An early pioneer within the North American electrical bicycle market, Juiced Bikes seems to be in collapse. In response to many shoppers, the San Diego-based e-bike firm has largely ghosted them and failed to reply to repeated customer support inquiries. On the identical time, the corporate’s web site is out of inventory on all merchandise and its property seem headed for public sale.
There’s no affirmation from the corporate, however a number of indicators are pointing towards monetary misery and a possible closure of the corporate.
Juiced Bikes is without doubt one of the oldest repeatedly working e-bike manufacturers within the nation. I’m one thing of a dinosaur of the business, and even once I bought concerned with e-bikes again in 2010, Juiced was already a serious participant (albeit often known as Juiced Riders again then).
The corporate pioneered electrical cargo and utility e-bikes within the US with its ODK mannequin, launched a decade earlier than the favored RadRunner. The model then continued to evolve, turning into one of many first to supply higher-speed and higher-power fashions for adventurous riders.
However now the model seems to be in deep sufficient monetary misery to probably result in a closure of the corporate, and radio silence from the model has solely stoked the rumor mill.
Social media is filled with clients complaining a couple of lack of communication from the corporate. A number of have shared cases of their bikes being caught in service limbo whereas the corporate has damaged off communications about their repairs or return schedule for the bikes.
Others have shared cases of purchases which have gone unfulfilled for months.
“$2k out for a motorcycle ordered in July, and which I canceled in September after getting regularly fed a line about delivery delays,” defined one consumer on Reddit. “Filed a dispute with my financial institution however nonetheless ready.”
Juiced Bikes’ web site continues to be working, but the entire firm’s many e-bike fashions are at present listed as out of inventory.
I’ve reached out to a number of leaders on the firm however have but to obtain an official touch upon the model’s standing.
Regardless of an absence of readability from the corporate, the newest improvement in Juiced’s potential monetary collapse saga seems to have sealed the deal, so to talk. The corporate’s property are actually exhibiting up on an public sale home platform generally used for corporations which have gone out of enterprise.
All the things from the corporate’s present stock of merchandise and its tooling in China to its mental property rights seems to be listed on the market at public sale. Even the corporate’s Sprinter cargo van with Juiced Bikes branding is up on the market.
The previous couple of years have been a tricky interval for the electrical bike business. Following the huge wave of e-bike gross sales within the post-pandemic interval, the market cooled considerably leaving many e-bike makers with large overstock conditions.
Enterprise capital funding additionally started drying up after the simple cash interval following the pandemic, additional crunching many e-bike corporations.
On the identical time, dozens of recent Chinese language-based electrical bike manufacturers have opened their doorways in an try to snag a chunk of the huge e-bike pie, usually dangling enticingly low costs that a number of of the US-based manufacturers couldn’t compete with. Leaders within the US funds e-bike market, corresponding to Lectric Ebikes, have additional squeezed opponents with aggressive pricing that has helped scoop up huge market share.
We’ve already seen a number of different giant e-bike corporations go beneath within the final yr, together with SONDORS within the US and VanMoof in Europe. If Juiced Bikes is headed for a similar ending, it’s unlikely to be the final.
Electrek’s Take
Whereas there’s nonetheless no official phrase from the corporate, at this level, it seems that Juiced Bikes’ closure is a foregone conclusion. With its property up for public sale, there doesn’t seem like an endgame for the corporate as we all know it.
That is really a tragic occasion for the business and simply one other reminder that we’re in a reckoning interval for the a whole bunch of e-bike corporations all competing for a similar clients. Yearly there are extra e-bikes on the street than ever earlier than, but the meteoric progress of the post-pandemic years clearly wasn’t sustainable. Similar to the American automotive business ultimately pared down the hundred or so automobile corporations in enterprise a century in the past, the e-bike market is probably going headed in an identical course.
That is additionally uniquely painful for Juiced’s clients who’ve been left ready for bikes they ordered or hoping to obtain service on the merchandise they already personal. Fortuitously, somebody at Juiced seems to have set the web site’s stock to zero to stop phantom gross sales that may possible by no means be delivered, however that doesn’t assist these already overlooked to dry.
If there’s any room for hope, it’s that this doesn’t essentially imply there isn’t a future for Juiced Bikes. The model and its property may nonetheless be bought by an investor or firm hoping to revive the e-bike model. If that’s the case, this doesn’t need to be the final mile marker on Juiced’s 15-year-long trip.
