Friend of the forum,
@Ravi Kempaiah was once setting speed and distance records on a Stromer, covered here by Court and at the now defunct Electric Bike Action magazine. Probably around the same time when Chris Nolte at Propel ebikes in NYC was going gangbusters. Haibike USA was the big kahuna of US ebike sellers with a bike model lineup that addressed every type of ebike, from commuters, trekkers, mountain bikers to fat bikers. Even had a 24 inch tire ebike for young kids. Yamaha saw an oppourtunity with the sales of Haibike-Yamaha powered ebikes selling well and jumped in the game. Crazy Lenny's up in Wisconsin had a national presence, selling the major ebike brands powered by Bosch and Yamaha. My fat tired Haibike, powered by Yamaha, still sits in my garage to this day, bought at an insanely low price at Lenny's. Lots of changes in the past 2 or 3 years, not for the better. It almost has the feel of the 1970's moped explosion in popularity when the Arab oil embargos had many people (myself included) buying a moped to get around town locally at 100 miles per gallon. Will ebikes become a niche like the moped has become?
Yamaha and now, Stromer are like the canary in the coal mine. Along with Haibike and every other major, mid to high end ebike manufacturer who has failed or backed out of our US market, the largest economic powerhouse in the world. For sure, Stromer as documented on this forum, has had a long term issue with customer service. That goes a long way in turning customers off and away from buying in. But these days ever since Yamaha announced they were quitting us, I'm not feeling too comfortable holding onto my Haibike with it's 4 external, proprietary Yamaha batteries that nobody can rebuild. When an old line and celebrated company like Yamaha leaves, it leaves a sour taste for the entire ebike game. Kinda like Chevy or Ford or Mopar stopped making fun cars like Camaro or Challenger.......oh, wait a minute, that happened, too!
And I fear some old line ebike sellers in our country, many who made this forum so fun to visit, are feeling a ton of pressure right about now. We are in a bad way, economically these days. And the ebike market is that canary in the coal mine.
I'm actually surprised Stromer lasted here as long as they did. In response to 'What is going on here?', I'll add a few observations.
The heady 'good, old days' were also a time when people saw $$ to be made by jumping on the bandwagon. As a result,
1. US skeleton crews. I was recently told "R+M is on vacation" in response to a non-mundane technical issue. I had visions of the entire company on holiday, but what this actually meant is 'the lone US sales guy we route tech/support through is on vacay.'
If you're going to conquer strange people in a strange land, a greater level of investment may be necessary. Building out a dealer network dedicated to sales is inefficient when it's a support bottleneck. The question is: What percentage of customers can you afford to alienate? 5%? 10%? What is the balance between brand loyalists-evangelists vs 'never again'?
2. Know your market. These articles always pounce on "Americans love throttles" + "Americans worship cars" in a judgmental tone. The same marketing dollars inspire these perspectives.
I say this as someone born in Europe: the US has an awesome national park system, drawing both domestic and a substantial number of international visitors. I recently listened to an interview with Levi Conlow, founder of Lectric. His first bike, sub-$1k, was a total flop, which forced him to properly engage with potential clients for design/feature list 2.0 And he raved about retired seniors with RVs hitting the national parks as free and highly effective marketing. Some random guy from AZ conquered the market, while the throttle-shamers are exiting with their expensive, thinly-supported bikes.
How many times have you seen a prospective purchaser dismiss a throttleless brand immediately? I think very highly of Bosch eBike systems, but this inflexibility around a feature that is technically simple to integrate, coupled to a high price tag, is limiting, which is why Trek is no longer Bosch-exclusive. Their throttle model is capped at 20mph -- why is this referred to as a moped by some?
I am legitimately 'car-free' but enjoy a good car show while riding through the American Midwest. I also highly recommend the Studebaker museum in South Bend, IN.
I commute weekly between Washington and Baltimore, so I speak from experience. I'm an all-weather rider, so I'm not going to argue I need a car for inclement weather. The cost of the 'niche' bike; its maintenance and the bike's limited lifespan make the cost per mile prohibitive, esp as compared to cars. You can make arguments about gas/insurance, but I suspect Americans will still prefer the car's high mileage lifetime under a paygo plan, no matter the outcome of cost-benefit analysis.
I can use regional rail (MARC shoutout), but here we are again. What makes sense for that first- or last mile? Heavy+overpriced or a more nimble, less expensive model? Oh, and cargo bikes are explicitly forbidden on board.
Evangelists or 'influencers' associated with dealers or brands are generally not motivated or equipped to address these issues.
3. COVID was manna from heaven for bike brands and dealerships; not just the spike in demand but the 'essential' status and its benefits conferred by government. I know of several bike shops that were barely making it pre-COVID who sold every bit of inventory, bikes and parts, then sold their shops to new blood. OTOH, there were the 'All hail the bike boom, may it last forever' types who ordered optimistically. Enter (boon to consumers or bottom feeders, depending on your perspective) Upway and similar, who scarfed up Stromers and R+Ms by the barrel, reselling low-to-no mileage bikes at a far friendlier price! When you lose the margins on these high-end bikes, it's over.
electrek.co
