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[unlucky mark mv6]

Just a quick one,to see how much interest there is on this forum for the on and off road buggies,as i am in the middle of setting up a partnership business,manufacturing em.Any feedback and suggestions appreciated.

[r1]

off road there are only a few places you can go  so if you have a list of places where you can use them this would help,also maybe look at trailers[cost and supply]
on road i would think insurance might be a proplem so a few insurance numbers would help.
people might also be concerned where they can get spares /parts from.
good luck i wish you well.

[Nickbat]

Just a quick one,to see how much interest there is on this forum for the on and off road buggies,as i am in the middle of setting up a partnership business,manufacturing em.Any feedback and suggestions appreciated.

Oh. I thought this was going to be about Maclaren buggies. Typical parent, that I am. 

[Omegatoy]

lot of it depemds on price obviously,

then engine size

then transmission auto?manual>cvt?

number of seats?1 or 2?

2 or 4 wheell drive?

need more info but there is a booming market here for them!!
most are piaggio if you want to look at them

[unlucky mark mv6]

lot of it depemds on price obviously,

then engine size

then transmission auto?manual>cvt?

number of seats?1 or 2?

2 or 4 wheell drive?

need more info but there is a booming market here for them!!
most are piaggio if you want to look at them

Hmmm interesting,you say theres a booming market in spain for them.Have you possibly got any contacts mate for distributers etc.Help is greatly appreciated.We are looking mainly at the donor converted buggies,e.g fiat cinqucento,sciento,metro etc,mostly 2 wheel drive,with manual boxes.using the donor bikes was something we thought about,but decided against it after,as they are going to be a bit costly to make.

[Mr Skrunts]

Theres allways a market, but sadly like kit cars, they often depend on how they look.

If it has the wow - I want one of those factors then no doubt you will be on to a winner.

A road legal version of the old beach buggy may well be a good seller.

http://www.mellowwave.co.uk/surf%20wagons/empi-beach-buggy.jpg

http://www.miltonsandtoys.com/images/beach%20buggy.jpg

and my wow thats nice - http://avto-easy.ru/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/lotus-430r.jpg

[Kevin Wood]

This is what you want.  8-)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHENOWTH-Road-Legal-V8-Twin-Turbo-Sandrail-Buggy-/140429697398?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20b2432176

 

Brakes – Front, VW Beatle drum with hand brake modification.

Rear, Vented disc, again not certain but I believe they came of a Vauxhall Carlton.

So.. Erm.. <cough> What's the brake balance like, then?

Kevin

[Kevin Wood]

On a more serious note..

What is your competition like and what USPs can you bring to the market?

IMHO, it's a waste of time making a kit that can't be built road legal, as, even for the practical purposes of getting it to the beach, it needs to be used on the road for most who will build one.

Getting a vehicle on the road these days is a bit of a minefield with IVA testing. Not necessarily difficult but you need to be supplying a kit which will pass this without too much of a problem. If you leave this to your customers to get right the phone won't stop ringing - and not in a good way.

Kevin

[Mr Skrunts]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lYlrA6mipE[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2qPi-ImcKQ&feature=related[/media]

Some interesting stuff out there.

[Mr Skrunts]

This is what you want.  8-)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHENOWTH-Road-Legal-V8-Twin-Turbo-Sandrail-Buggy-/140429697398?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20b2432176

 

Brakes – Front, VW Beatle drum with hand brake modification.

Rear, Vented disc, again not certain but I believe they came of a Vauxhall Carlton.

So.. Erm.. <cough> What's the brake balance like, then?

Kevin

Is that a parachute mount on the back for added braking or is that where the anchor os attached.

Wouldnt mind borrowing that for a couple of weeks.

[unlucky mark mv6]

On a more serious note..

What is your competition like and what USPs can you bring to the market?

IMHO, it's a waste of time making a kit that can't be built road legal, as, even for the practical purposes of getting it to the beach, it needs to be used on the road for most who will build one.

Getting a vehicle on the road these days is a bit of a minefield with IVA testing. Not necessarily difficult but you need to be supplying a kit which will pass this without too much of a problem. If you leave this to your customers to get right the phone won't stop ringing - and not in a good way.

Kevin

Totally agree with you kevin.Unique selling points would be obviously our own unique chassis design,and thought about designing some kind of universal,maybe adjustable engine cradle.As for iva testing,we wouldent dream of letting one through the door without,that would be totally stupid imho.Kevin i have noticed your in to your kit cars,dont suppose you have a copy of the iva regs by any chance.

[dad1uk]

Try this Mark - it takes a while to open but there is loads of info.

http://issuu.com/completekitcar/docs/sva_iva?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=000000

[Omegatoy]

lot of it depemds on price obviously,

then engine size

then transmission auto?manual>cvt?

number of seats?1 or 2?

2 or 4 wheell drive?

need more info but there is a booming market here for them!!
most are piaggio if you want to look at them

Hmmm interesting,you say theres a booming market in spain for them.Have you possibly got any contacts mate for distributers etc.Help is greatly appreciated.We are looking mainly at the donor converted buggies,e.g fiat cinqucento,sciento,metro etc,mostly 2 wheel drive,with manual boxes.using the donor bikes was something we thought about,but decided against it after,as they are going to be a bit costly to make.

trouble is here in spain they all have to be homologated or they cant be used !! the spansh authoiteis refuse to allow modified vehicles of any type, so ifr it started life as something else then it wont be allowed , that not to say they arent used here but the market for purely offroad would be very very limited

[Kevin Wood]

Totally agree with you kevin.Unique selling points would be obviously our own unique chassis design,and thought about designing some kind of universal,maybe adjustable engine cradle.As for iva testing,we wouldent dream of letting one through the door without,that would be totally stupid imho.Kevin i have noticed your in to your kit cars,dont suppose you have a copy of the iva regs by any chance.

I notice the new front end of my Westfield chassis has bolt-in engine mount carriers now so they are obviously going down the route of making the basic chassis "engine agnostic". Makes sense if you can avoid having too many variables.

I'm sure I did come across an IVA manual...

Look here for starters: http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/repository/M1%20Inspection%20Manual%20May%2009.pdf

Kevin

[Entwood]

Totally agree with you kevin.Unique selling points would be obviously our own unique chassis design,and thought about designing some kind of universal,maybe adjustable engine cradle.As for iva testing,we wouldent dream of letting one through the door without,that would be totally stupid imho.Kevin i have noticed your in to your kit cars,dont suppose you have a copy of the iva regs by any chance.

I notice the new front end of my Westfield chassis has bolt-in engine mount carriers now so they are obviously going down the route of making the basic chassis "engine agnostic". Makes sense if you can avoid having too many variables.

I'm sure I did come across an IVA manual...

Look here for starters: http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/repository/M1%20Inspection%20Manual%20May%2009.pdf

Kevin

Only 282 pages of light reading !!