cat0020

Interesting business model for used ebike (of different brand names) buy & sell with warranty.

Upway office in Brooklyn is about 9 miles from where I work; likely I will go check it out on my way home sometimes.

https://upway.co/

https://electrek.co/2023/05/31/upway...-premium-bikes

blacknbluebikes 

Interesting. thx for posting.

veganbikes

I wonder how they are handling warranty issues. It is a interesting idea if they can pull it off but I have a feeling they are extending some of those warranties longer than from the OEM and that could be a tough sell to the OEM if there is an issue. Also they are misrepresenting dates on some stuff 2022 for a gen 2 Bosch motor that you couldn't get anymore in 2022 from that particular manufacturer. It is a neat concept if real aside from those eccentricities. Let us know if you actually get to visit.

cat0020

You can direct your questions directly through their website (provided) chat function, should get some answers in few minutes.

soyabean

BF indeed a place for opinions.

My opinion is that website looks like a borderline scam.

I better see a physical storefront from Google streetview with user submitted Photos of the inside, like any local bike shop on Google streetview.

Let me guess, they are storing their inventory in a highly secure undisclosed location, so they can't show its inside.

Again, my opinion is that if one can't afford a new quality ebike, uber app is your friend.

I can't afford a Maserati. I don't go around complaining how it's my right to have access to a website for used Maseratis.

cat0020

Not everyone need to start out driving by buying a Maserati.
Similarly, not everyone need to start out their ebike experience with an expensive ebike.
You can direct your concerns & questions directly through their website to get answers so it would be less of a scam to you.

I haven't been able to get to their store because it looks like your folks in California who are used to wild fires this afternoon in NYC:
WTC this afternoon:


This was around 2PM on 5th Ave. in Manhattan, you could see the Empire State Building faint in the upper left:


Same building just 48 hours ago:

veganbikes

Conversely not everyone needs to buy a Yugo. A good reliable Toyota Corolla or Honda Accord is a fine car easy to get support and parts for and if you want something nicer they have the Lexus and Acura brands respectively and other nicer models under those brands.

A Maserati is an odd choice for the bike comparison but I guess it would be like maybe a high end Mahle hub drive equipped bike.

cat0020

Did anyone say Yugo is a good starter car for driving?

veganbikes

You mentioned Maserati so keeping with that theme of odd cars that never really have bearing on an argument I suggested a Yugo because it is similar to some of the low initial cost e-bikes out there that people do sometimes recommend or say are OK. Like I said Maserati is kind of like a nicer Mahle Hub drive equipped bike. Whereas say a Gazelle Medeo or similarly equipped Bosch or Shimano or Brose equipped bike is more like a Toyota Corolla good service and support and widely available parts.

cat0020

I didn't bring up any specific brand of cars, I only responded to the Maserati brand as mentioned by soyabean.
The fact is that Yugo is not an operating company that currently sell new cars;
it's a poor example to compare to entry level ebikes that are currently being manufactured and sold for mass market.

Gazelle Medeo starting retail at around $2500, IMO not a beginner friendly price point.
Something like a Lectric XP at below $1200 would be better example for a beginner ebike that is comparable to entry level cars.

veganbikes

Ahhh I see soyabean did mention Maserati, didn't notice that before. Oopsie.

The Medeo is a better comparison to the cars I mentioned. The Lectric and similar online stuff would be more comparable to cars below that from more of the off brands that maybe don't have the same support as Bosch, Brose, Shimano...Maybe ok cars for limited usage or people who are good at working on cars and are willing to take on the burden of the vehicle themselves vs. having dealer or MFG support.

cat0020

I wonder what is the total volume of US sales for Gazelle ebikes vs Lectric ebikes.

Do you know for sure that Lectric do not offer dealer or MFG support?

If you have a decent cheap ebike, how much dealer or MFG support do you need on a ebike anyway?

Have you owned any cheap (under $1500), decent ebikes manufactured within the last 18 months?

veganbikes

So let's brake it down, a pretty low end Tern folding bike with Tourney is 849.99 so you are saying you can get all of that plus a motor kit and batteries for that low of a price and it actually be of quality? I am going to be skeptical of that one but having sold and repaired bikes professionally and having had a lot of e-bikes in the shop either from "Lectric" or nearly identical one from another brand I know they are lower in quality. From actually seeing and riding the bikes but also knowing the components on them and dealing with warranties for a lot of different companies.

For an e-bike you can need quite a bit of support unless you want to deal with it all yourself or you aren't riding it much but having had a lot of new bikes come through the shop with issues from a wide variety of brands I can say good support is quite important and bad support is quite common or they try but won't listen until they exhaust all of your time and energy trying to fight you on the issue and then finally relent and say "well let's try what you said" and of course that fixes the problem and would have fixed the problem right away without the faff.

cat0020

Break it down, not brake it down.
I never wrote anything about Tern folding bike being $849.99, nor did I say that I could fit anything onto it for any amount.
Why are you bringing up bran new acoustic bicycle plus ebike conversion kits?
that's not an economical way to get into ebikes; nor a good way for someone looking for an entry level ebike.
How many folding bikes have you owned & ridden in the last ten years?

What is the other brand? why don't you name it?
Lectric has grown to a $22M+ company within 3 years, probably selling well over 125k ebikes.
has this other company experienced similar growth?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohn...h=743c331f2d3d

How many ebikes do you sell in your shop annually and
What's the percentage of ebikes that you sell experience problems that require manufacturer support, fixes of replacement?
Nobody said support is not important, but do you think ebike company is poor products would have such growth as Lectric?
How do you know that Lectric do not offer sufficient support to their products as other company does?
If customers do not experience issues with their purchases, do you think they will be complaining about any specific bike companies?

veganbikes

You are missing the point on the Tern and why I brought it up it was not so someone can build their own that would be stupid in that case it was to highlight the cost of a bike and parts and how it would be tough to get something of quality for that low of a price. You seem to believe because they sell a bunch that it must be of quality and I don't believe that is the case. Volume does not usually equal quality it equals volume.

Yes you can sell a lot of a lower quality product and yes you can experience growth. You really think every company that makes money or has growth is always making a quality product? E-bikes are hugely popular now so a company making really cheap stuff and making it easy to get so long as they aren't blowing up on people or completely falling apart on the first ride, they can sell quite easily.

I did mistype break that was a mistake I didn't catch. Thanks for noting it. I try to be better at catching break and brake.

If you want other brands in no particular order, Bison, Ariel Rider, Mukpett, Ecotric, Blix, HeyBike, Mate, Aventon... We worked on a lot of different bikes I think before our owner passed we probably had close to 300 e-bikes in for service. A decent portion of stuff was abandoned online e-bikes that people just didn't want to get the service on or pick up and deal with for one reason or another. Not that it matters anymore.

cat0020

The discussion of this thread is not about selling your converted ebike second hand. You're the one missing the point of the discussion.

Have you ever owned or ridden a Lectric ebike for a decent amount to tell that it's a lower quality product? Lower quality in comparison to what?
Can you specify any company that is making really cheap stuff that are selling the same volume and offer the same type of post sale service as Lectric?

Do any of those brands have similar volume of sales & service as Lectric?
Any of those 300 ebikes offer same or similar post sales service as Lectric?

veganbikes

Correct it was a thread on that second hand bikes and then it diverged a bit and you lost site of what I was saying and are just defending Lectric. It's cool Lectric is the best brand ever because they sell a bunch of stuff.

I don't know about the sales volume of the other brands no do I care nor am I trying to defend any of those brands they are all very similar bikes with different logos. I know you are going to say that somehow Lectric is different because of something but having seen so many similar folding fat tire e-bikes I know they do look nearly the same if not some being exactly the same.

cat0020

I use Lectric because it is a US based company, with company information available in the public domain; and can find actual data about the company and how their business have been growing & provide services to their customer.
Can you say that about any of the ebike companies that you've mentioned?

BTW, it is "lost sight", not "lose site"..
I'm not defending Lectric, only offer information that is available on the company.
Can you offer any info on those companies that you've mentioned?

veganbikes

So you are not defending Lectric, then what are you doing with them? You are certainly speaking well of them and trying to stick up for them in some form or another.

In terms of the other companies I probably could find info out but honestly I don't care too, I am not trying to defend these bikes from a factory with a different name and paint slapped on them. They are initially cheap and if that is all you are looking for those bikes will hit that mark for you.

cat0020

I'm four times Lectric ebike customer in the last 3 years, I have experience of riding Lectric ebikes for over 800 miles.
I have my experience as a customer who has received support from Lectric directly and info that I can find in public domain since it is a US based company.
I also have owned multiple ebikes from Alibaba & AliEx, received direct support from manufacturers, too.
AKAIK, the attitude that one approach the manufacturer (or company) for support has direct affect on the outcome.

If you don't care about the into on the other brands that you mentioned, why bring them up in the first place?
Do you know for sure those brands are from a single factory with a different name and paint slapped on them,, can you provide any evidence?
Do you have any first hand experience as a customer with those brands as a customer who received support directly from those company that you can share?
Do you have any experience with Lectric products or customer service that you can share?
Can you answer any of my questions from my previous posts?
Do you have anything to contribute to the topic of thread?

Dewey101

Good to see Upway come to the US. For several years I have admired the Dutch tweedehandsfietsen company for doing the same thing in the Netherlands. Be interesting to see how many such businesses the US market can bear, Upway join theproscloset and BicycleBlueBook facilitating used e-bike sales outside Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

2old

Procloset thrived during the pandemic when new bicycles were difficult to obtain (there was an 18 month-two year wait for a Trek model that I wanted to purchase), but may have a lot bigger challenge when the market is flooded now.