06-01-2019, 12:01 PM
Hi IAN,
I can't recall all the dates of when things happened. But here is what I know.
The HADLEY crank is taken from a crank shaft austin originally developed for racing. I beleive austin recorded 7000 revs with a standard crank. And buy adding the counter wheights they recorded 8500 revs.
Peter Pearson took on making these cranks around 25 to 30 years ago, developing them further with Doug kiddy. ( who made cranks for formula one cars inc arrows ). Dougs workshop was in the next village to me. Originally the cranks sold for £1,500 each.
Well DOUG sold out his company to arrow engineering in Hinckley leics. And part of the deal was he wasn't allowed to be involved in this process for a wile. So the cranks had around an 8 year gap were they were not available.
That's were I came in around 12 years ago.
I was developing my own rods with a company, Peter Pearson aproached me about the cranks, and putting them back into production, and making matching rods for them.
Peters first question to me was how much should the cranks sell for? My aproach as I suggested to him is if you are making batches of 10, and all 10 are PRE sold. Why be to greedy. Keep the price down. But if the cranks are going to site idol on the shelf. It's YOUR OWN MONEY and its sitting on the shelf not making a return then they need to sell for a lot more.
DOUG and Peter took the cranks to a new company and started producing. The first batch of just over 10 were all pre sold, and I recall a price of £950.00 as I say around 12 years ago.
Now don't think these are mass production or anything, I think this is only the forth batch ive been involved in. This last batch cost £1,350.00 each.
That's what I charge for the pre orders. I may have one left over to be sold from the shelf it will be priced at £1,500.00 to cover how long it takes to sell.
The HADLEY RODS came from my aluminium sample I was producing, Peter took it to Tony White with other rods that had been made for 1 1/2 cranks. And Tony White had a few on the shelf himself.
I beleive we had 10 different 1 1/2 rods. All were good rods. But we were in the possition were we could compare the advantages of each. And Tony had a half built engine to test the new samples Peter had made.
The Hadley rods are a result of that, and that's why they are so nice. They don't hit the side walls or deck of the crankcase. They fit all Pistons. Thicknesses have not been compromised to fit one particular job.
As for price I had three sets from last years batch, and sold them for £800 a set. I've had the complete batch of 10 this time and made a bit of a saving. So they are being sold at £780 a set.
Thanks Tony.
I can't recall all the dates of when things happened. But here is what I know.
The HADLEY crank is taken from a crank shaft austin originally developed for racing. I beleive austin recorded 7000 revs with a standard crank. And buy adding the counter wheights they recorded 8500 revs.
Peter Pearson took on making these cranks around 25 to 30 years ago, developing them further with Doug kiddy. ( who made cranks for formula one cars inc arrows ). Dougs workshop was in the next village to me. Originally the cranks sold for £1,500 each.
Well DOUG sold out his company to arrow engineering in Hinckley leics. And part of the deal was he wasn't allowed to be involved in this process for a wile. So the cranks had around an 8 year gap were they were not available.
That's were I came in around 12 years ago.
I was developing my own rods with a company, Peter Pearson aproached me about the cranks, and putting them back into production, and making matching rods for them.
Peters first question to me was how much should the cranks sell for? My aproach as I suggested to him is if you are making batches of 10, and all 10 are PRE sold. Why be to greedy. Keep the price down. But if the cranks are going to site idol on the shelf. It's YOUR OWN MONEY and its sitting on the shelf not making a return then they need to sell for a lot more.
DOUG and Peter took the cranks to a new company and started producing. The first batch of just over 10 were all pre sold, and I recall a price of £950.00 as I say around 12 years ago.
Now don't think these are mass production or anything, I think this is only the forth batch ive been involved in. This last batch cost £1,350.00 each.
That's what I charge for the pre orders. I may have one left over to be sold from the shelf it will be priced at £1,500.00 to cover how long it takes to sell.
The HADLEY RODS came from my aluminium sample I was producing, Peter took it to Tony White with other rods that had been made for 1 1/2 cranks. And Tony White had a few on the shelf himself.
I beleive we had 10 different 1 1/2 rods. All were good rods. But we were in the possition were we could compare the advantages of each. And Tony had a half built engine to test the new samples Peter had made.
The Hadley rods are a result of that, and that's why they are so nice. They don't hit the side walls or deck of the crankcase. They fit all Pistons. Thicknesses have not been compromised to fit one particular job.
As for price I had three sets from last years batch, and sold them for £800 a set. I've had the complete batch of 10 this time and made a bit of a saving. So they are being sold at £780 a set.
Thanks Tony.