Wednesday, April 1

Wednesday, April 1

I will just go ahead and say how much I am looking forward to actually building the bikes. Today, Eli and I spent our time yet again researching, this time about both bicycles as well as marketing practices. Though this research was extremely useful, it does get a little boring. However, I know that in the long run, we will be glad that we did all this research, as it will make our project easier in the future.

Anyway, we began our day by reading up on marketing and commercial production. We planned out our week for commercial filming, and took numerous notes on how to appeal to different audiences. We made a list of tentative ideas to cover in each commercial for the different bikes. These include stressing efficiency, practicality, as well as money saving benefits. We were debating writing a script today for our commercials, but decided to wait until the week of because we really want to emphasize the results of our tests in the commercials.

After concluding our research into marketing, we looked into what kinds of bikes would work best with our engines we bought yesterday. We watched numerous videos that gave precise measurements that bicycles should have. We then scoured Craigslist looking for bicycles that met the description. We then found a bike that seemed within our price range, but was about an hour away. We debated heading out there to meet our craigslist seller, but then decided to go to Atlanta Cycling right near Lovett. This trip proved to be crucial to our project. At the store, we talked with an employee about the different specs we had learned, and asked if he had any advice. Luckily, he knew all about building motor bikes, and gave us very good advice about what kind of bike to look for. He told us that with a gas powered bike, a beach cruiser or mountain bike would work best, which we assumed. However, he told us with an electric engine, you want the ride to be as smooth as possible to get the most out of one charge. He showed us some hybrid bikes, which were a cross between a street bike and a mountain bike. He said the tires were thick enough to be durable, but also thin enough to move aerodynamically though the roads. Once we talked to him, we knew exactly what we needed. He actually even offered us some free bicycles he had out behind the store that were worn down. We went back there and found a bicycle that seemed to be pretty useable. We thanked him and went out to the car with our free bicycle. However, we ended up giving it back as we realized that it would be more expensive to fix the bicycle than to get a fully functional one.

After our conversation with the employee, we continued our research into bicycles, this time looking specifically for hybrid bicycles. After about an hour of searching and contacting, we found a few bikes that were within our price range. We then contacted the sellers and waited for them to reply, and we are meeting a few of the sellers tomorrow to see if we can get at least one of the bicycles.

All in all, it was a very exciting day towards the end, as we learned some crucial information for our project. I really enjoyed actually getting out and doing something other than research! Eli and I cannot wait to go look at the bikes tomorrow, and feel strongly that we will return from our drives with something to show for it.