lemmiwinks
100 W
Reid Welch said:
*boom-tish*
:wink:
Use this when U don't want to create a short lived topic.
- Thread starter Lessss
- Start date
*boom-tish*
:wink:
Reid Welch
1 MW
I did view the video. That mower is brilliant and good.
But I say
now, let us think (but not too hard),
about how the growing grass captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Yea, verily, long grass helps combat greenhouse gases.
If we can lock up as much CO2 as possible, or just quit generating CO2...
ummm...
I think I should quit breathing.
The cure begins with me.
:lol:
But I say
now, let us think (but not too hard), about how the growing grass captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Yea, verily, long grass helps combat greenhouse gases.
If we can lock up as much CO2 as possible, or just quit generating CO2...
ummm...
I think I should quit breathing.
The cure begins with me.
:lol:
xyster
10 MW
Don't hold your breath waiting for me to do that.
TylerDurden
100 GW
Reid Welch said:
Grass is not bad, but burning fossil-fuel to manage grass stinks.
warning
View attachment 2
sure
ok
Lessss
1 MW
Bajiberins, it costs about 4 grand to import a 20 GP container of electric bikes, let alone the ocst of the bikes. I figure my container will be 10,000. 40% for delivery and clearing customs. WOW!
Why not order kits and set 'em up on various locally obtained bikes? That's the approach I would likely take if I were to get in the business, because I think this would give me the best flexibility. You know, lead, lithium, DF's, cruisers, road bikes, semi-bents, bents, etc... Or retrofitting a client's existing bike, all depending on their budget and what they're are looking for.
Reid Welch
1 MW
A downside of that is the custom-customer support needs. They'll need endless handholding.Mathurin said:
Uh, but so will buyers of these ready-to-go bikes.
It's a great venture though--and may lead you, Les, into a lasting side-business (or full time!).
Your drive is of the stuff that makes the world better.
Lessss
1 MW
Ypedal is doing the kits thing and he's in the same province.
My next evil plan was to see if he'd be interested in a deal. He provides me with some of his kits reducing his risk on the kits, and I'd provide him with an equal value of completed bikes/scooters reducing my risk. That way we can both service each market locally. I'll have to talk to him on that though. Before I do that I actually have to put in the order arrange transport and storage. Then evaluate the quality of the bikes to see what kind of retrofitting might need to be done to them.
My next evil plan was to see if he'd be interested in a deal. He provides me with some of his kits reducing his risk on the kits, and I'd provide him with an equal value of completed bikes/scooters reducing my risk. That way we can both service each market locally. I'll have to talk to him on that though. Before I do that I actually have to put in the order arrange transport and storage. Then evaluate the quality of the bikes to see what kind of retrofitting might need to be done to them.
Adaptor for suicide (They're doing it wrong! One finger from each hand is better.)
Lessss
1 MW
An idea I had for flats or leaks.
A battery powered device that attaches directly to the wheels inflation tube and justs keeps on pushing air into the tube according to several inflation speed options. It connects to the inflation tube and the adjacent spokes, the opposite 3 sides of the wheel have an equally weighted battery pack.
Might allow a tube to be kept inflated long enough to get you home. Anyone ever see anything like this on the market?
A battery powered device that attaches directly to the wheels inflation tube and justs keeps on pushing air into the tube according to several inflation speed options. It connects to the inflation tube and the adjacent spokes, the opposite 3 sides of the wheel have an equally weighted battery pack.
Might allow a tube to be kept inflated long enough to get you home. Anyone ever see anything like this on the market?
Matt Gruber
1 MW
i carry a $10 compressor from walmart on my mbike. even if it leaks out in a few minutes i can get home. won't work on blowouts of course
TylerDurden
100 GW
Lessss said:
OED110 Red Rubber Flatus Tube, Reusable 42ch £ 10.75 100g
England is "special": Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims. Also: British traffic wardens issued helmet cams.
Lock
100 MW
Lessss said:
oh my gawd... Haoteng is in Wuyi, just up the road from Yongkang (aka Yongkong).
My guess is, that Wuyi works hand-in-glove with Yongkang... not good.
Back in 2003, Yongkang had a Scooter Index of over 2,600! This compared with Scooter Indices for San Diego of 23. Jersey City at 47. Vancouver BC at 15.6
If you don't know the Scooter Index for your town, see here:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/zappy/message/46877
You can read all about Yongkang here, in a thread titled "eBay. The Envelope Please...":
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/zappy/message/46711
But let me give you the Executive Summary:
The research is over three years old, but Yongkang, with a population of about 1/2 million, had over three hundred companies all making electric scooters and bikes and parts for sale.
Yongkang has a long history as China's Hardware Capital. Also it is their Capital City for Industrial Accident Amputations (I always tell folks to check the shipping carton for extra parts!)
Early in this century, as China relaxed its rules on foreign ownership, scooter manufacturing in Taiwan collapsed, as production moved en mass to the mainland.
It appears that Chinese central planners picked on Yongkang as ground zero for two-wheeler mfg... Today there are scoots being mfgrd in many cities around China, but I believe Yongkang and neighbourhood are still top of the pile.
So what you will find is that many companies there have been making parts for and assembling containers full of little two and three wheeled gas and electric vehicles.
Many have existed for decades longer, in their original incarnations making things like cooking pots and wire brushes, etc, etc, etc.
Today most continue to make their traditional products, but on some days they will stamp out a bunch of kick stands, or mold a bunch of body parts. Or carbon brushes. And these they buy and sell amongst themselves to assemble complete vehicles.
Specs for these vehicles really come from middle-men. The distributors that order these containers for sale to the importers that are shopping for product to sell to North American merchants, and "designed" to a certain price-point, eg $99US each for a container load FOB Hangzhou.
Whatever these middle guys do not spec in great detail, well, that is wiggle room to go with the cheapest possible bits, to squeeze the most margin from each container load.
The same bit of electrical wire they might use all week in making barbeque ignitions works fine for scooters, right? Well, for 30 days anyway <grin>
If you do not have someone trustworthy that you know, on the ground, in that factory in Wuyi, watching your vehicles being assembled, well, I expect opening up the container provides more surprises than a box of Cracker Jacks.
Supplize!
I realize this is an old thread from a few months ago, so Lessss, how did it go with the shipment?
Tks
Lock
Lessss
1 MW
Will get the shipment end of the month.
Ok, since you seem to be of the opinion that most of what comes from here is junk where do you suggest sourcing parts and completed bikes?
Ok, since you seem to be of the opinion that most of what comes from here is junk where do you suggest sourcing parts and completed bikes?
Lock
100 MW
Lessss said:
Remember (well, maybe not) when the first little Japanese cars started showing up in North America? Weren't they funny little things, and worth a laugh? Anybody laughing now?
Deafscooter has been buying "Dolphin"-style scoots for years. Classic Yongkang. I had to explain to him that "Dolphin" is just a trade name owned by a guy in LA... but anyway. DS can attest to the quality improvements as the years go by. But this change isn't being driven by the Chinese. It's happening because the go-betweens are smartening up to the hidden warranty costs.
When Kenny at C-lyte was asked why pics from YongKang don't show everyone riding around on their own scooters, he replied something like "What? Those scooters are built for export to NA! Do you think we (Chinese) are stupid?"
I expect the Chinese scoots are like fine sake - none of the best stuff ever leaves the country.
Ya just have to be really careful. I would look at what folks like NYCE (for example) have sold over the years, and ask for their recommendations.
http://www.nycewheels.com/ind.html
Just as much of the US economy benefits from illegal immigrants from Mexico, paid miserable wages in miserable working conditions, the Chinese economy benefits from folks originally from the villages in eastern China, or from North Korea. It's not highly skilled labour that's assembled your vehicles in YongKang!
Anywhooo, in *your* situation, I would probably look at each vehicle. Probably disassemble each, do the "warranty" work in advance, before sale.
I hope I am wrong, and wish you well.
tks
Lock
ps... it's fun looking at the pics and videos that the Chinese manufacturers put up on sites like Alibaba et al... The Chinese "industrial parks" actually do look like parks, huge front lawns covered in grass and ornamental shrubs etc... because they haven't paved them over to make parking lots. See`em before they're gone! If I had serious coin to invest, it would be in a paving company in China. Sadly, they have learned nothing from western experience with the 20th-century automobile, and are giving up the Victorian pedal bicycle.
Lessss
1 MW
http://www-bdnew.fnal.gov/pbar/organizationalchart/peterson/snowplow_files/Bike_Plow.html
The BIKE BLOW.
The BIKE BLOW.
TylerDurden
100 GW
Cars in China are pouring out like model-Ts.Lock said:
Young couples in Beijing all want sedans, not bikes.
It is now too dirty/smoggy in big China cities to enjoy biking.
(As per a Beijing dude I spoke w/ last month)
:?
(Mighta posted this some other place too)
Lock
100 MW
TylerDurden said:Cars in China are pouring out like model-Ts.Lock said:
Young couples in Beijing all want sedans, not bikes.
It is now too dirty/smoggy in big China cities to enjoy biking.
(As per a Beijing dude I spoke w/ last month)
:?
(Mighta posted this some other place too)
All true, though it's been like this in China for some time now... exchanging the 20th-century auto for the Victorian pedal bicycle will just make things a lot worse...
Something like 70% of China's electricity comes from (old, inefficient) coal plants. Steel and concrete production are heavy polluters, and of course a lot of this pollution is exported from North America etc. Chinese industries busy making all the crap they export (10% of exports to NA are sold to WallyMart) are very energy-inefficient.
Good article here by a Yale prof, from Fortune Magazine this month:
http://www.law.yale.edu/intruders/5069.htm
From that article:
"But China's leaders have also come to realize that pollution can undermine social stability. Other than corruption, no issue draws more public ire. Last year 600,000 complaints were filed with the state environmental agency, which tallied tens of thousands of pollution-related protests."
One "great" thing about China. Unlike Western "democracy", where any idiot can vote, the Chinese gov't will get things done at the point of a gun...
I expect the 2008 Olympics will be a huge embarrassment to China, like Atlanta was, where they basically lied about what their summer climate conditions are like, to secure the rights to hold the games.
Had to laugh when the Olympic organizers were running around Soeul, encouraging the restaurants to take their traditional "worm" stew off the menues...
Bejing has banned wooden chopstix.
Power-assist in NA is a small but growing community that needs to be a lot more vocal. EVen many EV'ers into electric cars don't seem to interested in supporting the smaller two-wheelers.
Every PA rider is a kind of EV Ambassador... the best kind.
tks
Lock
Lock
100 MW
So, Lessss, end of the month approaching!Lessss said:
Saw this recent post on the EVDL and was reminded about tapping earlier about where quality might be sourced:
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:55:56 -0500
From: "Lee Hart" <leeahart>
To: ev@listproc.sjsu.edu
Subject: Re: thundersky cells for cheap, prices
john fisher wrote:
>> well I DID say someone would have to go to China and test them.
Victor Tikhonov wrote:
> What the outcome of such testing has to do with Thunder-sky policies?
I've worked for several companies that outsourced to China. Here's what
*didn't* work:
- Buy a Chinese part or product to replace whatever you were using.
Yes, it's cheaper; but it won't meet specs, the quality will be
bad, and warranty support nonexistent.
- Send your design/drawings to them, to build to your specs.
Now you'll get parts that actually fit; but you will have to test
them yourself. You will get lots of bad parts, and their only
"warranty" is that they will replace them with more untested parts.
- Send them your design, drawings, tooling, and test fixtures.
Now they will send tested parts that fit. But they now *own* the
design, and will sell it to anyone (including you competitors).
Here's what *did* work:
- Split the product up into smaller parts. Contract with different
Chinese companies to produce each part. Set up your own office in
China (ours was in Hong Kong), where your own people supervise
production (visit the factory regularly) and test each company's
parts. Your office only pays them when batches are tested and
approved.
--
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget the perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in -- Leonard Cohen
--
Lee A. Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, leeahart_at_earthlink.net
Lessss
1 MW
http://test2.7gen.com/ seems to be down.
It's not down, they just changed the domain name. Goto
http://visforvoltage.net/
http://visforvoltage.net/
Lessss
1 MW
Can someone translate?
http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=translatejn4.png
http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=translatejn4.png
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