I have a great idea for a wheel design and would like to share it with a wheel company. I have been trying to contact Steve Hed for three weeks but I guess is too busy to return my call and im giving up. Do you guys know other wheels companies that would like to talk to me? I’m not asking for money, just products!
thank you.
Stef
Try xlab they seem to dabble in a little of everything.
I think it depends on how developed the design is and what the new design is meant to advance (aerodynamics, strength, durability etc.)
Certainly any of the major wheel companies are constantly looking for the next best thing, although I think that for obvious reasons they like it to come from in house development. Companies like Hed, Zipp, Edge, Mavic all have extensive in-house development programs and therefore are not very open to ‘look’ at an outside design that they might be close to something they are currently developing so that they can maintain untainted rights.
That being said, if you have something truly new that has been at least tested in the simulated world with and advanced fluid dynamics program and the numbers are really truely very good you could have the basis for a good sales pitch to a company that has the ability to prototype. Of course you will likely lose most of the rights to the design as part of this process.
IMHO, depending on what your advance is, the best thing to do might be to approach a very small composits company that is looking for a new product and might be willing to shoulder the prototype costs. Or, you could nail down the design, pay for some prototypes done by a non cycling carbon fiber company and then apply for the patent. Once the application is in you will have the right to sell the patent to a major player.
iirc from my intro to ip class a year ago, attempting to sell your design may preclude you from gaining a patent on it. i would consult with a patent attorney nearby. they can give you a consultation, estimate costs of getting a patent (sometimes fairly expensive) as well as estimating what manufacturers would pay for the rights.
if nobody bites after you get the patent, you could go to interbike and see what happens. i know of a couple of success stories that took this approach.
Thank you everybody for your great advice. My goal is to share my idea pretty much for free. I have a good job and im not looking for money but I would like to see this wheel on the market. I will try to contact some companies this week.
thank you.
The easy answer to this is contact John Cobb.
Lets see it!
You may or may not lose rights to it depending on whether you get NDA in place before you show it around, as one other poster mentioned big companies will not want to do this as it can get them in trouble with their own in-house designs. You should invest some time in reading up on patent process and the invention process. There are different levels of patent “application” IIRC you can do a provisional before you go for the whole thing (which takes YEARS & some $ to get). This gives you a window to investigate viability before you spend the $ for the patent app. But my memory on this is fuzzy, it’s been a while.
Depending on how radical your idea is, it may be very cool & very impractical for anyone to use. Changing existing product lines is a lot harder than you think. So if I were you I’d analyze existing product designs & which wheel company could most easily incorporate your idea.