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This exciting fabricating opportunity won't last long ...
- By Dan Davis
- July 24, 2009
Wanna vilify China? I"ve got be careful on this one. I think a company from China actually owns my mortgage now.
Wanna bash illegal immigration? I think people would be quickly bored about my disdain for Latverians.
What about the economy? Well, since you asked &
Boy, have I got an exciting opportunity for you, Mr. and Mrs. Metal Fabricator. Sitting around waiting for the call from a former large OEM customer asking for help in absorbing some production capacity? Wondering what to do with the automotive supply company down the street that went out of business? Tired of waiting for those friggin" wind towers to be built? Here"s the answer.
It"s the beer bike. Found in the Netherlands, where young people love to pull up a chair, raise up a mug, and pedal their way into a fun-filled evening, the beer bike needs to be more widely available in the U.S., and a metal fabricator is just the one to provide this gift to our citizenry.
An exhaustive search—an hour with a couple of Abita Strawberry Harvest Ales and sitting on a completely stationary barstool in my basement—proved that this is a wide-open market opportunity for metal fabricators in the U.S.
Plenty of tubing is found on these beer bikes, and none of the bends look overly complicated. In fact, the most complicated metal fabrication appears to be the rolled, semicircle sheet over the beer patrons" (bikers"?) knees. The platform it is built on looks similar to other trailer-type fabrications.
The most complicated aspect of this bicycle for imbibing has to be the beer delivery system. Here"s a tip, however: Tap someone else with draught experience.
Before I go on any further, Mr. and Mrs. Fabricator, I must make a confession. I"m burdened not only with a tongue for tap, but a heart for honesty. These devices may not be the safest things in the world. Even in Amsterdam, where the vehicles are driven by always-sober drivers, government officials are looking into recent accidents.
Drinking while operating any type of vehicle is never a laughing matter. That"s why a coworker reports that he"s seen one of these vehicles in the Twin Cities actually being pulled by a truck, driven by a stone-cold-sober driver totally removed from the revelry on the rented rides.
But this country was built on compromise; values are compromised every day. It"s the home of drive-through beer barns and drive-up daiquiri stands. Certainly there"s room for a bicycle built for booze.
So I leave you with this opportunity. Grab hold and take off. And give me a call when the first model is rolling out of the shop.
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The Fabricator is North America's leading magazine for the metal forming and fabricating industry. The magazine delivers the news, technical articles, and case histories that enable fabricators to do their jobs more efficiently. The Fabricator has served the industry since 1970.
start your free subscriptionAbout the Author
Dan Davis
2135 Point Blvd.
Elgin, IL 60123
815-227-8281
Dan Davis is editor-in-chief of The Fabricator, the industry's most widely circulated metal fabricating magazine, and its sister publications, The Tube & Pipe Journal and The Welder. He has been with the publications since April 2002.
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