Lectric Bikes - The story of how two guys built a $13M company in a year

[FlatSix911]

Interesting story on the founders of Lectric Ebikes.

The story of how two guys built a $13M revenue e-bike company in a year

If you’ve been browsing around for an affordable electric bike lately, you’ve almost certainly heard of the Lectric XP e-bike....

electrek.co

If you’ve been browsing around for an affordable electric bike lately, you’ve almost certainly heard of the Lectric XP e-bike. One year ago the bike didn’t exist, and today they are so popular that it’s difficult to even get your hands on one. While there are plenty of e-bike companies out there doing well right now, few have achieved so much success so quickly.

Here’s the story of how it happened. Lectric Ebike’s founders Levi Conlow and Robby Deziel met playing video games together in middle school. Now both 24, the two set their sites on building a new e-bike company last year. The idea is nothing novel per se; new e-bike companies pop up all the time. The barriers to entry for a garage startup just aren’t all that high these days. The tricky part is succeeding.

Pooling their cash, Levi and Robby were able to order 10 prototypes of their Lectric XP e-bike. With fat tires, a 28 mph (45 km/h) top speed, around 25 miles (40 km/h) of range and a folding frame for easy transport, the pair hoped they had settled on the right bike design for the market. They had chosen what they thought would be the ultimate combination of parts and features, with an $899 price as the cherry on top. But now it was time to see what the market thought. That was May 30, 2019 – less than one year ago.

 

[Darceman]

They deserve every penny..Their service and product are first rate.
We're one of the first batch of owners. A few minor kinks but super fast and friendly service. I've ordered 4 bikes now in total for family. Highly recommend. 2300 km and climbing..

 

[ramg1967]

Ordered one today for $1099. Can't wait to get my bike delivered next month. Hope it is of good quality. I have been using ebike since 2012.

 

[Darceman]

Ordered one today for $1099. Can't wait to get my bike delivered next month. Hope it is of good quality. I have been using ebike since 2012.

Awesome!!!! You'll have a blast!!!

 

[myers830]

IF that story is remotely accurate, then let's hope that these guys start to stock pile bikes in Arizona for quick shipping. Yes, new start-ups have no cash for inventory, we get that. That was 2019. But Lectric can no longer be labeled as a start-up. With that kind of success and cash on hand, and with manufacturing coming back globally, its time for potential customers to be able to get a bike when they want one. Especially one that's been in production for over a year. Spring is gone and summer will be over before you know it. Waiting weeks in late fall or winter is OK because you can'r ride it anyway...but its a new ball game now.

It's one thing to "wait" for a brand new product, but this bike is essentially the same product from last year. Just about everybody who buys one, shells out another couple hundred bucks or more...for much needed and obvious upgrades that should already be showing up on the production model after a year. A higher price for upgrades won't detract from folks buying the bike as they are already shelling out for upgrades after the sale. There must a 100 videos on ways to spend more money on this "price breaking" bike.

By now the parts and manufacturing should be nailed down. Its one thing to have multiple products, and having to shuffle things around between all of them, but when your business in focused on ONE product...come on guys. Let's either see some reasonable in-house inventory and shipping times for the same bike as last year...or if we have to continue to "wait" weeks to get one, let's see some new upgrades to the bike that everybody knows are much needed. Seat, tires, pedals, handlebars, hand grips, (cassette instead of free wheel), key position on battery (not on the bottom), LARGER battery, a USB port, rust-resistant chain, a lighter frame...just for starters. Yes, the bike will cost more. We get it, and we get that you don't want to fix something that ain't broke...but if we have to continue to wait for weeks (or months in some cases), can we at least be waiting for a new XP version 2 or one with multiple options?

 

[Darceman]

IF that story is remotely accurate, then let's hope that these guys start to stock pile bikes in Arizona for quick shipping. Yes, new start-ups have no cash for inventory, we get that. That was 2019. But Lectric can no longer be labeled as a start-up. With that kind of success and cash on hand, and with manufacturing coming back globally, its time for potential customers to be able to get a bike when they want one. Especially one that's been in production for over a year. Spring is gone and summer will be over before you know it. Waiting weeks in late fall or winter is OK because you can'r ride it anyway...but its a new ball game now.

It's one thing to "wait" for a brand new product, but this bike is essentially the same product from last year. Just about everybody who buys one, shells out another couple hundred bucks or more...for much needed and obvious upgrades that should already be showing up on the production model after a year. A higher price for upgrades won't detract from folks buying the bike as they are already shelling out for upgrades after the sale. There must a 100 videos on ways to spend more money on this "price breaking" bike.

By now the parts and manufacturing should be nailed down. Its one thing to have multiple products, and having to shuffle things around between all of them, but when your business in focused on ONE product...come on guys. Let's either see some reasonable in-house inventory and shipping times for the same bike as last year...or if we have to continue to "wait" weeks to get one, let's see some new upgrades to the bike that everybody knows are much needed. Seat, tires, pedals, handlebars, hand grips, (cassette instead of free wheel), key position on battery (not on the bottom), LARGER battery, a USB port, rust-resistant chain, a lighter frame...just for starters. Yes, the bike will cost more. We get it, and we get that you don't want to fix something that ain't broke...but if we have to continue to wait for weeks (or months in some cases), can we at least be waiting for a new XP version 2 or one with multiple options?

Wow....goes to show you can't please all people. You want the best bike for the cheapest price and you want it now. Sir...you are not realistic and will not be happy with this bike or any other bike for that matter. It's not perfect and it's not free.
What it is....a great bike for a great price and a ton of fun...so what if you have to wait a while to get your bike...For most people this is the price you pay for such a great deal on a bike..The guys who run this company deserve all the success they have obtained in the last year. We were one of the first guys to get our bikes and waited more than 3 months. The wait was worth it and we didn't attack the company cause we were impatient. Your expectations are unrealistic...

 

[Grey Beard]

Sorry, but I don’t agree with this rant. I bought my XP because it was a solid bike with everything important to me. For example a 500w motor and 48v battery, foldable, fat tires, etc. As with my Harleys, I prefer to customize myself and pick my accessories rather than having the factory decide what I want. That’s part of the fun in making it yours.

My guess is they are backlogged because of overseas manufacturing being delayed due to the virus shutting down factories. Yes, an immediate shipment would be nice. Hopefully that will happen once they get caught up.

Meanwhile, I want to congratulate them for their success and bringing to market a very good product.

 

[Reformvette]

Sorry, but I don’t agree with this rant. I bought my XP because it was a solid bike with everything important to me. For example a 500w motor and 48v battery, foldable, fat tires, etc. As with my Harleys, I prefer to customize myself and pick my accessories rather than having the factory decide what I want. That’s part of the fun in making it yours.

My guess is they are backlogged because of overseas manufacturing being delayed due to the virus shutting down factories. Yes, an immediate shipment would be nice. Hopefully that will happen once they get caught up.

Meanwhile, I want to congratulate them for their success and bringing to market a very good product.

Exactly! I have one of the XP's and it is very enjoyable to ride. And what they created was a great e-bike at a reasonable price. Congratulations on the success of your company guys!

 

[Dorkyman]

Dragging this thread back out into the open because it illustrates how far these guys have come in just a couple of years. Anybody know how many Lectrics there are now? I'd guess closing on 150,000...

We have two of the XP 2.0st bikes and have outfitted them with folding baskets, USB ports, smartphone holders, 11-34 freewheels, seat suspensions, alarms, and so on. Great machines.

 

[BigNerd]

They are releasing an e-Trike to that is much lower than the competition (and it folds).

Wish they would do a full size 26+inch tire bike.

 

[Taylor57]

They are releasing an e-Trike to that is much lower than the competition (and it folds).

Wish they would do a full size 26+inch tire bike.

When are they releasing the Etrike?

 

[lectricG]

2 guys from minnesota just like me

 

[lectricG]

When are they releasing the Etrike?

releasing info 1/13/23