Clyde to stock bikes and supplies that reflect an evolving market. “I import directly from the Pedego production facility in California and then ship bikes and supplies to Pedego dealers across Canada from my Vancouver ware- house. I have a weekly shipment of supplies that allows me to have on-hand everything the dealer and customer needs,” he explained.
America – we’re mostly targeting the 90% remainder. We want that segment to understand that an electric bike removes barriers and obstacles to riding, whether they’re distance, hills, lack of physical fitness, loads – or even a mental hurdle – and my family in British Columbia is a great example of this. Our Pedego electric bikes enable us to be a one-car family, even through winter when I put studded tires on the bikes. We can travel as a family, me, my wife and five-year-old daughter, with our daughter on the back of the Pedego Stretch Electric Cargo Bike. Of course this can be done without an electric bike, but honestly the hills, especially in winter, would be a major deterrent.” Tough terrain is also on the mind of one of Pedego’s key demographics: “The 50s-70s crowd, who are often coming back to cycling after a long break,” Clyde said. “We know that whatever they’re used for, the rider is having fun.” There’s no better testament to the versatility of the Pedego product than the story of John Langille. It’s a story about one of those “new bike journeys” Clyde was talking about. “A couple of months ago, John Langille – he’s a Pedego owner here in Nelson, BC and a friend – contacted me and said he had a crazy idea. Those were his words. We met up and he told me that he wanted to ride his Pedego Stretch Electric Cargo Bike about 2,500 kilometers to Desert Trip in Indio, California to see, among others, the Rolling Stones. I thought it was an awesome idea out of the gate. Jon said it all spawned from a comment he made to his wife, a joke, really, about riding his bike all the way to Indio and then he realized that his Pedego could make that happen. I think it kind of points out one of the best things about electric bikes: they really do remove barriers to bike journeys. I mean John is probably a slightly extreme example of that – he rode across a good chunk of the planet on his recent trip– but even though he has done cycle touring in the past, he’s pretty honest in that without the Pedego and the electric assistance that he just wouldn’t have completed that journey. He spent over a hundred and fifty hours on the bike and rode up the equivalent of two Mount Everests. He carried all the camping gear, clothes, spare batteries and he still was getting over a hundred kilometers on a single charge on some of the sections of the journey. Apart from a few flat tires – there are lots of bits of wires from truck tires and other debris along a lot of the highways and inter- states – the Pedego Stretch really didn’t miss a beat. Media coverage around this has been phenomenal. The story has been picked up by CBC, the New York Times, NBC, and other networks. It has really resonated well with
The Find a Dealer menu at pedegoelectricbikes.ca links shoppers to the 25 Pedego dealers located across Canada.
“We definitely support small brick and mortar bike shops. It’s neighbourhood bike shops that provide the ongoing, face-to-face relationship that owners of any bike deserve. When you need maintenance, parts, supplies, what have you, you don’t want to be turning to a website. You need a high level of hands-on support and that’s what we provide at every level. Our dealers are educated on the technol- ogy and they’re happy to service the e-bike crowd. At the end of the day, electric bikes increase the number of potential cyclists walking through their doors, so it’s a win-win. Plus, I think every bike shop owner would sub- scribe to one of our mottoes: ‘Getting people out of cars and onto bikes.’ Clyde explained to me that the misnomer ‘Cheater’ is far too often thrown at electric bike enthusiasts from the windows of passing cars. “This is one of the biggest misconceptions about electric bikes and the industry itself. Some people believe that electric bikes are somehow competing with regular bikes. If we’re in competition with anything, really, it’s the car and the couch. Electric bikes are creating completely new bike journeys. We’re at the very early part of a strong growth period for electric bikes – and bike trails, for that matter – in North America and at the moment, I think the biggest challenge is getting people to see how an electric bike might fit into their lives.”
“The simplest way of breaking down our approach is this: 10% of the population regularly ride bikes in North
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 2016
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