Open Bicycle

Not really.  It’s been a crazy week what with the drop of the Union Foundry Rotafixer and the resulting melee.  The response has been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve been shipping tools to all the appreciative early adopters. We certainly want to thank Prolly and others who helped spread the word about the Rotafixer and have been elemental in presenting what we have done in a flattering light.

Some of the feedback has been of a different color.  A famous blogger (the irony of that title isn’t lost on us) called us “hipster Ron Popiels,” I suppose in reference to the fact that our tool has a story behind it.  Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought that all the commotion with the “local” movement had something to do with the idea that enlightened urban consumers were tired of purely transactional lives- they wanted to know the people that grew their chard and made their furniture and brazed their bike frames.

When we had moved through the prototyping process and started looking at manufacturing, we sat down and discussed the notion of overseas production.  Taiwan could have made the tool (with nameless underage laborer and cartel-run mill factories) for a fraction of the price our one-man operation in Cambridge did.  We could have used cheaper steel and large-scale finishing for a poorer-quality and less attractive product.  There were easy pathways to anyone being able to buy the tool from Nashbar for thirty bucks.

That shit’s been done, though.  We wanted this project to be an experiment in local production, from concept to completion.  The $80 pricetag relects the real costs of making something with people you know by name, in the city you live in.  Yeah, it’s expensive.  So are those awesome $5 lattes made by the endearing barrista at your favorite locally-owned coffeshop,  the $400 CSA share that brings healthy and beautiful heirloom veggies to your door, and the $2000 custom touring frame that you had built to fit you for life by the eccentric mustachioed framebuilder.  We could have made this tool in China and we probably would have made some money that way, as well.  But, as I was told long ago when I was still a young mechanic with a glimmer in my eye, if you’re in the bike world to make money, you’re doing it wrong.

The first run of the Rotafixer was 40 pieces, largely due to being cash-strapped young entrepreneurs.  There’s a few left-we’re considering a second run but there’s a million other projects to work on so this may be it.  Big thanks to all who helped and contributed.

PS If you’re looking for a less expensive bike tool, consider the BSNYC Wisecracker.  If there is anything the bike world needs, it’s another bottle opener.