Thanks for the complements, we will continue to supply top quality products until the off shore guys figure out how to do it. With American GDP growing at 3 plus percent and the rest of the world fighting off deflation the prospects for American manufacturing are not good. The dollar will inevitably get stronger and stronger. In this environment America products become more expensive every day. On that happy note there is an up side, your next trip to Hong Kong or Australia will be a bargain :^ )
I would like to make bigger wheels ( six and seven inch diameters) but the aluminum blanks for each wheel will be close to $9.00 and the machine time for each wheel will approach 40 minutes. Tire molds take me over 100 hours and tires this large are so strong that I have to mount them in a hydraulic press which consumes five or six minutes per pair. Everybody thinks my products are over priced as it is and these guys will be over $200.00 a pair. I really do not think there is enough potential volume to make it work. I still use Du-Bro tires on my 5.5" diameter wheels because the volume does not support the 100 hour investment in making molds for a good thick skinned tire for for them.
Well, enough of this bitching, I enjoy what we are doing and hope to be doing it for a long time. Considering my age, the term " long time" can be argumentative.
Orthobird, you are still my best retail customer :^ ) One of these days I'll be sitting on your door step begging for a knee replacement.