Does anyone know a shop that makes custom fishtail exhaust? I have had an idea for a few years on a few designs that I would like to get made and bring to market. I just haven't had time and when I thought about how to make the actual tail, I just couldn't figure out how to form them.


So, I would like to have a shop do it and possibly make a deal with them.


Thanks!

 

You looking for hand-made prototypes? Gotta be some custom metal fab shops either in Wichita (probably) or the KC Metro (certainly) that could do that. Gonna take some bux, though.

What kind of deal are you looking to make?

 

I would either pay them for the prototype or give them a percentage of the profits. I feel my designs will change the fishtail industry. But then again, they may not.

 

This really isn't an HD related question. It's more of a business question.

I've been in independent business for a long time, and could give you a bunch of thoughts, but since this is the HD Forum, I'll just leave you with a few questions to ponder:

1) Do you want to be in the custom exhaust design business?
2) Do you want to be in the custom exhaust fabrication business?
3) Do you plan on selling these wholesale, through distributors?
4) Do you want to be in the retail custom exhaust sales and marketing business?
5) Do you have any relevant experience that would lead someone who doesn't know you to believe that you have a reasonable chance of success at any of those?
6) How much money do you have that you are willing to put into this before it starts generating revenue?

FWIW, I think you should find a custom fab shop relatively close by (so you aren't working with them long distance) and get a prototype made. I wouldn't mention the idea of selling this design, profit percentages, or any of that. Any fab shop worth working with has heard that story a thousand times and isn't going to care. Assuming your design is about as complicated as normal, I'd expect you'd pay something like $1000 to $2000 for each prototype, more or less, and I'd expect to go through at least two iterations before you get it right.

 

Spot on, Omaha.

 

To piggyback onto what Omaha is saying, OP is proposing a business based upon a fad. And the fishtail fad is in some areas well past it's apex...and in my opinion, it was never a general fad.

But if you pursue it, good luck...but I'd beef up your effort with other bits less directed toward a niche market.

 

No more so then totally blacked out bikes or flat paint jobs, exhaust wrap and red rims.

 

I appreciate the advice!


I don't mind spending the money for the prototypes.


If/when I actually do this, I would create an ecommerce website. I have a major air shock manufacturer that's interested in seeing them when I have a prototype. I have one design on CAD, the other one I have in my head.


I'm fairly handy with my hands and wouldn't mind custom making them myself. I just don't know how, its actually a tricky process. But, its obviously done by multiple companies.


Veekness: Fishtails have been produced for decades, so I don't see them as a fad. If you want to call it a niche, then I would agree with you.


This is just a vision that I have that I would like to pursue at some point.


What got me going on this was buying an exhaust system from what I thought was a reputable company. The first set was poor. The second set was worse. On top of it the customer service was horrendous!


Anyways, I have a vision and it would be nice to get them build.


As far as finding a fab shop in my area. I'm not really from around here and it hasn't been an easy task finding a company that would be this type of work. I was born and raised in Minnesota.

 

Start there.

You can think things through forever, but until you actually put them into steel, you not only don't know what you don't know, you don't know what it is you think you know that is actually wrong. All of this will come into much clearer focus once you have an actual exhaust system of your design on a bike.

Can you do that yourself? Figure a pro-quality logo + website (Wordpress + Magento or Woo Commerce) + SEO + PPC campaign starts around $10k, not counting the cost of the clicks themselves.

Take that as a glimpse into the problem you are going to have to solve.

Whoever those guys are, I assume they've been around a while. None the less, their quality and service let you down. That doesn't mean they wanted to deliver shoddy quality and crap service. It means delivering those things on a consistent basis is hard to do and expensive. Solving those problems is part of what you are proposing to take on.

For example, you're going to need a girl to answer the phone, and a phone for her to answer, a desk for her to sit at, and a place to put the desk. And she can't be a total bonehead. That means you're looking at paying her something like $10 to $12 per hour (if you're lucky, but that's reasonable for the Midwest). By the time it's all said and done (her pay, her phone, her desk, etc), you'll spend at an absolute minimum something like $3000/mo.

Let's say you sell these exhausts for $1000/set. Let's say you find someone to make them in quantity for $600/set. That means you need to sell 7.5 systems per month just to cover the cost of your girl who answers the phone. That's 90 exhaust systems per year.

Lets say it takes your manufacturer 60 days to turn around an order to you. That means you're going to have to keep 15 systems in stock so you have them available to sell to cover the cost of your girl answering the phone. You also have to figure you'll need more than the 15, because you'll have to make them to fit different types of bikes. So lets say to cover 60 days worth of orders, for all different models you sell, you end up needing 40 units in stock. That's $24,000 in working capital right there. And you're still only covering the cost of your girl who answers the phone.

This only scratches the service, and I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Setting up the business side of this really isn't any different than creating the first batch of prototypes. You will never know what you don't know until you go through it and solve the countless problems that you will inevitably encounter.

There are a thousand different ways to get there, and any number of them will work. I'm, not trying to throw cold water on your idea. I'm just a guy who's been through this very process multiple times, and have some experience with the pitfalls.

 

Cold water or not, I appreciate your input!


As far as the ecommerce website. They aren't as difficult or expensive as they use to be. You can get one setup and running for roughly $400 on average. Logo about $200 and SEO, well that one depends. Keep in mind, I'm not building one the size of Dennis Kirk or any of the big boys. Those sights are build from scratch and are expensive to develop and to maintain.


My target market would be the Deluxe and Heritage markets to start.


As far as the girl answering the phone... I'm told I have a sexy voice, so I may be able to save a few bucks there until the product proves itself.


My problem right now is my brain is artistic, but my hands are not. So, I really need to find an artist that can relate to my designs.