It's a Very Tough Business

[George S.]

I bought a Prodeco X3 from this store. I looked at a Haibike once, after the Haibike was bike of the year. The shop dropped the Haibike line a bit after the InterBike award.

There are so many reasons that this is a difficult business. I feel bad for the owner, because he seemed honest and dedicated.

As a consumer not living in a large and affluent area, this is just something to keep in mind. It's great to say 'buy local' and 'you need the support', but it's not a simple equation.

 

[EasyMotion Rider]

most lbs in my area are primarily interested in selling bikes and not dealing with repairs, and ebikes have sooo many computer problems and intermitant problems that i can understand their position and dealing with the manufacturers would be very time consuming and frustrating. my last shop really only changed parts they really couldnt diagnose the problem fortunatly the manufacturer was very willing to help. oh well i have come to accept this for what it is and hope to not have any problems

 

[Green Machine]

yeah very true George...difficult business....the ebike business in general is very tough. I had a store go out of business back in early 2000... i had 3 stores actually one in fishermans wharf san francisco, one in berkely, and one in downtown san Francisco. It was one of the worst feelings i ever had to see liquidate my stores etc....very painful

Also i noticed as a reporter that few ebike producers make it. .... its crazy to see all the new ebike companies pop up at innerbike each year and the next year they are gone.

currie i heard has declared bankrupt several times and has been revived by new investors etc.

A few years back i did a ebike graveyard to document this effect: https://www.electricbike.com/ebike-graveyard/

Also ebike kit dealers.... through the years I have seen many of them come and go....

The fact is everyone always things that these ebikes are so cool that everyone is gong to wake up and the market is going to explode at any moment....but the truth is it hasnt.

And the ebike market in this country has never been here..... just always seems its at the cusp....

but not even as big as australias..... not even close to europes.... and china of course is blowing everybody away when it comes to ebike business.

 

[Kaldeem]

Funny though, Pedego reports a lot of profits, and for a while here in CO, there was really only a few eBike shops locally you could check out. Small planet eBikes (independent Pedego dealer) and eSpokes4folkes which is a Pedego dealer, but now there are Pedego stores popping up all over the state. I looked into opening one, but 78K to start a eBike shop in the heart of CO is a no brainer. I'd be out of business by years end. So many "traditionalist" don't want to accept it, and everyone else that's uneducated about eBikes, believe they get zero exercise from them... Personally, I probably wouldn't be able to compete with the other stores who have the funds.

 

[Green Machine]

Yeah pedego is for sure one of the exceptions. They seem to be doing well and standing the test of time.

 

[Dunbar]

The Izip store by me rebranded as a Raleigh store. It's still a Currie Technologies company but I think they wanted to diversify into selling 'regular' bikes alongside e-bikes. There are several e-bike only shops in this area so it is a pretty competitive market.

 

[George S.]

I told my neighbor about the only ebike store closing. He is from LA and keeps a barn out here with a lot of room to work on cars. His response was interesting.

He said "So the fad is over?"

 

[Green Machine]

Thats ridiculous....

there has never been a fad in this country.....

ebike stores opening and closing has always been a part of this land scape as long as i can remember.

I had my first ebike store back in 2001.... nobody that was in business back then is still in business now.


Fad is something like the hoverboard..... My bet is more hoverboards were sold in the USA this last christmas than all of ebikes combined in the usa for the last 20 years.

Really the only thing that changed recently in eibkes is Sondors selling 6000 bikes......

that is a staggering number in the world of ebikes where most companies sell in the hundreds of bikes per year... and a lot of new ebikes on the road.

The first thing when i thought when i heard that is a lot of those people are gonna need upgrade parts

 

[George S.]

Maybe it takes a while for people to come around. My brother rode my ebike two years ago and was not impressed. He loves regular bikes, and always has. But I guess the years are catching up a bit and he just bought a Pedego Ridge Rider. I made some other suggestions, but the RR is pretty solid if you want to go the retail route. In his case it's the opposite of a fad, just something he came to understand would work for him. In the end it just has to work for people, however many that it turns out to be.