Last week we had a beautiful, sunny day in Park City. Wes, Devin, Minnie, and I decided to strap our skis on and do a little boot-pack at Parley's Summit. We naturally strapped on The Goat, and climbed with ease. Check it out:
More after the jump.
Kickstarter re-launch
Those of you watching, and participating in the Nectar and Elixir project on Kickstarter will be happy to hear that we have re-launched the project! Head over to Kickstarter and check it out. Thanks to Kickstarter, we made a bunch of new contacts, and were able to find some domestic manufacturers who are being really supportive, and helping us launch with a much lower capital investment. Because of this, we were able to cut our goal by 83%! This is huge, and we hope will ensure that this time around the project is successful. Thanks for your support!
Look who's on TV
It's Wes and Devin. PCTV took some time yesterday and interviewed them about Swarm, the Nectar and Elixir project, and using Kickstarter to launch a product. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMJljUvmpNg
Is all publicity good publicity?
On Monday Nectar and Elixir were featured on Bike Snob NYC. The Snob was brutally critical of the design in a way that only he can be. 
Is this such a bad thing, though? Absolutely not. The Snob brings up some very good points. As one who is professionally critical, it is his job to seek out flaws and lampoon them. To be honest, we actually chose to send our press release to Bike Snob NYC as one of our first contacts. Why? Two reasons. First, his is one of the most influential and visible blogs in the biking world. Second, so we could get some harsh feedback on the design, and start an open dialog about the design and features of Nectar and Elixir. Success!
So without further delay, we'd like to go through Monday's post on Bike Snob NYC and address each of his concerns. Read on for more...
Bike Snob NYC critiques us
Bike Snob opens by pointing out that the bottle opener actually points sideways. A sideways pointing bottle opener? How could Swarm be so bad at product development that they would get the proper orientation of a bottle opener wrong?
Well, sometimes good design is so simple in appearance that it hides a mountain of design research within. We consciously oriented the bottle opener sideways for 2 reasons- ergonomics and manufacturability.
Ergonomics
Naturally when we started designing Nectar and Elixir, we designed it with the opener oriented like all openers- facing down. Here you can see one of our early design concepts. It is elegant, and you open the beer in the traditional fashion, by pushing it down.
The problem? On most bikes, the seat clamp is oriented just above the rear tire.
Imagine putting a beer into the seat clamp, them pushing down. Can't be done- there's a tire in the way. One solution would be to turn the clamp around so it faces forward.
Now you have the top tube to deal with. Clearly the ergonomics of the bike are going to limit the orientation of the bottle opener.
One option we looked at is placing the opener on the side of the clamp. This would eliminate any interference with the bike, right? Yes, but now the opener will interfere with the rider. Imagine rubbing your leg on an aluminum hook every time you pedal. Ouch! That was out of the question.
The ergonomics led us to consider alternative orientations. We looked at several options, but the flash of genius struck when we realized that if we oriented the opener sideways, not only would it solve the ergonomic issues, but it would make the clamp a perfect candidate for a manufacturing process called near net shape extrusion.
How should we make it?
Extrusion is a wonderful manufacturing process. It creates a shape by squeezing aluminum through a die. Imagine squeezing toothpaste onto your toothbrush. That is an extrusion process. We just use a different shape die- one that is roughly the shape of the seat clamp- and we use hot aluminum instead of toothpaste. We squeeze out a really long tube of material, chop it off into 15mm sections, and load these blanks into a CNC milling machine to clean up all the surfaces, and add the details.
By making the opener integrated into the extruded shape, we drastically cut down on material waste. When you cut material away in CNC machining, it is scrap that either must be recycled, or disposed of. Either option is worse for the environment than not machining it away in the first place.
Can a bottle opener work sideways?
So we decided that the ideal solution, both in terms of ergonomics and manufacturability, that the opener should be oriented sideways. One question still remained, though. Can you open a beer sideways? Well, the only way to determine that was to build some prototypes and test it. We did just this, and recorded our testing. What you saw in the Kickstarter video was just that- our prototype testing. Take a look for yourself, but we think that it worked pretty well:
Really shouldn't open a beer while riding. This means that you'll be standing off to the side of your bike. When you're holding your bike up, it tends to lean toward you. This, it turns out, is the ideal position for opening a beer without any spillage. It is easy, feels right, and works perfectly. Try it for yourself.
Now, to be fair The Snob pointed out that we have a major explosion in the Kickstarter video at about 1:24. To attribute this to the orientation of the opener, though, is erroneous.
I don't know if The Snob has ever opened a beer that has been shaken up, but it simply doesn't matter what orientation you have the bottle in, it will explode. You can see that the beer in this photo is not spilling because of gravity. If it were, you'd have beer pouring straight down. In reality, the beer is shooting everywhere. This indicates a carbonated explosion. Sad, too, because Epic's Cross Fever is a delicious beer!
PBR, Meth, and such
Next, Bike Snob NYC pointed out that some of our marketing materials talk about PBR, which comes in a can. This is an excellent point. Neither Nectar, nor Elixir is capable of opening a can of PBR. We will correct this mistake right away. Thanks for pointing it out!
He then goes into the finer points of "tweakers." Again, an issue that we are working tirelessly to correct. Soon we'll have a term less connected with drug use. We're consulting with our crack team of branding experts. Crack? Oh man. This isn't easy.
$15,000?????
Now to the point of our request for $15,000. That sure seems like a lot of money for such a simple looking device. We thought that $15,000 was too much to ask, but any less wouldn't cover the cost of opening the tooling. Remember that we decided to use extrusion as a way to make the seat clamp sustainable. Well, extrusion requires tooling. Specifically, extrusion requires one die for every size. Since we are offering Nectar and Elixir in the 5 standard size, this means that we need 5 dies for the clamp, and 5 dies for the lever. Let's do some math:
($1,500 for a clamp die) x (5 clamp die sizes) = $7,500 for clamp dies
($500 for a quick release lever die) x (5 quick release lever die sizes) = $2,500 for quick release lever dies
So we have $10,000 just in tooling. Now we have to place the initial order. Let's look at those numbers
5 sizes Elixir (quick release), 5 sizes Nectar (fixed). That is 10 units just to cover each size. Multiply that by the 5 colors for each part, and you have 50 unique units. Add in factory minimums, and we are looking at an opening order of 2,500 units, just to prime the distribution pipeline. That is a lot of clamps, and when combined with tooling, pushes the starting cost of the project to over $20,000. We are putting in some of our own cash, but we still need to raise $15,000 to help cover the cost.
Manufacturing is expensive, so Bike Snob, if you can get your cash out of the bike lever, pizza cutter with pinball wheel technology, we'd love to have you preorder your own Nectar or Elixir! Try it, you might like it.
And thanks for helping us get our name out there. The post on Bike Snob NYC was awesome!
What size seat clamp do I order?
One question that many people have when ordering a seat clamp is, "what size should I order?" Well, you're in luck. Our crack team of engineers has put together a quick explanation of how to make sure you're ordering the right size Nectar or Elixir for your bike. The best way to address this is to start by briefly explaining some of the terms:
Seat post = the post that attaches to your seat Seat tube = the tube on your bike's frame that the seat post slides into Seat clamp = the clamp that squeezes the seat tube, causing it to grip the seat post. AKA Nectar or Elixir
So the seat clamp has to be sized to fit over the seat tube. There are 5 standard seat tube diameters on the market: 28.6mm, 30.0mm, 31.8mm, 34.9mm, and 36.4mm. We're releasing Nectar and Elixir in all 5 sizes. If your bike has an unusual size, no worries- just order the next size up. If you have a 31.5mm seat tube, a 31.8mm seat clamp will work like magic.
The best way to make sure you're getting the right size is to grab a set of calipers. Just ask your closest engineer- she's bound to have a set. Stick the calipers on the outside of the seat tube, and measure away! You can also measure the inside of the seat clamp that is currently on your bike.
Finally, when in doubt, consult your bike frame manufacturer. They will certainly have this information available.
We hope this helps!
Tiffany loving the GOAT
Tiffany (Anchorwoman and voiceover professional) took this shot on her way to the bus stop in Park City. She keeps her hands free with the GOAT, while snowboarder Kaz must look on in envy.
Friday blog update
Happy Friday! To end the week in style, we'd like to share all the link love that we've had since our last update. The end of the week seems to be a big time for posting about a seat clamp that opens beer. Funny, huh? Anyway, here are all the blogs that have linked us:
Bike Snob NYC didn't tear into us too badly- practically an endorsement from them!
The Jason Alexander Army shared some love, and Caitlin has even offered to pre-order her very own Nectar or Elixir!
Cycle Bable pointed out that Nectar and Elixir seem to be everywhere on bike blogs. Awesome! Sean also pointed out that every bike should come with one pre-installed. We couldn't agree more!
Techni Fi even got into the game, spreading some love.
Urban Velo helped spread the word, and gave some love to our Kickstarter project.
And finally, @DavidHasselhoff is officially following @nectarandelixir. This is an important development. We know that Germans love beer, biking, and the Hoff, so this can only bode well for our international efforts!
Thanks to everybody who is helping spread the word, and especially to all the Kickstarters who are donating to help make Nectar and Elixir a reality. Remember, we can't do this if we don't hit our funding goal, so head over to Kickstarter, and pre-order your Nectar or Elixir today!
Why a seat clamp with a bottle opener?
Good question. We have created the most basic venn diagram showing why we chose to combine our love for bikes, beer, and design. Makes sense, now, doesn't it?
Daily Kickstarter blog love update
Every day I'm surprised by how many great blogs pick up the story about launching the Nectar and Elixir on Kickstarter. It is really amazing to watch news naturally spread out like a cloud of smoke through the internet. Today, we have a Portuguese blog, and a New York blog. Make sure you head over to Valhino's Mountain Bike (translated courtesy of Google), and the Albany Bicycle Coalition. We appreciate all the blogs out there helping us spread the word! It seems like we're nailing the bike community, and that is awesome! We're having trouble breaking into the mainstream, though. Does anybody have advice for how to get blog coverage on general interest blogs? After all, everybody has a bike, and most of them love beer. Send us an email if you have any advice!
Actual product review
Devin has been working super hard to get The Goat and Nectar and Elixir into the hands of product testers. We just got confirmation that Gear Tested has received The Goat ski sling, and an Elixir seat clamp. Be sure to watch their site for the reviews of these 2 great products from Swarm. And remember, Swarm doesn't just design it's own sweet products. We'd love to do some product design work for you! We have a growing portfolio of product development, sourcing, marketing, and web design that showcases our focus on clean design. Shoot us an email, or give us a call. We'd love to talk about your product!