I do to the point now where I am starting to realise that the option of upping my prices may be the best way to handle the huge amount of work out there

I get the legal disclaimer thing, and I basically only sell higher powered stuff to people who are already higher powered experienced.. same with LiPo... not for n00bs...

But yeah... two years down the track since I started this Biz, and I am FAR from wanting to quit... and looking now at ways to expand without risking everything....

Joe

From the blog...

=

Part of a Frankencycle conversion or build includes the First Service, Free of charge…

This is not entirely altruistic, as I really appreciate feedback, good, bad or interesting from my customers, I love seeing “my babies” once they’ve left the fold, and as I stress to all my customers, the hub motor builds MUST have the wheels tuned as spokes do settle over time and the wheel has to be trued and checked.

This weekend saw the return of a pair of felt roadbikes (pretty much identical) that belong to an absolutely gorgeous couple, of retirement age, Les and Mary. Like pretty much all my customers, I LOVE these guys…

true story, the Felts were my first customer owned road bike conversions, and I insisted that I only convert one first, to make sure that it satisfied their needs and that I got it right… Mary’s bike got the first conversion and a few weeks after I rolled it out the workshop door, Les started hassling me to convert his… “I can’t keep up with my wife, Joe, you’ve got to help!”



First service included a clean, inspection, tuniing of rear wheels, brake set and gear tune, plus lube.

Les still asked me, when they came to pick the bikes up, how much he owed me…

nix nada nothing… take that!

The Felts are giving them 40-50km assist… slightly different batteries but both are 24v 10 ah, with a 24v electric drive chain.. legal top speed of 25km/h, 250watt.

==============
Check mah Site for pics (see mah Sig)

Joe

Running this Biz, even though it sometimes means working on less than stellar examples of e-bikes, has it's own rewards...

from the blog...
==========================================

On friday a customer rang me…

“Joe”, he said “my bike’s been stolen”

I roared, I ranted I got upset on his behalf…

this guy (Let’s call him S) is not just a customer and e-bike rider, he is also a really intelligent ex-POM with a wicked sense of humour and pretty much paralysed on his left-side from halfway down his back due to couple of decades old injury…

He’s not exactly wealthy either… and I knew the loss of his bike was a huge blow to his mobility and with it his social life. the bike itself was not even that awesome a rig, maybe 6 years old, a lead acid based 20″ step through that took him about 2 minutes to get on, and which I’d done a whole heap of work on to bring it back up to safe and reliable after he contacted me needing new batteries, after a friend found me and asked if I could work on it..

As luck would have it, the stolen ride was S’ssecond bike. His first ride was in the possession of the previously mentioned friend, and happened to be sitting in my workshop waiting to be re-built.

A quick flurry of phone calls and we all managed to come up with the idea that I could get the original bike up and running and get it to S as quick as possible.

So I’ve spent the last couple of days rebuilding the original…While finishing off another conversion, and delaying a couple of other jobs.

Finally delivered the bike to S this afternoon… I told it it was all for free but the Bastard insisted that he will pay me $50 next week, it was either that or he was gonna stand there (on one leg) arguing with me outside his flat… at least I managed to low-ball him

Back to the ‘shop this arvo and managed to finish up a couple of other jobs that were shuffled back in the Queue while sorting S out…

But I am now pretty effing tired… and gonna sleep the sleep of the self-righteous tonight!…

Pretty pleased with the boost in productivity tho.. guess I just needed some incentive to get off my arse

Big love to all

Joe

winkinatcha said:

My main "fears and realisations" at the moment centre around the fact that I could work pretty much 24/7 and never run out of stuff to do, and even without some hard-core advertising campaign I am hard-pressed to keep up with the work (predominantly unsolicited) that Keeps rolling through the door.

I seem to be still way below my "competitor's" price points, and have really increased my self-confidence in the work I do to the point now where I am starting to realise that the option of upping my prices may be the best way to handle the huge amount of work out there

Click to expand...

Just an anecdote from my experience as a computer shop owner...I felt much the same way working on computers. I love programming and doing stuff, but after a while, working on other peoples equipment takes its toll. Also, you have a very good recipe for burning yourself out (thats what happened to me...work all day in the shop, close it up and then pull out my laptop in the living room and continue working...literally 24hrs in cases)

Just be cautious and true to yourself. Don't try to fight through a burnout and don't be afraid to ask for help or you'll end up hating your passion in the end...and that sucks way more than bankrupcy

Incredible, good luck

r3volved said:

Just be cautious and true to yourself. Don't try to fight through a burnout and don't be afraid to ask for help or you'll end up hating your passion in the end...and that sucks way more than bankrupcy

Click to expand...

Noted, dude... that hating your passion at the end would be my life's worst nightmare...

Cool advice and thankyou

Edit:
CWAH! thanks man.

with a quick dip into some philosophysing...

I think I'm Lucky Therefor I Am ...

I truly beleive that shizzle

Joe

Would you beleive, a Free Awesome Promo video...

Cos I am tired and lazy, I have lifted the following words from a FaceBook post I made

WOW!!!!!
a couple of weeks ago I found out about a newly started directory for Australian ebike and Electric vehicle related businesses ...
http://www.ConvertElectric.com

The people behind the directory were asking businesses like Frankencycle to list, and like a good little business man, licketty split I got in contact with them.

turns out that these guys are running a A Melbourne Based Video Production Company as well, (http://www.wolf-eagle.com/) and they wondered if I'd be interested in them coming over to the workshop and Putting together a Promo Video, for Frankencycle for free.

"HELLS BELLS YESS!!!" I gasped, or shrieked, or typed in all caps.

We organised a time for them to come over, and with no small amount of trepidation felt on my part, the day and hour arrived, and Annemarie and Kit from Wolf & Eagle rocked up outside my workshop with sound and camera gear in hand...

With Annemarie on sound and prompting me with questions, and Kit on Camera, I worked away on a build, and chattered on about Frankencycle...

true story, most of the time I wasn't even Conscious of Kit doing the video, actually thought he was holding a digital SLR and just taking stills, as I was trying to remain head down, arse up working on a build

Kit and Annemarie were awesome people to meet.
Time swept by, with a self conscious moment here and there when I suddenly realised I had a camera pointing at me and thought I needed to act.

I guess a couple of hours all in all, and "the crew" were all packed up and waving goodbye from down the alley.

I've kept pretty stumm about it, Having no real idea what these guys would come up with...

I've just recieved the first edit... well maybe 3 hrs ago... and have permission from Annemarie and Kit to share it...

Here's how they sent it to me
=====================

Hey Joe!

Man, we had such a good day last Sunday, thanks so much for your time. Was an awesome start to the week.

Here's the video at the moment:

http://youtu.be/3kPslkSOupU

=====================

Note this is the FIRST EDIT or proof, so to speak... some minor changes will happen, and text and URLs pointing to my Blog/website and Making the name Frankencyle writ large will happen at the beginning end and in comments.

It's a tad freaky seeing and hearing myself, the old self-conscious OMG I am so NAFF... but I can confirm it is really me... dissapointingly less majestic than I had hoped... more the fluffy Bogan I am

You sound very confident and professional...excellent first effort.
If you are going to use it as a "marketing promo" ..i might suggest editing out some of the external building shots ! :wink:
And include more of you riding the bikes :lol:

Good work Joe!, i'm happy you palmed me off for the film crew last Sunday. No complaints from me, include the buildings (its a workshop/garage in the suburbs) the cat can stay, neaten the workshop/ catalogue everything you have there for advertising (massive job i know).
People know who Joe is via here, word of mouth, search engines etc and will continue to do so Keep up the good work and ahem *finish the bike by Friday"

Hi

Nice Frankencycle store you've got!

I'm starting up myself I know the stuff and there are alot of people doing the same but as you know there are many sellers "just selling ebikes" without even the basic knowledge of how ebike works.

I am going with the e-tech, the website will sell. I will keep small valuable items stocks maximum 2sqm, fast build of special made ebikes that will go out as fast as they're build.

Keep up the good work. Put higher prices - they will pay whatever you say - I know I am the same. The buyer never knows, he just enjoys his now newly serviced or repaired ebike. There are going to be more of these companies starting up all over the world and all of us are a little but ahead, aren't we?

The commercial. You should add some photos or film of happy customers riding your bikes on the streets... also sneak peak of your finished bikes would be nice.

Apologies for the delay in updates on this thread for the last wee while...

Here is my "second to latest" post on my blog (see sig for link to website...)

Moving out of Winter Into Spring down here in Aus and the Southern Hemisphere, and with that comes, gumption, more customers and far sweeter headspace than I normally have in the depths of my local winter

-----


If You Can’t Say Anything Good…
Posted on September 5, 2014

On social media and related “presented for public viewing” outlets (such as facebook and this blog and website), I really really really try to write by the philosophy of “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything”.

Being quite the talkative type, and generally biased towards feeling lucky, I can waffle on pretty consistently, even when I’m facing challenges that are not all that good.

However, I must confess this almost finished winter was purty challenging, and left me with little to say for longer than usual.

A blessing no doubt for some, but ya can’t hold a silver tongued devil down, and I have GOOD STUFF that I want to talk about.



first up though… biggest challenge, still being surmounted, was/is an absolute stuff up in cash flow, that has basically seen me paddling a little harder than usual to keep Frankencycle and ultimately me, secure and trading solvently…

The big hiccup in cash flow occurred leading into the (now almost over) little winter Melbourne has just experienced. This winter SEEMED a lot quieter than last year, business wise. checking the books though, business/turnover was really more on par or better to last year, BUT… the turnover/income was not quite enough to keep me and my workshop in the manner to which I had become accustomed

one thing has led to another, and financially I am on the edge…



HOWEVER!

Spring is happening… the sun is shining onto beautiful warm days more regularly… I get to ride in warmth and sunshine on whatever build I’m testing or delivering or riding with great eagerness. New customers are contacting me daily, I am fully booked for the next week on well paying jobs that are a pleasure to work on… I’ve cleared out a bunch of stock, and am back to being able to move around efficiently in the workshop. I’ve rented new space, the back room of the place next door and have good clean, dry storage for the e-bikes and bikes to be.

I have people interested in working with me on a variety of projects from restoring vintage bikes through to setting up an e-bike hire business.

There has always been a light at the end of the tunnel during these past couple of years of raising this e-bike oriented business.

It’s not my light, it’s the light I am moving towards, and to me that shizzle is coming from my brilliant customers, my friends (also some of whom are customers!), my Sister and Bruv and all those sentimental shiny sources, as well as the pure effing joy of running a business concerned with the very stuff I love and don’t regard (mmmmm most of the time ) as work.

One of the things that I need to get onto this website to demonstrate why I think I will be able to keep this Frankencycle thing going, is a totally awesome promo video that I oh-so-luckily had created for me by an awesome media crew, for FREE so they could use it as a demo/portfolio piece. that is super-damn-lucky-I -don’t -care-what-you-say-I’m-blessed stuff right there.

Finding new friends and being introduced to stunning and applicable new Tech such as 3-d Printing (folks… what can be done with 3-D printing is MIND BLOWING.. I had the priviledge to be invited to a 3-d printing expo and I almost couldn’t talk due to the ideas going off in my head I SAW a 3-d titanium printed mini jet engine… I kid you not!)

Let Alone what’s been happening in the Frankencycle workshop… I’ve had the privilege to build a couple of awesome, current tech pedal only bikes, restored and sold a number of vintage racers (LOVE working on these as they are such an exacting pain to get set up tight, but when done are such simple functional beauty…), converted a cargo bike, upgraded a commercial $3000 retail e-bike, built a couple of mid powered bikes, sold a lot of re-built pedal bikes and learnt a phenomenal amount of stuff… including (as embarassing as it is for me to say it) that I am actually quite good at what I do (always room for improvement) and that I am appreciated for offering services that are otherwise hard to find.

(IE some people think I am Awesome!! ) (I am one of them… most days )

Anyways…
Main point with this here post was to stick my head up, give you all a grin and a wave, and let you know that I am freakin’ CHARGING again and life and Frankencycle are good!

Please note, there is currently a slight waiting period for new jobs to be completed as I am Flat out Once again with multiple customer builds booked and being worked on due to a flurry of new and returning customers who have arrived with Spring.

Big love to you all and thanks for being part of what I do



Joe From Frankencycle

Hi,

I'm after a modestly priced 9C/MXUS style motor (used and/or cheap), motor, I posted a thread a little while back but someone mentioned that it would be a good idea to ask you if you had anything like that available?

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=61554

I've been in business for over ten years and the only advice I can offer is
Find a good bookkeeper you can trust.
Sounds simple but it almost brought me undone.
You obviously have all the enthusiasm and drive needed to get up and go to 'work' every morning.
You know what your doing technically.
You look like you have your overheads under control, that's why you are cheaper that's your edge.
And retro is super cool at the moment especially in Melbourne.
I think the video is great don't over produce it or people will think its wanky. You are the business and the video shows that.