Black Rocket Tires

, the business plan is temporarily on hold. Plans were put on hold when ClubRally was suspended, and we haven't picked the ball back up yet.

Please refrain from using the word "hoax" since we have not taken money from anyone, or promised a delivery date of any products to anyone.

I hope to have something to announce before the start of the 2004 gravel rally season.

Skye

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Skye Poier
Seattle WA
Vive le Prole-le-Ralliat!
Grp5 Ford Sierra (XR4Ti)
http://www.rallyrace.net/
Black Rocket Rally Tires
http://www.blackrockettires.com/
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Ray and others who have written emails:
I appreciate the interest but sometime we are overtaken by rapidly changing events, and as nice as these tires are, for the target market, that is to say YOU CLUB GUYS, the price must be very very attractive relative to the other tires on the market.

And it is a hard thing trying to do something like this in a very capital intensive/low mark up nich like tires.

Since beginning the process last year, the US dollar to Euro Exchange rates have gone thusly:
15 months ago for me to buy one Euro would cost me 87.5 cents US.
Last week for me to buy one Euro would cost me $1.175.
Huge difference in the cost.
They are excellent tires, strong as hell.
But the political policies which are the cause of the falling exchange rate are out of my hands at leeast untill the Presidential Elections.

Add to that the suspension of club rally the week before we were to place a, for us, big order of 4-5000 bucks, and the fear of losing our shirts was palpable.

The intention of the whole Black Rocket adventure was not merely to supply just another tire, but to supply one with a big advantage and that would be a PRICE advantage so that the average club guy could afford fresher tires more frequently, to counterbalance the advantage of pure spending.

Perhaps you guys can tell me what per-cent price difference the tires must be in order to be attractive enough to actually order them.
But as i had initially suggested prices at one place and by time we were ready to go the cost had risen by 25 to 28%, it was concluded to hold on a bit and see what develops.

Remember to register and remember to vote.


PS: the people who benifit from a lower US dollar exchange rate are those selling US made products overseas, so US EXPORTS are cheaper, like Boeing aircraft, and and and.....what else does anybody buy US made overseas????


Jim, sorry about this but the whole thing is supposed to be very nearly a 'public service', nearly.

John Vanlandingham
Seattle, WA. 98168

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

Black Rocket Rally Tires
http://www.blackrockettires.com/

>PS: the people who benifit from a lower US dollar exchange
>rate are those selling US made products overseas, so US
>EXPORTS are cheaper, like Boeing aircraft, and and
>and.....what else does anybody buy US made overseas????


Fox Racing Shox.

Half my sales of mountain bike forks have been overseas in the last 2 months.

I like it.

If any of you need some, I'll make you a SpecialStage special price




JVL and Skye- let me know if the ball starts rolling again and you need or want some warehouse space in the midwest.

If you can offer a product for a similar price to what is presently available, I'd say get a container of them over here. I'm not a big "public service business" person as it usually leads to someone on one side expecting more than they deserve, in my young life.

>Like the website says, the business plan is
>temporarily on hold. Plans were put on hold when ClubRally
>was suspended, and we haven't picked the ball back up yet.
>
>Please refrain from using the word "hoax" since we have not
>taken money from anyone, or promised a delivery date of any
>products to anyone.
>
>I hope to have something to announce before the start of the
>2004 gravel rally season.
>
>Skye


Ok,.. on hold not Hoax.
"I apologize for that."
Still there is no reason why someone can't reply and get back to potential customers.
Am I correct?
I asked for pricing and availability of a certain size, approximately 20 tires.
Suspension of "Club Rallies" is lifted.

Whiplash RallyeSport

Hi John et al,

Here are some suggestions on moving forward on this venture:

- If the tires are good, like we hear on this thread, they will sell if the price is anywhere under the Michelins. Of course, the lower, the better, and you will 'probably' have more sales, but quality, performance, and durability are going to be your main selling features. I don't know where your price point sets right now, but I am guessing it is above the Kuhmo's If so, you just have to not worry about that price point; that is a different level of rally tire, and again, if the Michelin-like performance is there, you are not selling against the Kuhmo's. At $100 to $110 per tire, you have a winner price in my opinion, if the quality, performance, and durability is close to the Michelins.
- Any exchange rate difference has to eventually effect Michelin prices and Pirelli prices in the USA, unless the mark-up by those tire sellers was so high (while the $/Eu exchange rate was favorable) that the sellers can absorb the loss with the worsening exchnage rate. I doubt that this is the case, but they might be willing to absorb it for a while to competitively foil your start-up. If that is the case, then you have to make sure you do not lose $$ on the situation, so that you can hang in there while that plays itself out. It's theold watermelon sales joke: If you are losing $0.25 per watermelon, you ain't gonna make it up on volume by lowering the price to lose $0.50 per watermelon!
- If you need a volume commitment for a minimum order from the manufacturer before you can get the tires made, then you have a tougher situation. You have the quandary of wondering if you will ever sell off the initial inventory. The only thing I can think of is to take real orders for a while with actual money exchanging hands so you are secured from folks backing out. This would give you a some sort of market test, but it's certainly hard to do; you have to be totally clear up front on what you are doing and scrupulous on refunding $$ at a set time in the process, if things dont' move forward, to avoid the 'hoax' accusation.

Starting-up with rising and unknown cost-of-sales is the toughest and scariest new biz move you can make, so you have my support for whatever it is worth!

Regards,
Mark B.

If John V is reading this...I've put some pictures of the Black Rocket Ice Racing Tires up on our Ice Racing Message board, and people are loving them.

Our series is looking for a spec tire for the 2005 season, but we need to do testing of different spec tires this winter.

If we were to choose the Black Rockets we are probably talking an order of say atleast 20 sets of tires to start off the season, and a few more throughout.

Frankly the spec stud tires (menards) over here suck the big one, as i'm sure you know. We are looking for a tire which people can take right outta the box, mount on wheels (maybe pull out a few studs), bolt on the car and go racing.

Currently we use ATV type studs and constructing one tire takes about 8-10 hrs of work, not to mention some great expense. This effects the number of studded entries we have because you can run rubber with tires off the shelf.

If we came out with a spec tire, we are going to get more entries.

Is there any way we could get a couple sets of the Black Rocket Ice Racing Tires????

if so, email me [email protected] even to just discuss.

Thanks,