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B607 said:
Do you have punch presses and tool and die makers at your machine shop? You could sell Schwinn straight bar tanks for $150-$200 each. No repops are available any more as far as I know. $75 bucks each time the punch press cycles is good money. I'm a retired machinist, by the way. Set-up operator on Brown & Sharpe screw machines. Gary

Not too many machinists around these days, always nice to meet one. Unfortunately, we don't have any presses and I don't think the boss is interested in getting into it. We pretty much do straight CNC work, so I want to start with some small parts we can carve out of aluminum, maybe steel. I want to avoid the whole "billet" look that everyone was doing in the 90's. I want to do hot rod styled parts, maybe even streamlined or art deco stuff. I may just have to draw up a stem inspired by a drilled I-beam axle off of an old Ford hot rod... :wink:
 
If you try out stems, you might want to carve out a few that are super-decorative. Also maybe pedals like the late 1800's all-metal torringtons. I don't have a pic but they are kind of gothic looking. Also, dropstands are a safe sell.
 
I like the old Torrington pedals, I would love to do something like that. Keep the ideas coming guys, these are gold!
 
We're not really set up to do fab work like tube bending and such. We are just a plain ol' machine shop that can carve cool stuff out of chunks of metal. I don't even want to know how expensive getting stuff chromed in the US would cost these days. Would probably cost $100 per handlebar.
 
Many of these things sound cool but are more practical to make other ways like seat posts. Now the i beam inspired neck is the best idea so far. If you want to get fancy maybe a fender ornament and a fender mount taillight housing.
 
If you want a real money-maker, find some almost exact jewels and carve out some autocycle fender bombs and glue the jewels into the front. Just be sure to get the Schwinn script on the sides.
 

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