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  #11  
Old 01-24-2012, 08:54 AM
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Kerry Pinkerton Kerry Pinkerton is offline
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Originally Posted by King's Ransom View Post
...Question, Kerry.. Do you sell low-crown 2" widex 3" dia E-wheel anvils?...
I don't make the rollers we sell Ransom. All my rollers come from Joe Andrews at Hoosier Profiles. (http://hoosierprofiles.com)

They will make whatever you want if they don't already. Almost all my anvils have contact flats. The largest is a 3 1/2" wide anvil with a 2" flat. I don't know the radius for the relief but it's pretty flat.
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  #12  
Old 01-24-2012, 12:11 PM
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Thanks Kerry. I'll check them out.
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  #13  
Old 01-24-2012, 01:26 PM
David Gardiner David Gardiner is offline
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Hi Ransom, welcome to the site.

David
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  #14  
Old 01-24-2012, 04:35 PM
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Thanks David
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  #15  
Old 01-25-2012, 01:52 PM
twiebe twiebe is offline
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Hello Ransom
I checked out your web site. amazing stuff! how long have you been in business? It must take awhile to build a clientale that can afford your bikes. If you can build and sell five a year, thats an incredible business model.
Terry w
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  #16  
Old 01-25-2012, 08:01 PM
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Thanks Terry. I've making bikes since.. Hmm.. I started to build my first one (the Revelation) in Jan 2005. That was the first chassis, first Aluminum body, first stainless exhaust etc that I'd ever made. Previous to that, I had no experience working metal. Maybe some light fab stuff with mig.. So thats where it all began completely self-taught. I did the bodies on my first 6 bikes with nothing more than a home built E-wheel, some hammers and a bag, and cheap peice of junk planishing hammer. Haha, infact, I built 4 of those bike out of a shop that was only 500-600sq feet. haha Humble beginnings. Not having a big bank makes you a better craftsman.

As far as clientele, I havent always had the clientele that I have now. I sold my first build as soon as the first bike was finished. All of my bikes are contracted builds. I've been Blessed to be able to sell my ideas first, then build which seems to be a rarity in this business. When I first started building, my prices were 80-150k which is competitive with the "custom bike ind." But I started realizing that my bikes weren't really "customs" as much as the were concepts...Making it extremely hard to get USA mags to feature my work.. Especially because I use new technolgy 4 cylinder sport bike motors. This resulted in me having more exposure outside the states. Around 60 mag features to date in 5 yrs.. 90% coming from outside the States. So with increase in design and skill came an increase in demand, resulting in 1/4 mill starting price tags.. I never had to drop a dime for advertising. Its all been either mag features of word of mouth..

I spend a great deal of time designing and planning before I ever strike an arc. Tons of hours.. Then each tube joint meticulously fit. Machining/engineering is done to the half thousand...Each body panel and trasition is on the money resulting in minimal body filler (if any). I try to get my bodies to finish out with only a high-build primer.. Rather than pour on the filler and sculpt it like what seems to be the norm anymore..

Enough of my rant.. My thoughts got away from me.
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  #17  
Old 01-29-2012, 12:31 AM
twiebe twiebe is offline
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hello ransom
Do you have any pictures of your shop/ work space, tools etc? Any employees? How about family? I dont want to bombard you with to many questions; I would love to make a living doing something like that, but i have a large family (seven kids) and makin a living comes first.(im a welding contractor) but im not complaining, i have recently built my dream shop, and my boys love helping me on my old car projects. one more question, what about your bike names, are they bible characters?
thanks terry
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  #18  
Old 01-29-2012, 12:19 PM
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Here ya go, Terry.

This is small part of my shop. I had a few of my bikes in for service and detail a few years ago.





I cannot post any current pics of my shop due to a few confidentiality contracts I'm tied to for a few concepts that I'm building. However, if you follow this link it will take you to a Ransom Motorcycles facebook album to see some older pics.

as for shops, I have about 4700 sq.ft. with a lot of room to expand. Tooling is really simplistic consisting of a Bridgeport, planishing hammer, built E-wheel, some heavy steel custom built benches, a couple bike lifts, custom built frame Jig and swingarm jig, torches, and misc. hammers and hand tools. I have a Pullmax on its way from Clay Cook (hopefully it'll be here this week). I make a lot of my own tooling specific to my techniques. I'd like to bring in a Yoder but seem to have some difficulty locating one. (maybe I'm looking in the wrong places). I dont want a knock-off.. It's gotta say Yoder on it.. I'm a bit nostalgic when it comes to sheet metal craft..

Start on the side and gradually press into full time. I believe if you can dream it, you can achieve it.

facebook album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6549087&type=3
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  #19  
Old 01-29-2012, 03:54 PM
David Gardiner David Gardiner is offline
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I guess I am in the wrong country working for the wrong people on the wrong business... nice workshop by the way and nice work.

David
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  #20  
Old 01-29-2012, 04:28 PM
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Originally Posted by David Gardiner View Post
I guess I am in the wrong country working for the wrong people on the wrong business... nice workshop by the way and nice work.

David
Thank you David.

Maybe you need more exposure?? How do people find out about your talent and skill? Do you have any of your work published? magazines, books, etc..
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