Bumper/nerf bar/rock slider design exercise

[JackTuppVan]

For sometime now I've been developing a prototype roof rack / bike rack and am very pleased to announce that it is nearly ready for production.

For the past few months the rack has been subjected to a plethora of "real world" stress tests and has emerged virtually unscathed surpassing all expectation.

Pre-orders are now being accepted for those of you wanting to get in on this innovative engineering miracle .

I know what your thinking an engineering masterpiece of this caliber is surely unobtainable at any price.

But I am here to tell you this piece of work can be had for ...

3 easy payments of $39.95

VISA and MasterCard accepted

100% made in Guatemala

offer not valid in Rhode island and Guam

[86Scotty]

Where do I sign?

[killacks]

^You found my bike! It's the pink one^

[ohsix]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

All these ideas, while great, leave me thinking you could end up with a do-everything, but do nothing well, bumper. Set your goals, but please don't try to please everyone.

I agree with this. "A camel is a horse designed by a committee" Albert Einstein - Michael Scott

[Glider]

Originally Posted by ohsix

I agree with this. "A camel is a horse designed by a committee" Albert Einstein - Michael Scott

Very broadly speaking, most design projects iterate multiple times through three stages:

1. Brainstorming
This is about putting every possible idea on the table, without worrying about if they are good, bad, or indifferent.

2. Sorting, Prioritizing, and Discarding
This is the stage during which priorities are identified, and the ideas that aren't important or won't work get moved to the back burner or the circular file.

3. Design
This is when the rubber hits the road.

At the moment, I think we are in the brainstorming stage, so we are tossing every crazy idea we can think of on the table. Assuming that we continue playing this out, there will come a moment in the process during which we come to the conclusion that we have identified every idea of interest, and we can start sorting, prioritizing, and discarding.

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Originally Posted by Glider

Very broadly speaking, most design projects iterate multiple times through three stages:

1. Brainstorming
This is about putting every possible idea on the table, without worrying about if they are good, bad, or indifferent.

2. Sorting, Prioritizing, and Discarding
This is the stage during which priorities are identified, and the ideas that aren't important or won't work get moved to the back burner or the circular file.

3. Design
This is when the rubber hits the road.

At the moment, I think we are in the brainstorming stage, so we are tossing every crazy idea we can think of on the table. Assuming that we continue playing this out, there will come a moment in the process during which we come to the conclusion that we have identified every idea of interest, and we can start sorting, prioritizing, and discarding.

What Glider said.

Heck yes! Stage 1.

Throwing darts at the wall. Seeing what sticks. Throwing more darts.
Throwing a water balloon (and some spit-balls too) for good measure.
Enjoying the free-for-all of airborne idea-launching.

Not committing to anything yet...but not shooting stuff down too adamantly yet either.

Letting one idea lead to another...and another...and keeping the enthusiasm train-of-thought rolling along unencumbered.
Any number of directions that this can splinter/fragment into.....this is seriously the best part of the process....anything is still possible.

------------------------------------------------------

The hard reality of manufacturing/cost/demand concerns will spill into all of this before we know it.....but for now, this is the blessed window of time where the truly-new stuff gets a chance to be born.

And can't forget that often what's old is new....some of the ideas that get kicked out/discussed might have been considered before and dismissed....but no truly great idea "flies" until its time is right....

....and often new enthusiasm for a great idea can conquer long-standing reasons for why it hasn't already happened.

[86Scotty]

https://youtu.be/wYXFSbLotSU

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

https://youtu.be/wYXFSbLotSU

LOL....okay.....sorry if it seemed I was trying to grab the reins here (totally not!!!) just tryin' to keep the enthusiasm ball rollin......



Come on......I'M WITH YOU FELLERS.......

In seriousness though. Boywonder called this an idea-generating design exercise, and that's what's gotten me so enthused. Its a bummer to see the idea-generating machine get shut down just as the truly good stuff starts to flow.

Getting off any perceived soapbox now, if that's how it's been read.

[Glider]

[boywonder]

yup.....let's keep brainstorming for a bit more.....there have to be a few other things that we haven't thought of yet.......we just don't have that many novel ideas yet.

As mentioned...no idea is too dumb/far out for brainstorming.......sometimes the far out stuff (or regular stuff) gets combined with other ideas generated; that's sometimes where innovation comes from.

Once we've tossed out all the raw material onto the table, we then work on combining refining and then down-selecting to ideas that can be developed.

BTW..there's been little discussion of side steps/rock sliders so far...there's go to be some opportunities for innovation there........in another thread, we were discussing pull out/slide out/flip down sliders that become side steps.....