If you thought military bikes were expensive...How much would you pay for some pieces of brown wrapping paper?.. . 150788436179 ..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Ah, but he's giving you guidance in making them and the "goodwill" When I sold my fork chroming business I got £2500 for a "little black book" and about 10 pairs of fork seals!

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

You'd cetainly need some 'guidance'.....The trouble with these sales is you can't buy the skills or knowledge required...His 'templates' are just a guide for someone who already knows every aspect of the job..rather like 'working sketches' that I have done thousands of times as a Toolmaker when machining parts. Most of it is in your head and the sketch just serves to prompt your memory on certain points.
By itself it can't be used to make an accurate reproduction of anything...
I could sell the engine tuning side of my business with a 'black book'...but that doesn't mean the next man will be able to successfully tune an engine....
To my mind it's a sh****ad of money for not very much in real terms..It's like giving someone a load of steel tube and some sketches on the back of a fag packet and telling them it's a frame making business... ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Hi Ian, can you give me first refusal on that frame making business ? I'd be keen to get the list of unpopular machines it covers aswell :-)

Making a frame jig is pretty easy, PM me and I'll do a sketch and email it to you, the only problem is for me I can build the frames, but don't do it often enough to warrant a 7 foot jig sitting in the corner! I do agree that it's a lot of money for a few templates that you do yourself if you were interested, I have an English wheel and still haven't made a tank on it yet, I do repair quite a lot of aluminium ones. It certainly is a skill!!

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

Although i was a panel beater in the 1970's ive never owned an English wheel & would very much like one if one came along cheap.

Chester UK has them, you'd probably be able to haggle a bit if you picked it up, if you had it sent out, I don't think you'd have the opportunity. They are only 10 minutes away from my workshop, so I pop in there quite a lot. They do have a showroom and in the showroom there is always a good selection of catalogue returns or slightly damaged equipment which is very cheap

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

Thanks for that Dae, just found their website, one place to definitely checkout when up that way in the van.