Marcus Richards
ElectricBikeSales.co.uk was founded in 2005 to help people discover a cleaner, healthier way to transport themselves locally. In 2006 we made the worlds very first electric Brompton and in 2008 we made the first electric cargo bike for families.
Tell us about yourself?
I grew up in Ireland and Northern Ireland leaving for Cambridge when I was 19 where I have now spent the majority of my life so far. At university brought together by our mutual love of music and guitars I met our co-founder Jamie McAlley and after both becoming disillusioned with our post studying corporate jobs we started this business. I’m a practical and pragmatic person and I’ve always had it in mind to start a business however I never imagined that my first attempt would be so successful especially in a niche that at the time was generally derided and purposefully marginalised by the mainstream british bike industry.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Worry less about the industry naysayers and the fact that the british market lags so far behind most of our EU neighbours. Trust the trend. The benefits of ebikes will put them at the centre of a mass upheaval in british and global transport culture where car ownership falls and active travel becomes the local norm.
What problem does your business solve?
We help people transition from cars to electric bikes and eCargo bikes and trikes. These wonderful machines allow riders to control their exhertion by choosing what effort they put in and the bike does the rest. The same journey is achieved for a fraction of the Co2 and due to the activity everyone feels so much better afterwards.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
Traffic and pollution. Like many british towns and cities cars didn’t exist when Cambridge roads were first being layed and the resulting congestion from the traffic in 2005 was life sapping.
The stench of toxic fumes as you pass one single occupancy car after another bumper to bumper along stretches of road was often unbearable.
You wouldn’t drink water that you knew had been contaminated with poisons but breathing these in seemed somehow culturally acceptable. There had to be a way to provide the freedom of movement that people cheerish without the wasted time and pollution and inconvenience such as parking.
After trying an electric bike for the first time the solution was undeniable and I became an unmutable advocate for ebikes.
What is your magic sauce?
Electric Bikes are popular now, so popular that the factories cannot make enough to keep up with demand. This of course has turned the mainstream cycle industry into advocates for the technology because there’s money to be made.
Our customers choose us because we have deep knowledge of the products and can explain the experience they can expect from each one and support them appropriately afterwards. We guarantee to keep an electric bike going for as long as a customer wishes – this is our anti-obsolescence guarantee. Most of my colleagues have families and are commited to this industry for the long term which is in stark contrast to many cycle shops where the young faces change with regular frequency.
We are not afraid to be different (checkout of family/staff friendly store opening times) and at the core of everything we aim to do are our customers, our colleagues and our planet.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Over the next 5 years we want to move 40% of local travel out of cars and onto ebikes and eCargo. Electric Cargo bikes are going to be huge in our transition away from cars. The proof is in the name electric Car-go!
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Without a doubt it’s been the negative atitudes mainstream bike retailers cultivated – ‘they’re for cheats – ‘they’re for lazy people’….etc In many EU markets including Germany which traditionally has a similar bicycle market value to the UK the retailers embraced ebikes and saw the potential for them to shake up the transport market. The German ebike market is now approximately 10 times the size of the UK ebike market and they have a huge industry surrounding it from manufacturing to services and software. eBikes are not the future they are the now and we need to help people discover why they won’t miss their car.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
Anyone or business that uses a car or a van for local transport get in touch and try an ebike or eCargo and soon you’ll wonder how life could have been lived without one. Remember life without smart phones? This is the same thing but for cleaner and healthier local transport. To discuss or see and try just get in touch via our website.
