Could someone posts some closeup pics of the mounts for their Valkyrie? I just got a Champion Daytona sidecar and the mounts are for something else. I would like some good pics so I can modify these, or get some new ones made. The sidecar place in Enumclaw wants $1000 bucks for them and another $1000 to install. Crazy!!!! That is more than I paid for the entire unit.
I would really appreciate it,
Thanks,
Sam
If you are in the Seattle area, look for Robert Altman. He is one of the instructors at the sidecar school. I believe he once had one of those Valkyries with a sidecar.
He may still have pictures of the mounts.
Champion has pictures of Valkyrie mounts on their web site in the instructions section.
It is crazy that we can still sell these mounts this cheap. By the time you stock the materials (we keep about $30K of steel on hand) so that you have what you need when it is time to make it. Stock the bolts for the different mounts (we keep about $20K worth of hardware on hand). Design the mounts and tool up to be able to reproduce them, then store the tooling for in some cases years between making mounts. Have the $200,000 or so of equipment needed to make the mounts. Then pay employee's a living wage that they can afford to raise a family. Provide the employee's medical, dental and vision insurance like any one with a skilled trade would expect to have. Provide paid vacation. Pay for schooling to keep employee's up to date and certified. Pay for real manufactures insurance (not just garage keepers which we also have) in order to protect the company but more importantly protect the customer. Pay for over head such as the building and book keeping, Pay for L & I coverage. Pay for unemployment benefits. Pay taxes such as B & O. Build the parts, have them powder coated. Make the eye bolts and have them plated. Write instructions for the mounts. Package and ship the product and then provide technical support for the product. After all this and a few other costs we are lucky to make 5% on the sale.
As to installing the sidecar, $1000 works out to 10 hours at the needed shop rate to cover overhead. 10 hours is not long to install the mounts, hook up and align the sidecar, wire the sidecar including the lighting and the electric trim. Install the switch for the electric trim which usually requires making a mounting bracket which takes time. Plumb the brake and bleed it then test drive and fine tune. Again we are luck to make 5%.
As to looking for photo's to copy a design. Designing a product takes time, years of experience and is once done is intellectual property. This is no different then copying a book with out paying the author or copying music with out paying the musician. This is no different then what the Chinese do. We have products out there that have been shipped to China and are sold by our competitors as such an exact copy of our product that their part even fits in our production tooling. They then sell this for less then the raw materials cost us in the USA. In the case of one of our products it cost 2 employee's their jobs.
I have no issue with people designing their own mounts, we will even help with advice and sell them bits and pieces that we make in bulk. Directly copying a design is no different then stealing. It makes it hard to stay in business and support products years after the bikes (like in the case of the Valkyrie) are out of production for years. Copying some one else's design with out paying for it, that is what is crazy.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
Well said Jay, particularly the part about the cost of employees. Until you have been self employed with employees, you have no idea of the costs involved.
I don't want to copy anyones design. My post says that I want to modify mine to make the ones I have work. I just want to see where others have attached theirs. Copying someones design and then turning around and selling it is wrong. Using someone elses idea and making it work for yourself is not.
If you want to compare it to music, then it is like recording a song from the radio and listening to it later. Way different that recording the song and then selling the cd's to make some cash.
There is another way to look at it as well. The valkyrie is a discontinued machine. If you still have the tooling to make a part, then why not lower the price so you can make a buck or two off of the tooling that is just taking up space? I have had my own business as well, and I do know how all of those costs can add up. I would rather make $50 bucks off of a part and maybe get a long time customer, than to not make any sale at all. $1,000 may have been a great price when the Valk was a hot machine and before there were other people making brackets for it. Unfortunately, that is not the case any more.
I would have preferred to buy the parts locally from my own state. (I am in Washington) Instead, I will probably end up modifying mine, or getting some other mounts from somewhere else. The only people to lose are the ones that didn't take my money. I understand that there are places that cater to rich, unmechanical customers that are completely helpless and have more money than brains. I am not one of those customers.
