Hi all. Just to let you know what's happening. As some of you may be aware, this next batch of 30 heads, which is currently being machined, is about eight months overdue, due to factors outside my control. Basically, Harrop's of Melbourne who manufacture these heads for me, have entered a partnership agreement with a foundry in Adelaide, South Australia and closed their own foundry, sending all their foundry equipment across to this firm along with a couple of experienced staff. My understanding is that the rest became redundant. I was told that this batch would remain at the then current price, subject to evaluation after this batch was complete. I received an e-mail from Harrop's telling me that the foundry had done it's evaluation and the heads were going to cost 50% more, from the next batch on. Not negotiable. This was on the same day that I received an e-mail from Matt at CNW telling me that he'd done his sums, and from here on in, he was going to make my heads standard fitment on all his builds. Bittersweet.
I realise that the heads could not sustain a 50% rise in retail. My answer is that I am traveling to Melbourne next month to find another foundry willing to do the casting, who are capable and have the casting fall within my costing parameters. Harrop's will still machine and finish the castings for the same price. Which means that the raw castings actually doubled in price. Nice. If I can't find any firm suitable, then I'm off to New Zealand or the USA. I thought that I would have a bit more time to organise something, however, events have overtaken me. This batch, being eight months overdue, are all spoken for. This means that it is an absolute must that I seek out someone to do the raw castings ASAP so that a new batch can get underway to fulfill demand. Because of the lateness of the delivery, I am strapped for cash, and do not even have the money to freight the heads to my distributors! Such is the position of small operators. That is what credit cards are for. Lucky I don't use my proceeds to live on, or my house would have a number of skeletal remains. That's what wives in gainful employment are for!
Now, the price of the heads was going up for this batch anyway due to improvements, mainly CNC machining of the inlet ports, which cost a fair bit of cash for writing of the machining program and changes to the casting. This was to be ammortised over two years with this extra cost. However, due to the uncertainty of Fullauto Technology's future, I must put the price up 10% to avoid the trap of not having enough money to complete the next batch, which, basically, would be the end game for my enterprise. Not to say that my survival is assured anyway. I will be informing my distributors of this via a separate e-mail.
Also, as some of you also know, my personal Commando has just emerged from a two year restoration just four weeks ago, some four years after the crash that put the bike (and me) in a state of serious damage. This bike is an absolute distillation of forty years of accumulated Norton knowledge with all the best mods to make it a supremely usable and capable road bike. It is magical. Although this breaks my heart, it is also for sale.
I see no way around this if I wish Fullauto Technologies to move on and survive and, hopefully prosper.
Full spec to be added in another post. So, now you know the trials and tribulations of somebody trying to do something for Nortondom.
I realise that the heads could not sustain a 50% rise in retail. My answer is that I am traveling to Melbourne next month to find another foundry willing to do the casting, who are capable and have the casting fall within my costing parameters. Harrop's will still machine and finish the castings for the same price. Which means that the raw castings actually doubled in price. Nice. If I can't find any firm suitable, then I'm off to New Zealand or the USA. I thought that I would have a bit more time to organise something, however, events have overtaken me. This batch, being eight months overdue, are all spoken for. This means that it is an absolute must that I seek out someone to do the raw castings ASAP so that a new batch can get underway to fulfill demand. Because of the lateness of the delivery, I am strapped for cash, and do not even have the money to freight the heads to my distributors! Such is the position of small operators. That is what credit cards are for. Lucky I don't use my proceeds to live on, or my house would have a number of skeletal remains. That's what wives in gainful employment are for!
Now, the price of the heads was going up for this batch anyway due to improvements, mainly CNC machining of the inlet ports, which cost a fair bit of cash for writing of the machining program and changes to the casting. This was to be ammortised over two years with this extra cost. However, due to the uncertainty of Fullauto Technology's future, I must put the price up 10% to avoid the trap of not having enough money to complete the next batch, which, basically, would be the end game for my enterprise. Not to say that my survival is assured anyway. I will be informing my distributors of this via a separate e-mail.
Also, as some of you also know, my personal Commando has just emerged from a two year restoration just four weeks ago, some four years after the crash that put the bike (and me) in a state of serious damage. This bike is an absolute distillation of forty years of accumulated Norton knowledge with all the best mods to make it a supremely usable and capable road bike. It is magical. Although this breaks my heart, it is also for sale.
I see no way around this if I wish Fullauto Technologies to move on and survive and, hopefully prosper.
Full spec to be added in another post. So, now you know the trials and tribulations of somebody trying to do something for Nortondom.
