without recharging, the more expensive they get. The most powerful battery Electric Bike Company has, which can last up to 100 miles, costs the most. The quality of the bike parts also adds to the price. “You know, I always say it’s kind of like a red wine,” Lupton-Smith described. “You can have one glass of it that’s $2 and one glass of it that’s $1,000 but it’s still red wine. It’s really the same as everything that’s on the bike. Just the smallest, little thing like the attachment bolts that are on here can affect the price.” As Lupton-Smith explained, a bolt can have a certain type of steel, ratchet knot, manufacturing style, even a particular kind of washer and nut that’s attached to it. “Those are the important details that explain why a bolt can cost anywhere from two cents to a dollar,” he said. “And all that makes quite a big difference in the overall price.”
Electric Bike Company is the only brand in its category building its bikes from scratch in the United States. While the parts are imported from all across the world, ensuring only the best are used on each bike, the bike itself is put together at the Electric Bike Company workshop in Newport Beach by a skilled team of local builders. Customers visit the website— electricbikecompany.com—and customize their bike’s frame, color, seat, trim, design and more. In total, there are about 680 different options, ranging in price from $2,299-$2,946.
The award-winning bikes are built by a team of local, skilled craftsmen, who customize each electric ride to order.
Once selected, the bike is built in Lupton-Smith’s workshop—it takes about six hours to construct a bike from start to finish—and is shipped, fully assembled, to riders across the world. Timing of a bike’s arrival depends on seasonality; during the busiest months, (the holidays and around Valentine’s Day) shipments arrive within a month. During slower times, it takes about 10 days. Currently, the company is operating with a two-week lead time.
Every single part of the electric bike is inspected before the bike is given the final OK to be shipped. Once a bike is built, it moves to a different area of the workshop, the inspection area, and is scrutinized by an independent team member who uses a long checklist to ensure quality control. After passing inspection, the bike is test driven then wrapped and packed, ready to be shipped to an awaiting customer.
There’s a patent-pending part on the bike you won’t find anywhere else. “The unique part of our bike is we’ve got this cool, little window on the back and inside is a retractable cord with