New Brake cables worth developing?

I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and
applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce
weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no
stretch. Racing friends of his raced an entire season and the only
brake adjustments they made the whole season was to account for brake
pad wear. These are not inexpensive to make relative to steel cables.

My question is there a market for such a product? Is this enough to
start a small business around? How much would something like this
cost at retail? If these performed as advertised what kind of volume
would be reasonable to expect? Of course price would be a big factor.

Obviously I am new to performance biking. I am interested in
understanding this market and who like to find out the potential size
and elasticity of the bike cable business. Any suggestions, help or a
recommendation to web sites etc. is greatly appreciated. TIA.

It seems to me that retail will be determined by how much they cost to
produce. Check out the Gore-Tex cable system to see how much the market
will bear. There are weight freaks that will spend $10.00 for a carbon
fiber headset spacer to save 3 grams! That's not even a sip of water! If
it's expensive and has "cool factor" tech geeks will buy it. Especially
triathletes! To me, the most important thing with cables is that they have
minimal resistance / drag. If I want to save weight, I'll stop drinking
beer and eating ice cream.
Dan.
"Idahojoe" wrote in message
om...
I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and
applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce
weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no
stretch. Racing friends of his raced an entire season and the only
brake adjustments they made the whole season was to account for brake
pad wear. These are not inexpensive to make relative to steel cables.

My question is there a market for such a product? Is this enough to
start a small business around? How much would something like this
cost at retail? If these performed as advertised what kind of volume
would be reasonable to expect? Of course price would be a big factor.

Obviously I am new to performance biking. I am interested in
understanding this market and who like to find out the potential size
and elasticity of the bike cable business. Any suggestions, help or a
recommendation to web sites etc. is greatly appreciated. TIA.

I would be more interested in shifter cables. I only use hydraulic
brake on my MTB bikes. Like the other post. If these have less friction
and are better at keeping grim from affecting them I'd be willing to try.
--
Shane

"Idahojoe" wrote in message
om...
I am helping an engineering friend of mine who has invented and
applied for patents new brake and shifter cables. These cables reduce
weight by about 1oz. over current steel cables and have virtually no
stretch. Racing friends of his raced an entire season and the only
brake adjustments they made the whole season was to account for brake
pad wear. These are not inexpensive to make relative to steel cables.

My question is there a market for such a product? Is this enough to
start a small business around? How much would something like this
cost at retail? If these performed as advertised what kind of volume
would be reasonable to expect? Of course price would be a big factor.

Obviously I am new to performance biking. I am interested in
understanding this market and who like to find out the potential size
and elasticity of the bike cable business. Any suggestions, help or a
recommendation to web sites etc. is greatly appreciated. TIA.