Berk PROTO-TYPE Composites

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Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Hi,

unfortunately I doubt that I could make it. If I'm right the seatpost tube isn't round?

Probably I could copy the shape of that tube, but don't know if it would make sense to me because the moulds are quite expensive, if you know what I mean. I already wanted to make a few different projects with some different tube shapes and had quite a lot of problems. But if you could get some photos of the seatpost profile I could let you know.




Otherwise here are some more details from the measurments for a seatpost combo. I get a few questions regarding the combo measurments/position, and here are some of my answers:


It's completely custom, so any position is possible. Here just one quick sketch to show you the most important details:
Image

X: setback - measured from the virtual begining of the seatpost till the saddle nose, level with the saddle shell

Y: seatpost lenght - measured from the top of the saddle till the end of the seatpost (min. insert is 70mm)

Q: saddle angle - if it's level then I only need the frame geometry, if not, then just let me know how much drop there is (-/+ mm of the saddle nose till it's level).


For all those measurments also some photos help. For example, if you aren't sure for the "X" measurment I only need to get one photo with your saddle position and with a ruler on the same photo..


Hope it helps, more informations on my personal email jureberk92(a)gmail.com, soon I'll have also a new email as soon as I get my own website...


Otherwise I can make more different saddle shapes, with custom carbon look (3K plain, UD or Twill), custom finish etc.,.. At this moment I can make a few different saddle shells, that are similar to (based on those saddles, but with a bit changed design that won't change the ride characteristics):
1) Selle Italia SLR c64
2) Tune Speedneedle
3) AX Phoenix
4) Selle San Marco Aspide
5) something similar to Fizik K:1 in process

On special request I can make also a new mould, but in that case I would need a saddle that I can get the measurments and make my own mould.

Price for any custom combo is 380€

Manufacturing time: usually around 10 days


Hope it helps a bit. I get a few questions and I hope that this answer helps. If there are some more just please let me know.

Regarding the price; that's the best I can offer. I do have to pay some taxes each month, and for my insurance etc., and this is the best I can offer. Also if I just cover my costs for each month I'll be happy. The more important thing to me is that I started with it, that I "break the ice" as we say in Slovenia, and hope that I'll get some interesting experiences for the future. Probably some though that it will be cheaper, or more expensive, but that's really the best that I can afford.


-------------------------------------

Back to the frame project - I almost finished PT5! Just some more fine sanding to do and it will be prepared for clearcoating. Hopefully till next weekend the frame will be already finished, I'll let you know ;)


And here are some new pictures from my monocoque frame project, it's completely designed, hope you like it!

Image

Image

Image

Next step - the moulds...I'll keep you updated!

Cheers
Jure

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



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djconnel
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Location: San Francisco, CA
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by djconnel

Don't let anyone whine or complain about price. Some of these guys are probably medical doctors who charge that much for a few minutes chatting with a patient, or lawyers for answering a few emails. You do awesome work, and that's worth a lot.

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Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Thanks, I just put a price that's reasonable for me to manufacture a product, but still don't want to get insane with the prices, like some of the bicycle parts that are now on the marked (IMO there are quite a lot overpriced products)


Anyway, here is some more progress on my PROTO-TYPE 5 frame:

Image

Now I have to clean it with alcohol, then put on the cablestops & threads for bottle cages and at last the finish/clearcoat!

I'll most probably finish it during this weekend, I'll keep you updated!



I also decided for the graphics, but will keep it as a secret for a few more days,.. :wink:
I get a great deal for Mavic Cosmic Ultimate...so I "had" to take them :mrgreen:. I could afford them and I just went for it, so they're waiting for a few smaller cosmetic changes, the same also for my new Sram Red groupset that I get from my ex sponsor...
Last edited by Berk on Sat Nov 24, 2012 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CarlTroy
Posts: 336
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:59 pm

by CarlTroy

I would say 380 euros for a product of this caliber is more than reasonable.
Once i am building a true WW project, I'll be getting in line as well without even thinking.
You've got to hand it to Jure

NWSAlpine
Posts: 296
Joined: Fri May 18, 2012 7:11 pm
Location: FL

by NWSAlpine

I was thinking about the logo stuff and it would be awesome to make the decals out of the black stealth reflective material. Black on black but at night of in flash photos the logo would be bright as day. Using something like 3m scotchlite black.

Image

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djconnel
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Location: San Francisco, CA
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by djconnel

CarlTroy wrote:I would say 380 euros for a product of this caliber is more than reasonable.
Once i am building a true WW project, I'll be getting in line as well without even thinking.
You've got to hand it to Jure


Well, I hope you do think, because you've got one chance and only one chance to get your position right....

CarpetFibre
Posts: 556
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:24 am

by CarpetFibre

Don't worry about the price at all Berk. It's an absolute bargain bearing in mind an AX saddle + seatpost will set you back getting on for 600 euros and it won't be as light. If my backside could take carbon saddles then this would be a no brainer for me!

Keep up the super work!

BmanX
Posts: 3841
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:31 pm

by BmanX

I agree about the pricing as well. If people are willing to pay $1200+ for cranks, $800 for saddle + post and $3000-4000 for wheels, really your product is a bargain.

I know that I will not have an issue spending the money on another saddle/post combo from you as my experience with the first post/saddle custom combo was amazing. Great service and great pricing, you will go very far.
BIG DADDY B FLOW
AERO & LIGHT is RIGHT for 2 decades

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Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Thanks for those nice words! It helps a lot to hear your opinions, thanks a lot!

@NWSAlpine
Interesting idea! Basicly it's very similar like the decals on the Mavic Ultimate wheels. I'll see if I could get something similar..
Otherwise I decided to just finish it with my own lacquer mixture (matte-semigloss) and will then just use some stickers, so I could chage the look any time..


Otherwise I just prepared my frame for gluing on the cablestops etc.,..will make that tomorrow and most probably I'll finish it at the end of this weekend..I'll see, depends on my free time, and unfortuantely I don't really have it a lot at this moment, but I always say that :mrgreen: but I'm really quite busy and I really hope that I manage to finish it as soon as possible...today I made a long training in our mountains and I'm just a bit to tired to make the rest of the precise work today..

Here is just one photo from our mountains, we have quite a lot of fog these days, but when you're above 2000m it's really beautiful:
Image

It's a mountain (called Storžič, 2132m) that's around 25km away from my home,.. When the weather isn't good on the roads then you meet a lot of cyclists on destinations like these :thumbup:

NiFTY
Posts: 1493
Joined: Sat May 26, 2012 11:26 pm

by NiFTY

The saddlepost seems like great value. I am paring back my padding - if I can do long miles on the S works toupe then you might have another customer for a saddle seatpost combo. Can you do saddles with cutouts?
Evo 4.9kg SL3 6.64kg Slice RS 8.89kg viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110579" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

maxxevv
Posts: 2012
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:51 am

by maxxevv

Its really what you're targeting.

EURO380 for the quality is well within reason and reach of people who seek such a unique and niche product. But I'm very sure you don't and can't do more than 1 or 2 pieces of it a day. Neither do you get sales in excess of that figure either.

But seriously, you should consider a more mass market option that brings it down to the the EURO200 range. It opens up a whole new range of customers.
But this only if you have the means to cheaply and effectively make like 10 of them in 1 or 2 days.

As in product/company, there is a need for a range of niche/highly profitable products and a range of bread-and-butter products that have almost guaranteed continuous sales but modest margins. That's how businesses stay afloat.

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EpicRide
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 2:49 pm

by EpicRide

Berk - you have already proved your skills in the physical world, and now also in the digital world of SolidWorks. Nice work!

Are the renderings also made in SolidWorks? If so, what kind of background settings have you used here?
~ Men of steel need fibre ~

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Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

NiFTY wrote: Can you do saddles with cutouts?


Unfortunately not, but I could make a saddle with a groove. I already made a prototpye with FG, but didn't made yet any with carbon..
Image
Mention that it's really just a prototype and that the edges aren't cut etc.,..but just to give you an idea what can I make. Unfortunately I can't make it with a hole because the carbon reinforcements.



@maxxevv
I only make a few per month (till now I didn't made more than 4 per month), and basicly I can't make it in one day because there are "4 steps": tube + saddle shell + gluing + carbon reinforcements. For the future I'll for sure have to think about that. But we'll see, custom saddles aren't the best part where you could start a mass production because it really has to be custom (different saddle shapes, dimensions, angle, setback,..).


@EpicRide
Thanks, but the credit goes to GorjupDesign (www.gorjupdesign.si) who is a friend of mine and a real master for SolidWorks...he has his own company and works for different bigger companies. The background was made by him (he made his own background)


And just another photo, sorry for the bad photoquality, but PT5 is already prepared for clearcoat:
Image

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Mario Jr.
Posts: 2174
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Location: Denmark
Contact:

by Mario Jr.

Wow, nice job. The monocoque frame looks a bit like a Storck with a BMC top tube. :thumbup:

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



jorgefcd
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2012 2:39 pm

by jorgefcd

astonishing frame :unbelievable:

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