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Old 02-17-2010, 10:28 AM   #33 (permalink)
Bicycle Bob
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: N. Saskatchewan, CA
Posts: 1,805

Appliance White - '93 Geo Metro 4-Dr. Auto
Last 3: 42.35 mpg (US)

Stealth RV - '91 Chevy Sprint Base
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I have to admire the general concept here. What toubles me is the lack of a team effort. There are dozens of research groups as well as hundreds of individual inventors working on just engine efficiency. To expect one man to master all aspects of automotive design and construction is beyond reason. However, it is also difficult to build and maintain a team. One engineer plus one engineer minus meeting time equals the output of 1.3 engineers, as a rough estimate of the average. Actual results run from about .2 to 3. This is discouraging to the efficiency nut, but our work would have no social relevance without all that messy reality out there. To connect with it, a team can also expand laterally, bringing in, for instance, a video editor. Those factors also make budgets baloon, which is why successful startups are so rare. The management needs great luck and skill.

I was doing well at putting together a company of part-time volunteers working, as I was, for shares. There is a lot of unenmployed talent out there, and a lot of people who want to build a better future. We ran into trouble, though, when an investor came in to help, and then took over with bad management. If you can first find a good people person who wants to see your company succeed, it might be off to a good start.

One tip on trike design - the forward weight bias can be overdone. I set mine to lift the back wheel if the brakes went on full, on good pavement, on a 10% downslope. However, it is probably not OK to design for average tires, and just plackard it against sticky tires.
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