INTEGRITY PT. 2

As most of you have probably read, I am a pretty outspoken person and tend to speak my mind. One of my issues has been the lack of integrity in my industry. I think it's become a very short sighted industry where everyone is out to screw everyone else, in most cases. Not always though. I always try to support those people that I think still have high standards for quality as well as integrity. The people I buy parts from and have do work for me all fall into this category in my opinion. I'm a loyal person and wil support those that have supported me. I feel friendship and support are both two way streets so I always try to remember those that have supported me in the past. For those I feel have somehow done me wrong I do tend to hold a grudge and will remember that in kind.
This brings me to one person that I have dealt with in the past. I won't bother to give his name, he doesn't need to get any free press. He actually contacted me as a potential customer. He wanted me to do design work to build a custom bike for him. He spoke to me numerous times and seemed like he was actually serious about the project. I have started to weed out the real customers from the tire kickers so I hopefully won't be wasting my time if the project isn't really going to move forward. This person asked me to put together design ideas for what would be a very expensive, one off project. I did as he asked and spent countless hours tracking down his requests and working out designs that would actually work in the real world. Some of the items he wanted were very high dollar and in some cases we would have had to make one off pieces for the project. After doing the design work and showing him our ideas he suddenly disappeared and wasn't answering our inquiries about moving forward with the project. This happens, it doesn't make me happy to have so many hours wasted but it does happen. I've tried to minimize the times it happens but every once in awhile someone sounds serious when they really aren't.
Several months goes by and this person calls me. He wants to know if I'd be interested in joining his team for some project he has cooking. I'm not. Basically what he's done is taken my design ideas and is having someone else use them. He also plans to try for some speed record at Bonneville and since I started that idea almost two years ago he seems to have tapped into the same sponsors I have. So while this isn't plagiarsim in it's truest sense it is close to me. He's using a lot of my ideas and design ideas that he got from my spec sheet, cost to him, nothing. He's also managed to talk some really good people into donating their parts to this project when in reality it looks like he's building his personal bike. I guess if you can talk people into "sponsoring" your personal bike build then all the power to you. It does piss me off when it effects my friends though.
Yesterday this person sends me an e-mail saying he doesn't think I like him much. I don't. I don't care for people that waste my time just to get a spec sheet from me. If he wanted me to do the design work I would have but not for free. Time is money to any business owner so this guy wasted my time and money not to mention has "borrowed" my design ideas. I spoke with one of his sponsors that happens to be a good friend of mine. My friend says this person has told him he wants him to build parts for his production bikes. This guy doesn't have the capability to produce bikes nor is he really going to be building more than this one bike. Again, wasting people's time and money. The bike he wants to build isn't something that will set a speed record anyway and I'm not going to tell him where he went wrong. He can spend his own money to try and figure it out. Not sure who his builder is but he doesn't know much about speed record bikes. I hope to be there if and when he does get there to try though, it should be interesting.
Some people really don't get it.

FTF
Ride Free