http://www.sitecube.com/promo_bw.asp?pid=bw309_kw_us (Best Value IF you THINK you need a Flash Site)

In a previous post, I waxed philosophical about concerning a status quo website OR a Social Media profile was the best way to interact with your customers. It is true that customers prefer to sit on a bike before they buy it which makes the job of a 'Website Bike Hustler' that much more challenging. That is why it is necessary for you to build an environment of TRUST with your customers and website visitors.

There is also the challenge of the right bike size for your customers. A guy my size, 6'5 230 lbs. would tend to stay away from a regular 26" cruiser frame and nothing would drive a customer crazier than such a large expense and it isn't a GREAT FIT! Adding a Widget to your website-profile where a customer can plug in their height and weight and this script could spit out the right size bike for the customer would certainly make your customers better able to chose the bike that is right for them.

Undoubtedly a Social Media Profile is a mandatory part of business on the web these days.I do not want to suggest that a regular web page is not necessary. I do believe IF your business requires a Flash Site utilize it...However, IF possible, stay away from them!

Why? Flash websites are viewed (by my readers anyway) as 'Sizzle' with no 'Steak'.Arguably, Flash Sites were the place to be in the late 1990s to probably 2004.

However, as Social Media began it's long march to where it is now, with all of it's pop and sizzle, these sites DO NOT hold the attention if visitors like they once did.

Where am I leading with this? I would seriously re-evaluate this expense! However, if you are insistent on building such a site, there is NO REASON (even a novice should spend more than $50 FOR HOSTING, SET-UP AND BUILD) to launch such a site. Email me and I will send you a link that will allow you to have the SAME STUFF the pros build for PENNIES and YOU CAN DO IT YOUR SELF it is SOOOO SIMPLE!

YES you have to have a 'Store Front' of some kind....However, Social Media Profiles have become a HUGE way to drive traffic to your website.

Social Media Profiles on Twitter, Facebook and LINKEDIN, in my opinion, can be the difference between 150 site visits per day and 250 or more (dependent upon the viral nature of your campaign). Traffic generates interest, interest generate return visits, return visits build relationships and those relationships will build your online business.

Even IF you just have a Blog (not to minimize the impact of this median), traffic can make you a few buckets without selling product of your own! We will talk about this in the next post which will deal with some simple changes and additions to your website that can generate TONS of traffic.

The direction of this blog will now migrate to more of a discussion of HOW the ever evolving nature of the web will impact the Business Model of all bicycle companies.

Let's face it readers, where once business cards were seen as an essential tool to be taken seriously as a business person, the time came where this card was no longer enough and a business having a website became the new standard.

Now, a website that, no matter how elaborate (Flash!), is just the starting point and actually can hurt a business if not done well. A standard website is quickly becoming something that must morph into something that offers a customer or visitor something more than a view of company goods and services.

Why? It is my belief that this started with the advent of what has become known as Social Media. Facebook, Twitter, Linked and other such online communities have created an environment where people (also their consumers) have gotten use to immediate answers from those they are close to.

Why not the companies these same consumers buy from? There is no reason why NOT! Bicycle Companies who hope to grow and prosper in this age of Social Media must redirect a large portion of their resources to mastering this median of Web 2.0. You may say "Well I blog about what my company and consumers want to know about."

SO WHAT! There are those business leaders who talk and those who listen. Those who talk have to shift their business models to be less 'Mouth' and more 'Ears'. This will mean you learning to. Grow your company based on your customer's direction, not your competition's!

Your competition may lead you in a direction where only moderate success is experienced. Those who purchase your goods or services will lead you in a direction where, by meeting their purchasing desires, promise to put you far ahead of the moderate success your competition experiences.

I wrote all of that to write this in particular. Right now, before your competition catches wind that you are heading in a direction that, no matter what their money and resources allow, will put you in the drivers seat...Start small..lose the 'Contact Us' icon on your site into, say, a page that your visitors can build a profile complete with a picture and there comments!!!

Folks, a rare event has happened on today when I saw this bicycle design...I do BELIEVE that we have another 'Funk Hall of Fame Inductee!' I mean, look at this...Or look at it AGAIN after you get up off the floor from being passed out...I am ALMOST at a loss for words when I look at this bike.

EVERYTHING about this design is pure perfection from an aesthetic stand-point. It is FREE OF CLUTTER, the color is beautiful, the rim fan pattern works perfectly with the flow and lines of this FUNK BALL. The fork, OH the FORK :0 How many times have you seen a bike that you just say to yourself "I don't even want to ride this bike, I just want to mount it on a wall and stare at it."

I thought the Ellsworth Nuvinci was clean, but this just makes me say "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!"

WATCH THE VIDEO ALL THE WAY TO THE END...This is how I met when I saw this design..."I am not worthy!"

Design Model, ca. 1871
Height: 14"
Possibly English



They were BLINGIN HARD back in the late 19th Century ya know...Tell me any one of yall wouldn't roll this so everybody could check yall out..I love this :) When I saw this FREAK SHOW, I thought of this song...because.."This design has me goin' in CIRCLES." Play the video and ABSORB the funk of this design.



Phantom Velocipede, ca. 1869
Reynolds & Mays, London
England



Velocipede Tricycle, 1868
Michaux & Cie., Paris
France

OH MY! This is HOOOT!

The colors here are FAB! Yes my friends, in my never ending search for all things FUNK in bicycle design, I saw these 2 rides and JUST HAD TO POST THEM. Why? Well, because they are just very creative and it took SOME imagination to come up with these concepts. Are they new concepts? NO! Remember I posted a bicycle called a 1947 Moon Lander a few years ago.



However, these cats must've taken that concept and built a MORE ROBUST looking Moon Lander. It doesn't make these any better or worse, just creative from the stance of, they saw a concept and improved upon it! Now on the green design, I hate those APE-HANGER handle bars...2 things bother me more than anything else on a design. Ape hanger handle bars and white wall tire...As my boys Damon Wayans and David Allen Grier used to say on 'In Living Color'....HATED IT!



On the Orange bike, can't you just feel that DESIGN RHYTHM? If you look at that FUNK BALL and and don't at least feel like dancing a little, you prolly ain't got no rhythm eh? Well done designers and because I believe these are well done, I must say (minus the ape hanger handle bars) "I saw the FUNK...and it WAS GOOD!"

I will answer this question as quickly and truthfully as possible:

"Do you use any pictures from yahoo's image search?"

thanks,

darrin

Umm...NOOOOOO! Now dear readers I am going to go on one of my rants. I get pictures from all over the net. This means whether the URL ends in .com, .net, .us, .info, .org, .au, .in, .cc or whatever, I grab it and feature it! I also get images from Google's Image program. But Yahoo! seems to have some sort of SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP with Flickr which to me, small time Blogger, STINKS! It stinks because after going sometimes 20-30 pages back, EVERY PHOTO is from users of Flickr. This tells me a few things;

1. Yahoo Crawlers aren't gathering the largest and best assortment of relevant results! I found that Photo Bucket and Flickr LACK the photos that fit the vision of my blog although they are HUGE Online Photo Sharing services.

2. If you favor, say, Photo Bucket or other service for online photos, Yahoo! doesn't give a darn how relevant your photos are to the search query...They are going to scratch Flickr's back..Regardless of the cost in terms of a credible product!

Example:

Do a Yahoo Image Search on the term 'Unusual Bike Design'. You will find EVERYTHING except unusual bike designs.




Google still has work to do on their image searches also, but I tell you what...THEY ARE GREAT...Compared to Yahoo! Image Search which, after over 14 years in Business, is down right embarrassing...I have said this before and I will say it again. Yahoo needs a FACE LIFT more desperately that any other Internet behemoth on the web. The first step is to get rid of Jerry Yang..whose time has passed!

Marshall Major Taylor has begun to creep into the public eye with the unveiling of a Statue made in his likeness that now stands outside of the Worcester, MA. library. Nicknamed the Worcester Whirlwind, Taylor was much loved by his adopted hometown where he moved to with Louis 'Birdie' Munger, his mentor, in the late 1800s. To think that he did this in the late 1800s when African-Americans couldn't even drink out of the same fountain as whites makes this athlete's story even more incredible!

On another video interview, his Great-Great grand-daughter and Grandson said something that was almost Prophetic; "No one really knows him now but I hope Major Taylor is a household name in my life-time!" Fear not young ones, soon, your relative will get HIS DUE and in a way that every household in this country will scream the name "Major Taylor!"

The day has arrived readers when your FEARLESS BLOGGER is at a loss for words. I do not know if this loss for words comes because of...well...I don't know what to say

Sorry I have been away for a minute but I have spent my spare time over the last month re sketching some of my designs and I can tell you all that my latest 4 creations: 'Smoove', 'Air Force 1', 'Funk Ball', and 'Mannish' are...well... in all modesty FREAK SHOWS! I am up to 102 designs and it seems every time I try and relax my mind for a minute, something off of 'Planet Funk' pops into my head and I have to preserve the concept by sketching it- yall know how I do it. Here is a free concept for you designers that read my blog. What would a girl's or ladies bicycle look like that is a hybrid chopper-cruiser style design that features a 'Louis Vouitton' paint job, goldish brown slick fur style seat, jewel encrusted rims (imitation of course) stripped gold and brown tires, with hoop earring L.V. logo on the top tubing (centered)? Take it a little further and put a gold chain guard with Louis Vouitton written on it with small diamonds (imitation of course). Push the envelope a little further and.....I will leave yall alone for now on that.


I'll bet yall don't know what I am talking about do you? Nor can you even comprehend the Million $$$ idea I just gave you. As I have always said "There isn't room for everybody to live on planet FUNK." Anyhow, I ran across the above design by a company called 'Mirachi'. After, again, looking at more cruisers than I can count, this one jumped out at me as having potential. The title of this post 'Bike UP! Handle Bars down' encapsulates my feelings about this design. I must say that I love the frame and the rims (although I think 1\3 more spokes would really POP), I am of the opinion that the designers lost the funk when it came down to the Handle bars. This style handle of handle bars have been repeated by 100's of other bicycle companies over the last 40 years. I really like the different sizes front and reaer tire also but I would've made the rear tire bigger and adjusted the size of the front tires a bit larger also.

The color on this frame POPS also and would make anyone notice it, however, tons more thought should have went in to the handle bar design. Many of you might not realize this but it the very small things (not that handles bars are a small thing) that can get a consumer excited or turn them off and make them say 'I really don't need that'. What would've been hot on this is handle bars that only went up 3 inches above the neck and sloped down, back and up towards the rider. Kind of hard to visualize what I am saying, but I just hate to see such a hot frame go to waste due to lack of creative follow through throughout the whole design. Above is another picture of a Bicycle offered by 3G Bikes and my friend Gary Silva. The design is hot, all the way down to the rims, but again, those straight up style-chopper handle bars just don't look good with the design as a whole.

I can tell you all without hesitation that had it not been for the handle bars on this 3G creation, this definitely would have made my Top 5 Designs of all-time! The design is perfect in almost every other way- and I LOVE THOSE BLADES! I have developed a style of handle bars for these types of bikes called 'Doggy Ears' (Puppy Ears for the ladies) that I know will change the whole look of such designs and ad that urban flair I have so often spoke about. I actually set them down on my design called Mannish and they really POP!

Companies such as Chrysler and Pacific Cycles are now openly holding so called 'Spin it your way' and 'What kind of bike would you like to see' suggestions. They want you to email in design suggestions,send them a sketch or even send in a 3-D Model of your hot idea! Now readers correct me if I am wrong, don't those companies and many like them PAY PEOPLE to come up with hot designs?

I guess that is beside the point. I understand the need for these kinds of contests but the point of a contest is that there they are supposed to be for a limited time, they should have a close date, and there should be two winners, the company gets free publicity and the contestant usually gets a valuable prize. The way these two particular contests are set up is they don’t have a close date, I can’t find what the prize is that either company is offering and IF anyone submits a hot design or suggestions for improvement, the only clear winner is Pacific Cycles and Chrysler!


Readers, I speak from experience when I tell you that any designer has to be careful putting their ideas, sketches, etc out there for a company or general public consumption. On this very blog that you are reading, I had a guy who owns a Bicycle Company come across my blog and ‘Steal’ one of the sketches I posted. Not only that he emailed me back the design when it was finished and asked me “What do you think of my design?” Now that was bold!
I said all of that to say this, a designer has to understand the value of their ideas and designs. Instead of just giving your ideas to someone who undoubtedly will make MILLIONS off your ideas if they are hot enough, package and sell them yourself!


Even if you don’t package them and sell them because you don’t have the financial wherewithal to do so, your expertise and experience makes you a consultant. Why should you help companies like these improve their products for free when all they will do is turn around and charge you to buy a product that you designed? Remember this, if they haven’t thought of it and you have, IT HAS VALUE! An example of this is the mail service that most of you use called ‘Hotmail’. This service started off as a guy wanting an easy way to electronically communicate with his colleagues. It grew a little and at that time in the 1990’s, the software giant Microsoft didn’t have such a service. The entrepreneur sold Hotmail to Microsoft for a reported amount of $400 Million dollars! That guy didn’t give his idea away for free or submit it as part of a contest. His idea had value and so does yours!

"I Saw The Funk,and It is Good!"

I am not going to write about the gadgets these bicycles have because gadgets don’t interest me, it is the simplicity of the paint, contours, rims, seat etc that excite me. The above Mountain Bike has a ‘Cheetah’ style paint job, not just on the frame, but on the rims to! That my friends is ‘Urban Funk’.

The funk is such that I can just sit back and stare at this ignorance for hours. You all know by now how I give kudos. I do so once again by saying “I saw funk, and it was good.” As I wrap this up, Cube also produced a very nice what they are calling a ‘Tour Bike’. I am from the Old School and where I come from they call these ’10 Speeds’. Nevertheless, this bicycle is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Pearl-White Paint with snake skin accents, light gray & white tires and rims! This bicycle is on a whole other level, just magnificent! Visit the site at http://www.cube-bikes.de/. These are what, properly priced, would be an absolute HIT in Urban Areas. Cube has definitely paid a visit to ‘Planet Funk’.

The answer is yes. This question was asked of me by someone but I will also 'Hurry to add' that I am very careful about what I look at and how long I look at them. The reason is simply. Often times when we look at something to long or with too much interest, those images, words, etc are imprinted on what some people call our subconscious mind. These images (bikes) or words will creep out in ways we may not recognize. In our speech, writings, design, etc. Before you know it, you think you did something that was your own and creative when the truth is that because you viewed images, words, etc for too long, you are actually plagiarizing somebody else's work. This may or may not be done on purpose, but the result will be the same!

My inspiration for design never comes from other designers, but my inspiration comes form such places as the fashion industry, car care accessories, etc. Strangely enough, sometimes it comes from seeing the simplest things. For instance, I saw someone wearing one of those huge shiny, silver Rodeo belt buckles one time. You know the ones cowboys wear around and some of them seem as large a a saucer? I saw how one looked and I thought to myself "That would make a hot bicycle design!" A few days later, a design of mine I call 'Beasty' was born. Granted, those things are steel and unrealistic for what I am doing, but the inspiration was there. Another time I heard some one's name that I really liked, 'Emraphael', a few days later, a design baring the same name was born. My point is that design is all around, slow down and notice.

I read once that there was some design copying going on with a few of the major bicycle manufacturers. The way they go about it is they all pretty much get their bicycles manufactured in some of the same factories in China. If you don't know, China is the hugest copyright offender in the world. Bootlegging products is a way of life in China. Everything from music to fashion to movies, etc. I struggled to understand why anyone would really care about what the competition is doing, but what I remembered is that the reason they are concerned is because 'It is the competition!' What an epiphany right? Nevertheless, sure I am a nobody as design goes right now, sure the odds are stacked against my designs ever making it to market, but where most would see that as a position of weakness, it is actually a position of strength!

When this thing does go down, no one will ever see it coming. To wrap this all up, I do not spend much time looking at other designs because the truth is that I do not care what they are doing! What they are doing is irrelevant to me and small designers all over the world. Please do not think I am arrogant, because that isn't who I am (anymore anyway). I just realize that there is a higher plain of bicycle design that can be achieved. Not these futuristic bicycle concepts that win awards at the Taiwanese design competition every year but aren't relevant or practical for mass production (Although there was a design called Wild Buffalo that is HOOOTTTT!) A higher plain doesn't always mean more sophisticated, or more gadgets on the bike, etc. A higher plain in my mind simply means 'More relevant to the culture to which it is targeted'.