A New Kind of Portal

[5GENIDN]

I appreciate that Tyler is trying to manufacture and sell a portal at a lower cost.

That said I really think he would be better off starting with a Werewolf portal design rather than a Tibus design.... Just my opinion.

Everything on the table... Werewolf may or may not have copied the original Tibus design and the original Tibus design may or may not have copied the original Mercedes design and his newer Helical design may or may not have been a copy of the updated Mercedes design that I think was only a marketing ploy... But what do I know.

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[5GENIDN]

That is how design manufacturing usually works....

Look at Quinn. He started out making parts for Mercedes portals that had blown up. He tweaked the design to make them more durable and immediately started blowing those up. So he evaluated why and tweaked the design more and again and again until he had something that stood the test. Now all he is doing is scaling the same design. It works, it is proven.

Change one material, change one bearing design, you have to start the process over because it typically has unintended effects. If we could design something right the very first time.... we would not need testing and you would never have failures and you would never have factory recalls.

 

[DYak]

I appreciate that Tyler is trying to manufacture and sell a portal at a lower cost.

That said I really think he would be better off starting with a Werewolf portal design rather than a Tibus design.... Just my opinion.

Everything on the table... Werewolf may or may not have copied the original Tibus design and the original Tibus design may or may not have copied the original Mercedes design and his newer Helical design may or may not have been a copy of the updated Mercedes design that I think was only a marketing ploy... But what do I know.

Let's be honest, he's not designing anything. Aside from the number of gears, I doubt the guy could give you a coherent explanation of the difference between Tibus, 74Weld, Werewolf, Mark's, Axletech, DSTRAC, Mason, Unimog, H1, VW portals etc. I would be shocked if he even recognized half the names on that list. That's the dangerous part, and that's my problem with him.

When you really dive into the rabbit hole off road design, it leads you to portals. There is a reason why so many trophy trucks and 4400s use them. There have been attempts at bolt-on portals over the years that have not worked out for various reasons. We are finally at a point in time where there are multiple viable options on the market. We can argue about which one is better based on features, but overall this is a good thing for off road.

Enter Tyler. This guy is trying to position himself as Mr. Portal but when you listen to him speak it is clear he has only a surface level understanding, zero manufacturing experience and is reckless. It has been an uphill battle for existing companies to prove to the public that we are at a point where you can safely bolt portals to your vehicle and enjoy the benefits. My worry is that Tyler's greed and lack of experience will lead to situations that taint the publics opinion against portals and set the whole industry back.

 

[5GENIDN]

Let's be honest, he's not designing anything. Aside from the number of gears, I doubt the guy could give you a coherent explanation of the difference between Tibus, 74Weld, Werewolf, Mark's, Axletech, DSTRAC, Mason, Unimog, H1, VW portals etc. I would be shocked if he even recognized half the names on that list. That's the dangerous part, and that's my problem with him.

When you really dive into the rabbit hole off road design, it leads you to portals. There is a reason why so many trophy trucks and 4400s use them. There have been attempts at bolt-on portals over the years that have not worked out for various reasons. We are finally at a point in time where there are multiple viable options on the market. We can argue about which one is better based on features, but overall this is a good thing for off road.

Enter Tyler. This guy is trying to position himself as Mr. Portal but when you listen to him speak it is clear he has only a surface level understanding, zero manufacturing experience and is reckless. It has been an uphill battle for existing companies to prove to the public that we are at a point where you can safely bolt portals to your vehicle and enjoy the benefits. My worry is that Tyler's greed and lack of experience will lead to situations that taint the publics opinion against portals and set the whole industry back.

I understand where you are coming from and your concern is valid. I do not know Tyler and I am really trying to take any personality out of the equation.

I do not think he can give the industry that big a black eye because there are too many great examples especially now that they are being fully embraced by the racing world... typically where it goes the public follows.

I am concerned that unsuspecting consumers could end up with a really expensive headache. IF that happens (I may be wrong here) but IF that happens it will destroy Tyler and BB as a company and I am not convinced he understands the ramifications. At least so far I have not seen evidence of that.

I look at his other products and they are decent band aids.... Not that I would purchase them because I want solutions as opposed to band aids. That and I do not like what I think is overpaying. I do not know what his margins are and he may well be asking a fair price based on his costs... (trying to give him the benefit of the doubt here until he proves me wrong)... I am just not paying that much when for a bit more .... or in some cases pay less ... for what I think is a step up from a Band aid. But that works for some people and I do not have any problem with that.

 

[Felix808]

unsuspecting consumers could end up with a really expensive headache. IF

Yep, some uniformed customers no doubt will find themselves here in the long run because they saw something on YouTube and said I need that , when in fact they don't.

Broke & broken is a bad place to be together

 

[DYak]

I understand where you are coming from and your concern is valid. I do not know Tyler and I am really trying to take any personality out of the equation.

I do not think he can give the industry that big a black eye because there are too many great examples especially now that they are being fully embraced by the racing world... typically where it goes the public follows.

I am concerned that unsuspecting consumers could end up with a really expensive headache. IF that happens (I may be wrong here) but IF that happens it will destroy Tyler and BB as a company and I am not convinced he understands the ramifications. At least so far I have not seen evidence of that.

I look at his other products and they are decent band aids.... Not that I would purchase them because I want solutions as opposed to band aids. That and I do not like what I think is overpaying. I do not know what his margins are and he may well be asking a fair price based on his costs... (trying to give him the benefit of the doubt here until he proves me wrong)... I am just not paying that much when for a bit more .... or in some cases pay less ... for what I think is a step up from a Band aid. But that works for some people and I do not have any problem with that.

I think we have a lot of the same concerns and I can respect that you're trying to take an objective look by removing the personality. I have a hard time doing this because, as I see it, what he has is a personality.

What I can objectively point to that backs up my claim of recklessness is that he is selling his first run of imported units to the general public. As you pointed out, any change you make needs to be tested. A supplier change is big, especially when you are expecting them to just do everything for you. He is compounding this with design changes and expects everything to come in ready to sell. In my opinion, this also backs up my claim of inexperience. As for my claim of greed, he said it himself. Tibus was too expensive so he ripped them off.

 

[5GENIDN]

I think we have a lot of the same concerns and I can respect that you're trying to take an objective look by removing the personality. I have a hard time doing this because, as I see it, what he has is a personality.

What I can objectively point to that backs up my claim of recklessness is that he is selling his first run of imported units to the general public. As you pointed out, any change you make needs to be tested. A supplier change is big, especially when you are expecting them to just do everything for you. He is compounding this with design changes and expects everything to come in ready to sell. In my opinion, this also backs up my claim of inexperience. As for my claim of greed, he said it himself. Tibus was too expensive so he ripped them off.

There is a reason it takes a reputable company years to get a product like this to market..... Even a reputable company making sliders or under armor takes at least months if not years, and technically speaking, those are simple when compared to this. I predict that this will destroy his company..... you heard it here first.

 

[SierraBronco]

There is a reason it takes a reputable company years to get a product like this to market..... Even a reputable company making sliders or under armor takes at least moths if not years, and technically speaking, those are simple when compared to this. I predict that this will destroy his company..... you heard it here first.

Couple that with what seems to be a mentality where he won’t acknowledge any deficiencies in his product and is always looking to blame anyone but himself for something that goes wrong. Rather than admit the competition has thought of creative solutions to an issue, he resorts to attacking said competitor and provides misleading information or straight-up falsified facts to mask his own deficiencies. You can’t work with someone that won’t accept liability for their mistakes. Seems it cost Tibus $28,000 to find this out.

 

[5GENIDN]

Couple that with what seems to be a mentality where he won’t acknowledge any deficiencies in his product and is always looking to blame anyone but himself for something that goes wrong. Rather than admit the competition has thought of creative solutions to an issue, he resorts to attacking said competitor and provides misleading information or straight-up falsified facts to mask his own deficiencies. You can’t work with someone that won’t accept liability for their mistakes. Seems it cost Tibus $28,000 to find this out.

I do not know what he acknowledges or disavows to himself, but you are right his public persona is as you describe.... and if that is what he does in his own head.... It will dig him a really big hole that he will not be getting out of.

I kind of hope he takes the time to actually read this stuff and does some internal sole searching. He needs to be honest with himself and actually put any preconceived notions aside. He needs to honestly sit down and evaluate his risk here. Lets say one of these things fails out on the road and causes an accident???? Whoa buddy.... But that is a risk. Is he willing to take that risk without testing? without miles and miles of proof of concept. A judge or jury would definitely take that into consideration, yeah or nay.

 

[mcinfantry]

One. More. Time

Google
Tibus Pirate 4x4

I’m old enough and was a pirate 4x4 member long enough back to remember when those posts were NEW.
Im sure they are better than then, the question is HOW MUCH.

 

[NOBUKSGIVN]

Couple that with what seems to be a mentality where he won’t acknowledge any deficiencies in his product and is always looking to blame anyone but himself for something that goes wrong. Rather than admit the competition has thought of creative solutions to an issue, he resorts to attacking said competitor and provides misleading information or straight-up falsified facts to mask his own deficiencies. You can’t work with someone that won’t accept liability for their mistakes. Seems it cost Tibus $28,000 to find this out.

So what you’re saying is that we need to design a portal housing out of carbon fiber and Kevlar , use centrifugal designs with a belt that can be changed without a complete disassembly!!

 

[SierraBronco]

So what you’re saying is that we need to design a portal housing out of carbon fiber and Kevlar , use centrifugal designs with a belt that can be changed without a complete disassembly!!

Belts > gears. Any RZR owner knows this! Now you don’t have to worry about that rough shifting from straight cut gears. Definitely get smoother shifting for daily driving with helical for your…portals…

Now it makes sense why helical is superior. Many thanks sir

 

[DYak]

It turns out Tibus is garbage after all and he has physical evidence but is also still copying their design

Edit: some more context has come out

 

[5GENIDN]

Here is where a good education in the English language would be beneficial.... I hated English classes but I had this stuff drummed into me....

"Our reputation and the service we provide their customers is what I take highest priority over."

Even though I know what he is trying to say (I think).... this is what he says.... lets break it down

"Their customers"... i.e. not ours.

Freudian?

"I take highest priority over"

I am of higher priority than...."Our reputation and the service we provide their customers"

I just find it funny.....

I know we all make mistakes and I am no exception... BUT... This is funny.

 

[Felix808]

For @5GENIDN

" quality parts made in the USA will never be up for negotiation. "

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