Who We Are
We started as ebike shoppers just like you a few years ago. We wanted a solid, comfortable, powerful and good-looking ebike that didn’t break the bank. We didn’t think that was such a big ask … until we started searching for it. Our requirements were:
Ability to go 30+ miles on a single charge
Enough speed and power to ride in traffic safely
Fully adjustable front and rear suspension
Seat for two and foot pegs
Reliability, availability of replacement parts, and accessible customer service
Cool looking frame in a nice color
Price tag of $3,000 or less
We searched and searched and that’s when we realized to get even most of what we wanted we were looking at ebikes priced at $4,000. So what to do?
Well, first, we did what a lot of people do and we cheaped out. We tried a cheap bike bought online. Big mistake. It didn’t have the range or power we wanted, and looked cheap. It also had mechanical brakes that lacked real stopping power. And a “rear shock” that was just a plastic decoration. The real kicker was when after jumping off a curb, the battery came loose and fell off. After hours trying to get in touch with customer service and a bunch of emails back and forth, we were told that they didn’t sell replacement batteries or any other replacement parts for that matter. So we no longer had an ebike, we had a giant $800 paperweight. Sadly, we heard similar stories from many of our friends about the difficulty in getting ebike parts from manufacturers, they were either not available or prohibitively expensive.
Next we decided to try a larger name-brand bike. To stay within our budget we got a used one. It retailed for $4,995 but we managed to get it for $2,900. Like a lot of used things you might buy online, it had seen better days. But it had almost everything we wanted except the range and foot pegs. The advertised range was 40+ miles, but we kept running out of battery. We could only get 20 miles on a full charge if we putted along at slow speeds or pedaled - and, let’s be honest, we wanted an ebike because we wanted to go far, go fast, and not pedal. The foot pegs were available as an over-priced accessory, almost $100 with shipping and tax. We ended up selling that ebike online and restarting our search.
We took any e-bike we could get our hands on for a test ride - in-store, from friends and family, and occasionally from strangers we chatted up on the street. One large name-brand ebike we rode had no speed or power, and a throttle delay that made riding it the antithesis of fun. Another bike had an adjustable rear shock that made the ride so much smoother but the bike didn’t have the look or range. Another was super fast, but the dirt-bike styling and lack of pedals meant it wasn’t street-legal. So many other bikes were too expensive for what they were. From all these rides and our failed purchases, we had a much clearer picture of what we wanted, and a much clearer realization that it didn’t exist. So we got a reasonably priced ebike with a look we liked and started building our own bike.
Let the tinkering begin! After switching out the brakes, rear shock, battery, throttle, pedals, tires, etc., we had a bike we really liked. So we built a second, and then a third. We rode those bikes hundreds of miles, commuting to work and school, just buzzing around town, and on some fun group ebike rides. We changed out the controller, forks, crank, gears, and seat as we found what worked and what didn’t. With the performance where we wanted it we focused on looks and had a local woodshop make us solid oak side panniers to give the bikes a distinct look while adding functionality. Finally, we had bikes we really loved.
Given our experience we knew there was room in the growing ebike market for our bike. We started planning how to mass-produce our bikes so that people wouldn’t go through the same issues we did when we started our ebike search. Luckily we had some overseas motorcycle parts manufacturing contacts and it didn’t take long to get connected with some factories that had the capability to mass-produce our ebike. It took months more to get it just right, and then Speedwell.Bike was born and here we are. We went from frustrated consumers to ebike enthusiasts to ebike creators.
Our goal is to offer you everything you want in an ebike right out of the box for a reasonable price and to build a community of riders. We are constantly improving and adjusting our ebikes and our customer service so we can exceed your expectations. We welcome your questions, comments and feedback. Thanks for reading and we hope you consider joining the Speedwell.Bike community!