Trial Production

Early the next morning, Zhang Yi arrived at the factory. Now that they had a CNC Machine, and Xiao Hua had already performed some trial operations on the one Zhang Yi had bought yesterday, she had gained a general understanding of its performance and how to operate it.

Although human CNC Machines differed somewhat from those used by the Dwarves, their fundamental principles were still somewhat similar. Combined with the detailed instructions from the workers who had installed the machine yesterday and a comparison with the manual, Xiao Hua had now basically mastered its operation. Yesterday, she had already processed quite a few parts.

After Zhang Yi and Xiao Hua arrived that day, they first loaded the parts into the CNC Machine, then took out the Aerodynamic Bicycle blueprints and studied them. After discussing it, they decided to first trial-produce the bicycle's core component, the Air Motor.

After all, compared to the Aerodynamic Bicycle's other components, the Air Motor was unquestionably the core of the core. As long as they could manufacture the Air Motor, the remaining components should not be a problem.

Perhaps the Air Motor for this Aerodynamic Bicycle would be extremely difficult for others to make. After all, this motor had exceptionally stringent precision requirements, and even high-performance CNC Machines could not process it.

But Xiao Hua had not earned the title of Elementary Apprentice Mechanical Industry Overlord for nothing. Although she was only an Elementary Apprentice Mechanical Industry Overlord and had only achieved something in mechanical processing so far, she would still find it difficult to independently design a relatively complex piece of mechanical equipment.

After all, designing a relatively complex mechanical device required more than just mechanical knowledge; it also required knowledge from other fields. For example, designing and manufacturing an electric motor also involved knowledge of the electrical power industry and so on.

However, Xiao Hua's mechanical processing ability was truly beyond reproach. Based on Zhang Yi's observations over this period, he greatly admired her machining skills. With blueprints, she could definitely process the components for this Air Motor, and she was not slow, either.

In just one day, Xiao Hua processed enough Air Motors for nearly fifty Aerodynamic Bicycles, all while also having to keep an eye on the CNC Machine.

With the blueprints, Zhang Yi and Xiao Hua spent a total of two days manufacturing the components for fifty Aerodynamic Bicycles, then another day assembling all of the bicycles.

After all the bicycles had been assembled, Zhang Yi casually picked one out and rode it outside. After all, he himself did not yet know much about this bicycle's actual performance. Blueprints were ultimately just blueprints; once it was physically made, there would certainly be some discrepancies from the data on the drawings. Still, Zhang Yi was confident that even if this Aerodynamic Bicycle differed from the blueprints, the difference would not be significant.

After taking it for a test ride, Zhang Yi was extremely satisfied with his Aerodynamic Bicycle. Its performance was even better than the data on the blueprints, and Zhang Yi knew that was definitely Xiao Hua's doing.

Unlike the Aerodynamic Bicycles shown in the news, this one did not have a huge air tank mounted on it. The Aerodynamic Bicycle Zhang Yi produced stored compressed air directly inside its frame.

Moreover, the frame had been specially reinforced during manufacturing, allowing its pressure to be raised above 20 atmospheres. However, for safety reasons, the maximum was limited to 18 atmospheres.

Of course, ordinary air pumps, especially those found at regular bicycle repair shops, generally only reached pressures of 4 to 8 atmospheres. Therefore, this bicycle also had a special valve that could use an ordinary air pump to raise the pressure inside the bicycle to 18 atmospheres.

Other than that, the greatest difference between this Aerodynamic Bicycle and an ordinary bicycle was that it had no driveshaft or chain. It still had pedals, and the pedals could still drive the rear wheel, but the chain and driveshaft had been replaced with a system where pedaling generated compressed air, which drove the Air Motor, and the Air Motor then drove the rear wheel.

The Aerodynamic Bicycle they produced could reach a top speed of around 50 kilometers per hour, but at that speed, its range was only around 50 kilometers. If the speed was reduced to 30 kilometers per hour, its range could reach 70 kilometers, which was already enough for ordinary office workers.

At the same time, even when the air tank was empty, it was still very easy to ride—easier than an ordinary bicycle, in fact—and it could still reach speeds of 25 kilometers per hour.

Furthermore, the bicycle looked stylish and attractive, at least far better than most electric bicycles. With its environmentally friendly, novel, and convenient features, Zhang Yi was certain that this Aerodynamic Bicycle would be accepted by the market. After all, an ordinary electric bicycle generally cost three to four thousand yuan, while better ones cost even more.

Some even cost over ten thousand yuan each. Compared to those, the Aerodynamic Bicycle they produced was not priced cheaply either. After all, there were currently no Aerodynamic Bicycles on the market—or rather, no practical Aerodynamic Bicycles.

However, this bicycle's cost was still somewhat high. Because it used a large amount of Titanium Alloy, the materials alone cost 1,500 yuan per bicycle, not including labor costs. Once labor was included, the cost of one Aerodynamic Bicycle would reach around 2,000 yuan, which was still somewhat high compared to most electric bicycles.

But that was because they were only conducting trial production. If they began large-scale production in the future, the cost of the entire bicycle should be reduced to below 1,700 yuan.

According to calculations, a cost of around 1,700 yuan was already the limit. If they used Mechanical Structure Tires and Soft Memory Metal in the future, the cost would be even higher, at least above 2,500 yuan.

Therefore, Zhang Yi set a very high price for this bicycle as well. For the time being, he set the factory price at 4,000 yuan per bicycle and the retail price at 6,000 yuan. If they used Mechanical Structure Tires in the future, the factory price would have to be at least 6,000 yuan each. Of course, that was only the factory price; the retail price would have to be at least 8,000 yuan.

But after Zhang Yi test-rode the bicycle, he began worrying about how to sell it. He had no sales channels at all right now. Of course, he could sell it online like others did.

But Zhang Yi knew that Seven Color Stone Mechanical Factory had no reputation at all right now, and he had no funds to advertise the bicycle and expand the Aerodynamic Bicycle's recognition. They definitely would not sell many in the early stages; perhaps they might not even sell a single one in a month.