elanaa

I am designing a bike rack for myself as a project and I was wondering if there are other people out there who want more creativity and personality in their bike racks?

fietsbob

It's a risk you take, in a crowded accessory marketplace.. You planning on making custom racks for each person?

I'd go for the niche of making bike racks put on the street , you lock your bike up to..

northtexasbiker

Not from me, but I am interested to read what you have in mind.

veganbikes

I mean Tubus makes all the racks I could really want. Cool designs are fun but I value a lightweight, strong and extremely durable rack which Tubus checks. They even make a titanium rack that is stupid light and can hold a significant amount of weight considering.

pdlamb

With enough creative writing, I'm sure you could sell some. To sell me one, you'd have to persuade me it was well-engineered to carry the maximum load at the lightest weight while maintaining maximum reliability and safety; I think that's a common desire of people who buy bike racks, though probably not universal.


Wrought iron prettiness with a huge weight penalty? flimsy curlicues? not so much.

dedhed

What's your market?

Fancy? one off, personalized, decorative, style over function? Probably a market, but likely not enough to be a full time endeavor.

Functional? Yes there's a market. It's full of manufacturers covering all segments and price points.

hillyman

Well I spent $50 for a Spurcycle bell so any things possible. Always on the look out for great products for my bike. Add a banana carrier on that rack and you may have something.

PdalPowr

Well it would have to be a humdinger and have a catchy name.
Why not at least make that one for yourself and see what people say.
I would concern myself with a patent as well though you may not
need one right away.

CliffordK

It depends on your marketing and how many you wish to sell.

One of the things about the internet marketplace is that selling say 10 items a day to a market of 300 million US citizens, or a global market of 7 billion people really is a drop in the bucket.

There are quite a few innovative styles of bike racks. Some with some sweet looking curved stays. Or various front cargo racks.

I've seen photos of some racks with a floating look deriving the longitudinal support through the fenders.

Make sure you consider adjustability for multiple applications.

I think this one is designed to ward off evil spirits that may enter one's bicycle tires.

rumrunn6

would be nice if a rear rack had a built it sliding extension making it longer when required. I suppose some ppl might also like fold out wings for when carrying a slightly wider load

Bandera

That ship sailed >40 years ago with the elegantly simple and effective designs by Jim Blackburn, everything since is minor fiddling-about with details and me-to-ism.

-Bandera

jimmie65

Racks with sliding extensions exist; my daughter-in-law's cheap cruiser has one.
I thought it was a good idea, if poorly executed.

CliffordK

One could easily add rails that would slide out, but they would have to be generally self-supporting.

I guess I have never thought much about extra long loads. Most of what I carry on a rack is rigid enough that it could overhang the back if necessary.

Extra width might be nice at times, although one runs into issues with overhanging panniers depending on the pannier mount. Wide front racks seem to be popular with some people.

Milton Keynes

I like the "rock & roll" "devil horn" hand symbol above the pentagram. \m/

JanMM

Handlebars not allowed to be wider than the pentagram.......

veganbikes

But Spurcycle makes one of the loudest and best sounding bells right here in 'merica. It is a very functional tool that also happens to look nice. I think it is different from an artsy rack.

Now I will say a well made Ti randonneuring front rack like the Nitto M12 would be cool or just a lighter weight but still decently strong steel version. But it just needs to look clean and be functional not really creative or artsy.

Metieval

there is always a market for improved and better products than what is on the market.

at the same time walmart seems to get by selling cheap Chinese manufactured crap as does Amazon.

so there is your market, cheaper than the other guys cheap. or better than the other guys good stuff.

GuessWhoCycling

Affordable decent rack would be nice. I will admit I placed a wally world rack on our tandem. $15 and a $7 net from REI.

Works great and though I do not like cheap products on our bikes, I will not pay $100 for a basic rack from a bike shop.

hillyman

This is just a wacky trend on BF. Next will be I'm designing a bicycle that doesn't look like any bicycle you've seen before. I haven't built one yet or even drawn a picture of it. But I wonder if you might be interested in buying one if I did?

baldilocks

My main thing is functionality. Want to put a blinker on it easily, keep panniers out of the tires. Hook a bike trunk up to securely and if your real good Make it easily removable so I can take my bike out to play.

unterhausen

plenty of people make custom racks. You can search for them on flickr. I think what you'll find is that it isn't easy to make a good rack and that is why the custom ones are expensive. If you make a lot of tooling, it would be faster and easier, but you lose some of the ability to customize.

Fargo Wolf

You have my attention....

thumpism 

Careful, and do your testing before subjecting it to extended use. When touring in '74 I met up with a guy in Sweden who'd designed and made a nice alloy rack for his bike. Looked good and complemented the bike well and it made me and my ratty Pletscher envious until it snapped one afternoon miles from nowhere. I still have the Pletscher.

jefnvk

If there was, I'm sure PDW would already have been all over it. After all, they do mane dang pretty fenders and bird shaped bottle holders.

And racks with adjustable stays already exist.

SEAJAYBIKE

We are always struggling to find a rack short enough to work on a 24" wheel kids bike. Also...many racks don't fit well on small frames. Would love to see a basic rack available that sits down closer to the wheels on small bikes. My 2c