I was asked very recently during a silly conversation with a good friend whether I thought I would be able to build a functioning bike (cue mind wandering about said conversation).  My response – ‘yeah, of course’! I actually honestly believe that I could.  

I’m not talking about reproducing the fluorescent purple and yellow Malvern Star that I cherished and rode in the early 90’s... I’m talking about something with a frame, wheels, handle bars, brakes, a chain, and the other essential bicycle ingredients. My plan would be to engineer something from different materials that would function with turning pedals that would then cause a chain to move; wheels would rotate and voila, forward motion! A Bicycle.

My bike would exist as a bike at the most basic level. Would I ride it? No. Well, not without first checking if my Health Insurance covers me for homemade vehicle accidents.

I think I would enjoy the experience (if I had the time) of building a bicycle from scratch, considering the moving parts and how they work with the other parts of the bike to make something that functions in a certain way.

My biggest concern? My bike will certainly function as a bike... assuming I conquer the engineering challenges; but only in the way it moves. It will most probably not resemble a bike that you would buy, and you certainly wouldn’t sit your child on it and push it down the road screaming ‘pedal, pedal, go, go!’ Film something like that and it’s bound to end up in a FAIL blog or website... coming to an email address near you (or God forbid – an episode of Funniest Home Videos).

Hilarity and personal injury aside, the bicycle building conversation reminded me of many instances in the web industry where I have heard the phrase ‘I (or a friend) could do it for less/faster’. In most cases that is certainly true... but I challenge you – would YOU use that site? Would it be faster and still effective, or faster and cutting corners? Would it meet industry standards? (my homemade bicycle would most certainly not). And would you conduct business via the resulting website if you stumbled across it?

There is a vast difference between making or building something (I also believe I could build a house or dwelling of some kind – although expect it would fall down around me within minutes) and actually developing something that would last and withstand the stresses I would put it through.
There are certainly very few people who would consider building a car and then relying on it to get them from home to work on a daily basis, let alone from A – B. So why then does this attitude exist when it comes to building websites and engaging in online strategy?  There certainly is easy access to several tools that will help an online strategy to unfold – but we’re talking about changing oil and pumping the tyres with air – not emulating Henry Ford.

My homemade bicycle will work. It will, but only in the most basic sense. If I wanted a bicycle to actually ride I would be looking to a bike store or sports store that sold bikes... not to a butcher who cuts meat by day but dabbles in the art of bicycle engineering by night. Why? Can you not tell? My butcher friend cuts meat well – but can he actually build a bike to my specifications? Unlikely.