Hello and good day to you from episode 29 of our podcast series Project Breakaway. A metaphorical and literal time in the day when we here at Predator cycling take some time away from working in the back shop to come and share with our listeners what we're doing, how we're doing it, what it takes to do it, our ideas, our innovative success stories and even our missteps and failures. If you find yourself with an interest in bicycles, composite manufacturing, out of the box design or even curiosities beyond. I encourage you to stick with us, settle in and learn a little. I'm Courtney B, co-owner and project manager of Predator cycling. I'm here with my partner Arm Goan, the other co-owner, CEO, lead design and engineer. I didn't even come up with anything else this week. How's it going, Arm? Ouch. Sorry. I was reading it and I realized I didn't come up with any extra. What? Sorry. This is how I highlight like my. Podcasting. That's the only reason I want to do this. Uh, yeah, and I yeah, I can't even think of anything right now. I'm just so tired. That's okay. I'll forgive you. Man of mystery. Sure. Sure. Shop minion. Yeah, whatever. Love of my life. Oh, there you go. Sorry. I was reading it and I was like, oh man. Oops. Sorry. It's okay. Uh, okay, so, uh, we took another week. I think it was actually two weeks hiatus from the podcast. I can't even remember anymore. Yeah, it's been a little crazy. Um, since summer is just getting the best of us. You've been here working a lot. It's hot. Our kid keeps getting sick from daycare. I'm home. So, while I've been the house manager, the shop manager, and the remote shop manager. You've been working hard on designing and sourcing new products that have quietly hit our online and Amazon store. Yep, as well as whatever else you do. Thank you. Um, yeah. We did, we've been we've been working really, really, really hard. And, um. Yeah, we've we've got a bunch of new stuff out. Yeah. So let's dive into that. Let's do it. So our cleat angle adapters that we have been talking about for quite a while. Um, and we've been rolling them out slowly as we 3D print them. Are available now. We have. Look. Kio. Yes. SPD and SPDL. Yes. Those are all the ones that we currently have. And I'm told these are all types of cleats. Yeah, so they're all different types of cleat. They're they're they're also, um. Different styles of the cleats. Um. So like, uh, the the Delta and. Oh, so I didn't say Delta. And Delta. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, so the Delta, the Kio and the SPDLs are all what are typically referred to as. has a three hole pattern. Are these types? Or brands? Is SPD like a type or is it like Kleenex when everyone says Kleenex, but Kleenex is a brand? So SPD is a style of pedal, um, a cleat system. Um, SPD SL is one that's done by Shimano kind of took that one over. What's the SL stand for? Uh, I thought it was super light. I don't, I don't know. I'm not sure. Okay. Um, it's it's a really long discussion of what all the. And look is a brand though, no? Look is a brand. Look, so, okay, look came up with the first clip pedal system. It was designed around the Delta cleat. The Delta cleat is the original um, clipless pedal system. Um, so that was the first one. And then, um, Shimano. Did you say clipless? Yeah, clipless, so there's no, there's no toe clip. So you just put your foot on a pedal? Yes. You you slide your foot in and then you like push it down and it clips and engages. Oh, so it is clip. Okay, a toe clip is what they used to have where you have that strap. That goes around your foot. Yeah, that's what you're talking to, the girl at the gym who straps her foot in. You don't have a toe clip. There's no toe clip. Okay. So it's called clipless because that's that's the clip. Like that, the toe clip. Okay. There's no clip. So, um, there's no toe strap. Even on the track, they use a toe strap with clipless. Anyway, that gets a little confusing. But so basically the original one was the Delta. And that Delta, um, was by by look. And Shimano copied them, um, and came out with a pedal, an all metal pedal body system. And they got sued and then they got in trouble, so they stopped and discontinued the pedal. And then years later, Shimano came out with the SPD SL. And then look moved away from the Delta, they lost, I think the patent had expired. And they went to the look Kio system. So this is it's just. Okay, so they were like brands, but now they're actually just like types. Yeah. Think of them as types. They are, there's there's associations to brands. But it very similar to the Kleenex thing. But then people copied it and and took it. So my my point is. And you made wedges for all these things. Yes. We we made, uh, so we've gone ahead and made uh cleat adapters for all of the look, the Delta and uh the SPD SLs. And all of them are uh specific to the shape. But they use the same basic three hole pattern. Um, so the pattern's the same. Um, but what happened is in the past, there's there's other companies that have made um, um, products like this. But the problem is is that you have to go back and basically trim and cut them all out to fit the pedal cleat properly. And if you don't, they get caught in the engagement. So now that we're 3D printing these, we went ahead and actually made specific ones for each of them. And we just recently just did the uh SPD as well. So we have all four of those. And we have the appropriate screw systems for each of them. That we've also sourced. Guess what? They come with a torque key. They do. Uh, they are a torque key, they have a torque key with them and um, um, yeah, and they have really nice high quality torque screws with them. So, um, we're super excited for that. But you do not have a speed play. We we do not have speed play. So I designed the actual adapter for it. But um, speed play now uses with the speed play walkable introduced them originally and with the walkable cleat and now the new Wahoo um cleat system also uses that same walkable um screw system. And it's a very specialized screw. And we kind of just did like a volume assessment of how much are sold and done and if it's worth making the screw. And we opted out for right now. Um, it was just kind of a little too much to take on. Um, so we we make we have everything for it. We just don't have the screws. Okay. So we just decided to not. It's not live yet. Anyway, but we have the designs and I'm sure someone will see one floating around here or there. Because they're out there in the world. Um, they can be done. We can make them. Uh, we just don't have any screws for them. Right. So, all those are available on our website. Yes. And Amazon. Yeah, and so we sell them in a um, a pre-packaged kit, which basically includes a one degree and a two degree. Um, two of each and the appropriate screws that you may need for that setup. Um, and we do that for all four of those designs. Um, as well as yesterday I finally finished and we have the full setup for the custom um cleat angle adapter and height adapter. Right. So that's one that's our website only. Yes, that's only on our website. You go on the website, you put in what degrees you want and then our custom makes them on the printer. And we ship them to you. Yep. So, and those are really cool because you can basically pick um anything from a negative two to a positive three. Um, angle and we can do anything from a 0.5 all the way to a 5 mil um leg length discrepancy we can fill. So, um, and if you look at them online, they're really cool because they're actually built like a front um lip on them. So that it helps you with the engagement. So you can engage. A lot of the times when you have cleat systems, especially on the Kios and the Deltas and the um even the SPDs when you lengthen that height, um it it it messes up on how that engages. So that um the way the pedal engages with the bottom of the shoe so that you can actually clip in, that messes up. So we went ahead and fixed that. So, um, we make a nice little flat um platform so you can clip in really easily. Cool. And you also have uh designed the um a steel wedge insert that we're calling the cleat shoe safeguard shim. Yes. Uh, so I'm not a cyclist. To me this is just a piece of metal. What is this? It is a piece of metal. So it is a piece of metal that goes, the first one that we came out with is for the speed play pedal system. And it's designed around the new Wahoo recently updated version of the speed play cleat system. So it basically goes between the cleat and the shoe itself. And it's a safeguard. So it basically protects the bottom of the shoe. Or if you had like angle adapters or something, it would protect those as well. And it gives it a really good foundation for that cleat. So you have this really strong connection between the bottom of the cleat and the shoe itself. So it's kind of a protector as well as a kind of helps with the stability of the bottom of the cleat. It does not though fix any sort of misalignment. If you had like, so I mean. It doesn't replace the knee. That's what. That's what that's what one of the cleat adapters would be for. Yeah. Okay. So. And that's actually been super popular. Yeah. I mean, we haven't advertised it really at all. But we've sold a few. We've sold, yeah. We're almost out. So we, because of sourcing of metal, because it's pandemic. And there's no materials. Materials are hard to come by. Everything's hard to come by. And the the. And if you do come by it, it's expensive to. Yeah. They're not it's not easy right now. But. We did that, so that that is out. And that is also it is all made here domestically. So. Great, so the next thing I was going to segue into. Is we've also sourced a pedal washer pack. Yeah. Because we're not a metal fabrication company, so we need to source metal for our designs. Um, so. Explain what the pedal washer pack is. So a pedal, so pedal washers are. Obviously, it's a washer. It goes between the pedal and the crank arm. And it serves really to our washer serves really two purposes. One purpose is like any washer, it's supposed to make a stronger connection. Between the pedal and the crank in this case. And so we have a very nice high quality washer that has good flanging surfaces on both sides. So that when you tighten down your pedal, it one doesn't scar and damage the the crank arm. It it goes against the washer. But then that load is being able to be carried over really easily between the washer from the pedal and goes right into the crank. So it makes a really strong connection. And then you also have the fact that the. The washers that we selected are 1.6 mm thick. Um, so it's a little thicker, a normal quote unquote washer is a is about a mill. Um, just under a mill usually. And so ours is basically like one and a half washers. Um, so that gives you a little bit of a push out so that you can get a little better stance with. Um, for trying to help get your your legs and knees aligned better. Right. So, um, and that's also like you kind of, I think you mentioned just earlier, it is also locally made. Right. So, um, all of our products, all of our products are made here locally in our shop in Nashville, but if we can't make them, we try and source them from US-based manufacturers. Yep, so all of our small part assemblies are all done in the US. So we have sourced them and now they're available online. Yeah, we got our first shipment in, um, a couple last week and we got them. They're up on Amazon, they're available on Amazon and they're available on our website. Right. So, they're all available and we're just trying to gauge and get a hold of what the potential sales volumes and interest in these products are. Because it's kind of not our usual song and dance of carbon frames. Yes, it's. Bike fitting, um, uh, accessories, I guess. Yeah. So it's. Which you can find all these listed on our website, cycling.com, um, bike fitting tab, I believe. Yeah. There's a menu on the top that says fitting. And there's products. Underneath that. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think though that, so, I mean, bike fitting has always been a very, um, big part of our business. And what we do because we design parts. Bicycle frames, components that are all built around the customer themselves. Um, and because of that, um, we've always had to be, um, conscious of of fitting. And how that, you know, the biomechanics of our human body works in with our parts and our frames and everything. So, um, fitting has always been a crucial part of it. And we are slowly starting to bring, um, the whole system together. So doing fitting parts, um, like custom angle adapters and uh, cleat adapters for the shoes and and all of these small, um, parts are super relevant to how our products are used. Well, I mean, if you're going to spend all that money on a custom bike, you probably want it to fit right. Yeah, absolutely. You want it. You want to ride it. Right. So we have, I mean, this there's the whole line of products that we just released now. And more that we have in the pipeline. That are all around this concept of helping you, you know, fit the best it can, ride the best you can, have the best experience you can on the bicycle. Like that's kind of the whole point. Um, and a lot of the new technology we've been working on and building on has allowed us to do more of it. So. So while you've been working on designing all these parts, you've also been thinking about how we're going to organize all of this new, uh, these new products into our business. Yep. So, um, we've been working a lot on small business organization. Um, so whether it is customer retention and documentation, communication, bookkeeping, inventory management, etcetera. There are a lot of options out there for small businesses to use to keep it all organized. Yep. So you spent the greater part of last month, um, doing a huge overhaul of our systems. Yeah, and I mean, we, yes, I have. Yeah, that's what I've been working on a lot. And you know, we've talked a lot in the past about how we do that with our design process. Um, and how we keep our models digital and the whole digital manufacturing process and all that. Um, and this is trying to bring that same methodology to like our business management side. Right. Um, so, you know, when when an order comes in, how the order is processed, the customer data, um, keeping track of customers, um, you know, back and forth with emails, all that kind of stuff and and gauging that. Right. Uh, and more efficiently because we're also a small team. So. Well, that's what I was going to say. Like, there's only two of us and we still are like, wait, did you do this with this customer? Did you do this? Did you make that? What's going on with this? And I can't imagine in like a 100-person company. All the miscommunication that happens. Well, also, yes. Absolutely. But also like, I mean, you're absolutely right. But on top of that, we add another layer of complicatedness. Is the fact that like we actually design our own stuff. Test it. Simulate it. Build it. Tool it. Right. Manufacture it. I mean, there's that whole side. So I mean, we're doing that whole system. And a lot of that train of thought is deep seated inside of your head. And it's hard for me to be like. There's a lot of times where you're like, oh, I I did this. I made this. And I'm like, you didn't tell me that. No, I did. I'm like, no, you probably said it out loud, but not specifically to me. Yes. Well, and also. The wall probably knows what's going on. It probably. And my computer screen. Um. But uh, yeah, but it's really hard. I mean, anyone that's run a small business knows. How many moving parts there are. And trying to log all of it and build it like a blueprint. And that's actually something that you really. I mean, years and years and years ago, kind of got stuck in my head. This like blueprint of how things work. Because. I love rules and regulations. You had me make a manual. I'm a big fan. We had a we were having a new employee start. And uh, you wanted you said that they need a manual. I'm like a manual. Like, what do you mean? You just do this, this, this. This is like, no one knows. I'm like, oh. So we built a manual. And it's uh. I kind of got stuck in my head. I'm like, oh, this is actually a really good idea. Like, this is super smart. Um. So I'm trying to build a blueprint of our business. Mhm. Um, a digital twin of our business. Um, so that we have like logs and inputs and data and and all of that. And it's been a long-term goal. And um, we've been doing it on the manufacturing side. And this is the first step on the business side. Right. Um, is this whole migration? You can call it migration. I'm just going to call it. Getting our shit together. Okay. I can get with that. It's our getting shit together overhaul of our system. Yes, yes. Uh, which is doesn't happen overnight. No. It's it's painstaking. So you've landed on a company called Zoho. Yes. Zoho markets itself as a cloud software suite and SAS application. Yeah, service. Software as a service. Software as a service. So instead of like, you know, when you used to buy software and you paid whatever amount. And you got that big box. And it had. I'd like a little key on the back and you just. No, I'm the person that's on Facebook who's like, do you want to have an extra copy of this software? Oh my God. I can borrow. Oh my God. Anyway, this is people's jobs by the way to implement this into businesses. Yes. But we're just trying to feel it in predator fashion. Yeah. We're trying to figure it out all by ourselves. No. Not that we're not incapable. No, but well, okay. But it's just time spent on it. Yes. Well, okay, so I actually talked, I I've talked to a couple places to implement portions of it. And then they explained to me how they were going to implement it. And I was like, no. I I that's not how I want it done. And so I was getting frustrated and so I basically at that point decided that I was going to just migrate it myself. Right. Um. So yeah, so okay. So this system, Zoho. Yes. Seems like a real plug and play type software. Yeah. But in our fashion. Um, it's taken a little longer because you've gone back and forth with their team of developers. Yes. And you get tossed to another developer. And then you're like, oh, this is the wrong team. Yes. This is the implementation team. This isn't the. Yes, the custom integrations. Custom integration team. What are we? Anyway. So what what do you want this. This is so an arm problem. Yes, this is where I back away and I'm like, is it done yet? Ah, yeah. So, okay, I'm going to read this really long thing. I wrote and then you tell me what you want out of Zoho for our small business. Yes. Okay, so Zoho, so it does the blanket automation for invoicing and billing, etc. But you're trying to integrate this software with more intelligent software that we use for design and component organization digitally. Like Omniverse, which is what we've discussed in the previous podcast. Um, so bigger picture, you want to use this software as a stepping stone for our predator ecosystem. Yes. That integrates not only our customer information and HR and billing. But our whole production workflow from your design files and how they're used in an entire bike frame. Yes. Um, to basically the inventory used in the bike bike frame from parts and screws and nuts and bolts, um, to the costs associated with all of them. In purchasing these said nuts and bolts and wholesale and whatever. Yes. So, um. Yes, yes, all of that. Basically, I buy a bike frame. Yep. Uh, let's see, and eventually on the back end, we hear at Predator know that the cost of each piece and component associated with that bike. Yes. Each design tool, the time you spent designing it, uh, the ordering of that custom made piece, the pricing breakdowns, the shipping times of those pieces, the stock inventories of those pieces. Uh, and then that automatically pings me when inventories get low. So I can reorder. Yep. Um, we're also trying to track the customer information associated with each order. Yep. Their their billing information. Their shipping information. The how the frame was tested and the results from testing both digitally and. physically and uh potential information for future sales and marketing, etc. Yep. So, uh what else do you want to implement with this? Um, so this is the Okay, so yes. All of that is true. Everything you said is what we're trying to do. And and also, I mean, to kind of back up just a hair is, you know, we've talked before. About how we build a lot of our own equipment and we build a lot of our own automation systems. So we built all of that in a in a way so that it could communicate with other applications. Knowing that this was kind of our end goal. Um, so all of our presses, testing equipment, um, all the machinery and add-ons that we've built to our CNC machines and printers all communicate in this protocol. Where we can actually access the data. So this is kind of what it's always been a like a building block. And so this is the first implementation of that back end. So now we'll be able to look at things like, um, using custom modules. So Zoho is kind of a. It's a really good system because they they have like really good bookkeeping systems, help desk, CRM, marketing tools. That are really nice and they work very well. They're built out pretty well. And they have the ability to integrate with each other and with custom applications. So that's kind of where we're stepping in. And so we're using their modules to do some of that business side of things that we need. And then building our own custom modules on top of it or alongside it. So we can kind of integrate this all together. So we can look at things like, um, AI based forecasting of inventory parts and assemblies. Based on traffic of our site. That's the first thing I've kind of started to implement. So now we can kind of look at not just forecasting of. Hey, you know, we have this much traffic on our site, this is what our sales are currently. This is how many products we need. But actually using AI models to forecast small parts and inventory of sub assemblies. So, hey, we need an AI engine to predict how much epoxy systems we need, how much pre-preg we need. How much screws and hardware we need and how we need that when based on expiration. Like things like that is what I'm also looking at. And making helping us make more intelligent decisions. So we can make, you know, decisions like. You know, we have, you know, our current budget is this for purchasing for materials. Okay, well, what's the smartest thing to buy? What's our highest ROI? What's our fastest return rate? When is this going to expire, when's that going to expire? When's, you know, when's our big rush for these materials and these parts and use all of that data to make really intelligent decisions. On what we need to do next. And also use this system to help build some of our back end automation so that we can actually make machines and parts faster. Right. So that's kind of like the end goal, but yeah. That's that's what we're working on. And so this is our first big step towards that. Um, from the from the business side of it. But and you have to build all this out with the developers at Zoho. Uh, so the developers from Zoho will help us with some of the integrations and using their tools. But a lot of that is built by us. Like I'm building a lot of that. Right. Um, is just me and and. That's kind of what's taken us so long because we've there's we've had a lot of little problems on how we didn't know how we were going to do things. And like platforms and and there was a lot of little parts that were like, we can't develop that. That's way too much work. And so we've over the last couple years have found like, you know, Zoho has been a great plugin. That's going to plug right into that. Um, Omniverse is another really big one that's actually integrating with this whole system. Um, Ansis and being able to use Ansis and how we're using Ansis and leveraging it is a huge another player into that. Um, and and then also some some of the like PLC systems that we're using for our automation on our machinery. The way those integrate now to the cloud has gotten a lot better. So it's kind of made all that together. And so basically what we're the part that we're building is the central hub. That all of this connects and pushes to. Um, also with some of the reporting tools and whatnot. So you're taking a bunch of other people's stuff and we're making it our own. Kind of. Um, yeah, for sure. That that's a good analogy. Yeah. So, I think I need to share your mic for a second. I'm not getting any reading on mine. Your mic's gone. Yeah. Okay. Um, we got to share mics here. Having technical difficulties. So, that was Zoho. Yeah, come and get close. Get get closer. Closer. Closer. Too close. Okay. Uh, so yeah, so you've been working on the whole Zoho thing. And that's cool. And I, you know, let me know when you're done. So I can use it. Yeah. We've gotten a bunch of it moved over, so, um, that's exciting and I yeah, I'm still trying to get part of the inventory system. Working properly, so. We're we're it's almost there. It's almost there. Okay. Well, since we're too close now and we're sharing mic. Uh, let's just quickly things to mention. We're working on introducing a wholesale option to our website, especially for small shops and bike fitters. So you're working on a custom module that will integrate into the website. So we just need to work out our pricing menu and options for wholesale. So like if you want to buy a bunch of wedges. Yeah. So we're going to have, um, on our website here, um, a a login. So you can actually log in and set yourself up as a wholesale user. And, um, do wholesale, you know, straight through us. Um, for shops and fitters and, um, we've got a couple actual builders that have been interested. So we're in the works of setting that up. Um, so that you can do that. Back to me. Yes. So, you know, let me know when you have that set up too. Uh, and then also mention, uh, R U. will be talking to our only repeat guest, Kurt Chan from Ansis. Uh, again next week. Uh, I think you are recording a webinar for their. Virtual call. Level up. So Ansis has a virtual, uh, conference. how we're going to be used topology optimization and Ansis. You're one of the speakers. It's happening virtually on October 20th. It's free, so put it on your calendars. Did you want to say anything about that one? Uh, no. I just it's kind of cool because it's uh level up is based more around their um um their enterprise mechanical suite. is what they're it's mostly it's more on. Um and it should be really fun. So we're going to do with Kurt and we're going to be like you said talking about topology optimization for 3D print. And it should be it should be fun. It should be fun. Super interesting. It is. It is. Okay. All right. And you know, side note. If there are any audio engineers listening. Please help us figure this out. My mic keeps dying. I need a taco. Let's go get lunch. Okay. We thank you for choosing to take some time with us. And we look forward to future breakaways. Look for us on Instagram and LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and in person here in Tennessee. We ask our listeners to please share, like and subscribe. We're available on all major streaming platforms. Thanks for listening, have a good one and find some time to break away.
EpisodeAug 27, 2021 · 28:18
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Project Breakaway with Predator Cycling
29: New Product Available & Implementing Zoho, Ep. 29
In this episode, Courtney B and Arm Goan excitedly announce the launch of their new cleat angle adapters, now available for various cleat types including Look Kio, SPD, SPD-SL, and Delta. These custom-designed adapters are available on their website and Amazon, addressing common fit issues and offering personalized angle and height adjustments for optimal pedal engagement. Each kit includes appropriate screws and a torque key for proper installation.
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