Mike Chakov, owner and general manager of M&M Specialties, demonstrates the digital display of an e-bike on his showroom floor. Chakov, who is an electrical engineer, first got interested in e-bikes after he wanted one for himself and began researching.

Along with the addition of bicycle lanes in the Fresno and Clovis area, motorists might have also noticed more riders zipping by on an electric bicycle, or e-bike.

Following the onset of the pandemic, interest in bicycles exploded as more people sought outside activities during lockdown.

According to a 2022 report from the University of New Hampshire, following a five-year low, there was a significant spike in bicycle imports from China and Taiwan. The number of bicycles imported to the U.S. from these two countries jumped from 378,207 units in March 2020 to more than 1.8 million units in July 2020.

E-bikes did not trail far behind, with data from Mordor Intelligence and Allied Market research showing the market valued at $27.22 billion in 2021.

The first patent for an e-bike was granted in 1895, but modern bikes powered by electricity have been gaining popularity in the market since the 1990s.

Local bike shops have also been seeing an increased demand for the conveyance in recent years.

 

Motion Madness by M&M Specialties is Fresno’s first e-bike showroom and repair center. Mike Chakov is the general manager, running the shop with his son, store manager Ron Chakov.

Mike is also an electrical engineer, which lent him naturally to an interest in e-bike technology.

For the first three years of the business, the shop focused on converting regular bikes to e-bikes, but in about the last two years, it was converted into more of a showroom for various brands of e-bikes, as well as servicing.

Mike said the business was born out of his own interest after he needed an e-bike but didn’t like any of the bikes — or their prices — available online.

The first e-bike he purchased was powered by lead-acid batteries like the ones in cars as opposed to current lithium-based batteries. It did not work very well, leading him to explore converting his own bike and learning all about the different types of e-bikes.

“A lot of people come in and think all electric bikes are the same,” Ron said. “They all come equipped differently. Some fold, some have different size wheels, some have different battery sizes, different ranges.”

Having a showroom in town provides customers with an opportunity to test-drive an e-bike, modeling themselves like an auto dealership

Ron said most people typically buy one online and assemble it themselves, with some finding the bike is not to their liking.

Like a dealership, M&M Specialties also has a service center with a full-time mechanic for anything that goes wrong.

Eventually, larger e-bike manufacturers including Himiway, Vtuvia and Enorau found M&M Specialties, expanding the showroom’s retail offerings.

Los Angeles-based Himiway lists the Fresno shop on its website, leading to visits from customers from around the general area. M&M also has a showroom in Pismo Beach.

Mike said people can find a lot of cheaply made e-bikes online, even on Amazon, which is leading to hundreds of companies buying them from Chinese manufacturers and putting them on the market.

“People can get some pretty cheap things, even on Amazon, but they don’t realize that it’s not supported by Amazon. It’s a Chinese company that’s filling up Amazon’s warehouse and they’re dishing them out,” Mike said.

Most of these cheaper brands will not be around for the long run, he said.

Support for these bikes is all done via online, with at best, the company sending a part to the customer who is then responsible for installation, he said.

During the pandemic, people were bringing in their regular bikes for repairs, and after seeing the e-bikes available in the showroom, more people started buying them.

Though the shop does provide services to convert an e-bike, many customers realize that converting an e-bike can cost about the same as one sold by a manufacturer.

 

Prices for e-bikes can range from $1,200 to $5,000.

Though bicycles in general are not the big gift under the Christmas tree like they were for past generations, e-bikes are becoming a popular gift for the holidays. There were men buying e-bikes for their wives, and vice-versa, this recent Valentine’s Day. 

A big share of M&M’s clientele — about 40% — is made up of retirees, especially those in the RV crowd who wish to remain active outdoors but might have limited mobility in their advanced years, Ron said. 

Mike said opening a showroom in east Clovis, near more shopping centers and pedestrian shoppers, would be ideal, but for the time, there will be more of a push for advertising. 

At Rubber Soul Bicycles in north Fresno, co-owner Rich Holdsworth said he’s been selling the modern, pedal-assist e-bikes for the last 10 years. 

As they become a bigger part of the market, Holdsworth said the unregulated arena for trending technology could be harmful to the industry. 

California law defines e-bikes into three categories: 

Type 1 — bikes with a top assisted speed of 20 mph that must be pedaled to operate.

Type 2 — bikes with a top assisted speed of 20 mph that could be operated without pedaling by using a hand throttle.

Type 3 — bikes with a top assisted speed of 28 mph that must be pedaled to operate.

Holdsworth said that any vehicle with a throttle that goes over 20 mph is not an e-bike an actual motorized vehicle under the law.

Since there is no substantial regulation for the industry, he said, a lot of e-bikes are being sold to consumers labeled as Type 2, but actually travel at higher speeds. 

There are numerous lawsuits regarding riders suffering accidents and injuries on e-bikes, Holdsworth notes.  

“There is not much regulation of the quality of these bicycles,” he said. “Even Walmart sells e-bikes for $700, but they’re not well engineered. They’re not safe. They put the least expensive braking systems they could find, and the bicycles don’t work.”

Not all e-bikes sold online are substandard, Rich said, but even the better ones require more knowledge than the average person would have just for assembly, which could lead to improper assembly.

Because of lawsuits, insurance companies are beginning to drop bike shops, or are making it difficult for shops to get insured. It is an unregulated market — “a wild, wild West,” as Holdsworth calls it. 

Holdsworth pointed out that major bike companies including Trek and Specialized are lobbying for more regulation of the products, realizing the potential threat to the industry.