The Opelousas courier., 1896-08-08
COST OF BICYCLES.
a HUNDRED DOLLAR WHEEL
MANUFACTURED FOR $3O.31.
An Inqutsitive Newspaper Reveals
tie Carefully Guarded Secret
OF the Cycle Trade-A Slump
in Prices Sure to Come.
7 Won buy o wheel for 500

S'l u ""SSN
you pay seventy dollars profit,
q Y the New York Herald. You
Z may purchase Il more costly vince!
and.pay more profit, in fact, and IN
proporiiou, ana You may get e much
cheuper wheel and pay relatively the
Same profit, which will be about 200
per cent.
Every purchaser of q wheel knows
what it cost him, but very few know
what it costs to produce n wheel be-
fore the profits are attached. ~
amount of profit derived from the sale
Of merchandise is usually . jealousy
guarded secret, and the larger tho
profit the more difficult is it for the
purchaser to Learn the actual cost of
production, and how much OF what he
pays goes into profits.
This is particularly true Of bicycles.
If retailers attempt to give the in
formation they will multiply the cor
rect figures by two or three. If the
manufacturer is asked, he will evade
the question, or perhaps quite prop
erly say:
SIT is none of your business"
But there are tens Of thousands of
wheelmen who individually know that
the particular wheel he himself is rid
ing cost him o 800, or thereabout,
and would like to know what it cost
the man who constructed it, at the
moment it stood in It's glitterinS
beauty, q completed bicycle.
After o seach for O competent au-
thority, and after work to induce him
TO give the figures, the Herald is abIe
to impart the desired information. If
you have an ordinary high grade
wheel that you were asked 500 for,
you are informed that it cost its man
ufacturer thirty dollars and thirty.one
cents.
The information is reliable, for it
comes from an unquestionsble source.
The gentleman who gives the figures
knows exactly what he is talking
about. He is an inventor of improve:
ments in bicycles, has invented and
patented bicycle machinery, is O man
ufacturer of and a dealer in oil sorts Of
wheels. He knows the business from
A to y, both inclusive.
Now if you wish a wheel particularly
fine, with the best of finish, full of ar
tistic lines and suited to the most culti-
waited taste, you are the man the dealer
is looking after. You will pay more
money and much moro profit for such
o wheel. You may pay 1926 or $3.50,
and such wheels cost more to produce
than the foregoing figures show.
The rims may cost $1.25, the tires
$12, the saddle 81, and the pedals
81. go. Then the finish will be better
than the standard wheel and there will
be more nickel plating on it.
OF course, you may go into silver or
gold plating, or into solid silver OF
gold, and extend the cost to any figure
you wish; but the further you go the
greater proportionate profit you will
pay.
On the other hand, you may indulge
in the false enonomy of going to the
other extreme and buying the cheap
est wheel to be found, but evef >athen
you are paying about the same pescen-
tage Of profit. You may 60 below the
standa- : mark of 800, a dollar at a
timsaIhrough the scale of prices, until
you reach the lowest figures. At the
upper end Of the scale there is not
much difference in quality, and often
it is simply in the amount of profit the
seller is willing to accept; but the
price of much cheaper wheels is made
possible by the grade of material used
and the class of workmanship.
There are tires that cost s.. go, sad
dies that cost eighty cents, and pedals
that cost forty cents. Then second
hand, and second, and even third and
fourth rate material is sometimes
used.
The work of assembling the parts is
another factor. It may be done with
skilled labor that costs S. for each
wheel, OF by boys who simply "throw"
the wheels together.
The Herald's inquiries among the
dealers for single parts of the bicycle |
developed the fact that there was quite
a variation in the prices put on the
articles, but an average shows that the |
original cost price is multiplied by
five.
A saddle, for instance, which cost OF
the factory eighty cents, is sold for 81, |
and one which cost 49,. SO for ST.
Handle bars that cost from 81 to 81. so |
are sold for SIS and 81. Smaller articles
listed in the factory cost at three, five, |
seven, eight, ten and twelve cents,
cost from twenty-five cents to 81. The
tw~enty-eight, thirty, forty and eighty
eight cent articles are sold at from
ST. 5 to $3. 80.
So it goes through the list. If q
man anxious to experiment should
purchase oil the various parts of ON
ordinary $100 wheel, one at a time, |
and pay an expert for putting them
together, his wheel would cost about
S17s.
That the wheel has come to stay is
the general opinion, but those who
have planned to have the present i'm.
petus continue will find themselves
mistaken. It is felt that there has
been an overproduction, and that a
crash In prices will come. Then
wheels will be sold at the ruling rate
of profit in similar lines, and the bust
ness will continue the same as that in
baby carriages, sewing machines and
lawn mowers.
There T already indications of the
approach of this condition in the bust
ness. and it is being brought about by
the sharp competition, which no
agreement will be able to hold within