We are a pure electric bike company committed to excellence both in the products we offer and in the customer service we provide for those products. We believe wholeheartedly in the electric bicycle experience, because we think the electric bicycle represents a great leap forward in sustainable, reliable, and durable transportation that is good for the environment but convenient and fun for the rider. Let’s face it: The traditional bicycle, while a lot of fun, is limited by the motive power of the human being riding it. That means that no matter what kind of bicycle you’ve got, no matter how big its wheels or how light its frame, no matter how many gears it has, you’re going to be limited to how much you can pedal. But what if you could have a helping hand to get you up those tall hills? What if you could lighten your load and your every pedal with an electric motor? That’s the concept behind the Wave eBike product line, and that’s the reason we do what we do. But we weren’t satisfied simply to create yet another entry in the electric bicycle product offerings that are out there. We aren’t the first to offer a bicycle with an electric motor, but we were determined to be the first to offer a lower-cost, higher-speed, greater-range model that is not just better than the competition on the market, but better than electric bikes that cost two and three times as much!
The story of the Wave electric bike is actually a remarkable success story. The Wave is the brainchild of business partners Justin Bransmit and Aaron Brady. Together, they have over 25 years of business and manufacturing experience, including a Ph.D in Industrial/Organization Psychology and an extensive marketing background. It’s Aaron that you see riding the eBike in the early videos on our YouTube channel featuring our original Wave model. Aaron grew up in the MidWest, but with a passion for surfing and the outdoors, he took a trip across the country and established himself in sunny southern California. With a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Aaron brings a wealth of knowledge and experience developing organizations through strategic insight and people processes. As an entrepreneur and engineer at heart, Aaron joined and developed a multitude of start-up companies over the past decade and knows how to develop and launch a successful concept or product from the ground up.
With a passion for motorized vehicles, Aaron decided to get his pilot’s license a few years back. While perusing the Los Angeles coastline he noticed a staggering number of people enjoying the beautiful coastline on their bicycles. So he thought, why not make an already enjoyable hobby of bike riding even more enjoyable AND efficient? The problem was that so many electric bikes are very expensive, at least for the desired specs. So, Aaron spent countless hours working with dozens of manufacturers throughout the world to develop an affordable electric bike capable of an amazing top speed and outstanding range. Joining forces with Justin Bransmit, who brings a great deal of manufacturing experience and marketing acumen to the table, the two decided on a next-generation approach for their new startup company. But what would that mean, exactly? It came down to one word: Crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding is the practice of reaching out to other investors and even private individuals online. Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indiegogo have achieved great prominence in recent years. Everything from consumer products to political causes to charitable donations and popular entertainment is funded through these sites, which allow everyday people and aspiring entrepreneurs to come together and share the dream of bringing an idea to fruition. We knew that there was tremendous demand, not just for an electric bicycle, but also for an electric bicycle that was more affordable and with better range and top speed than previously available, higher-cost models. We set out to share this vision with the crowdfunding community. We had every expectation of success, too, because we already had a prototype and we had a great product concept to bring to the public. But we also knew the power of crowdfunding when it meets a worthwhile goal, a goal that — in the case of the Wave eBike — fires the public’s imagination.
According to Crowdmapped.com, which offers crowdfunding trends and statistics, North America and Europe dominate the crowdfunding industry. They raised the overwhelming majority of the worldwide capital raised through crowdfunding in 2012. Crowdfunding totals have also doubled and tripled in the last several years, swelling from one point five billion worldwide in 2011 to 2.7 billion in 2012 and an impressive 5.1 billion in 2013. The greatest gains in crowdfunding growth have been seen in the “reward based” category, meaning people are most likely to crowdfund when it comes, not just to giving donations or even lending with the expectation of return, but to spending their money on a specific product that they will receive if the crowdfunding goals are met. In fact, when the idea presented is a particularly good one, the crowdfunding audience has proven time and again that it won’t just fund a project; it will fund that project past its goals to the tune of several hundred percent.
This was the success of the Wave eBike Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. We started with a modest goal of $70,000 USD, the amount we figured we would need to get our bikes off the ground and into full production. We knew that we wanted to offer the new Wave at the groundbreaking price of $549 USD, half of the cost it would eventually go for. Even at twice the introductory price, the Wave eBike costs less than comparable bikes whose top speed and range aren’t nearly as good. Those lesser bikes cost up to two and even three times as much. The quality of what we were offering, coupled with the compelling YouTube videos of Aaron riding, enjoying, and testing the Wave eBike prototype, proved to be very compelling. People saw that we could manage a top speed of 28 mph on full electric. They saw proof before their own eyes that our Wave eBike would travel almost 27 miles on a single charge in full electric mode. The advantage of the Wave was clear, as was the desirability of the product. The response was incredible.
Our campaign got off to a relatively slow start at first. A few days in, we were wondering: Would we meet our goal? Would we get our funding? Could the Wave eBike achieve the potential we knew it offered? But then something wonderful started to happen. Our campaign hit the major online news services, including the front page of Yahoo News. Suddenly, people were talking about the Wave eBike, and they were very impressed with what they saw. At the end of April, which was to mark the end of our Indiegogo campaign, demand was proving so great that we had to extend it. We had already made several hundred percent of our initial crowdfunding goal… but our backers and clamoring customers weren’t finished with us yet.
By the time we’d reached the month-and-a-half mark on Indiegogo, the Wave eBike had raised a staggering amount of start-up capital — almost $600,000 USD, which was more than 800 percent of our initial crowdfunding goal. We’d done that through the efforts of hundreds of funders. We were, to put it bluntly, a phenomenon, a success story… and we weren’t through yet. The additional funding enabled us not only to offer a whole host of optional upgrades for the original Wave eBike model.
Our Wave product line of electric bicycles has absolutely changed the face of the electric bike world, and in an amazingly short amount of time. Whether you want a beach cruiser, a step-through model for ease of mounting, dismounting, and riding, or an all-terrain mountain bike for more aggressive outdoor riding, we have a product that can meet your needs. We also offer a variety of great colors and even customization options, like a matte-black “murdered out” model or an incredibly attention-getting chrome-model (reminiscent of some high-end electric cars popular with celebrities). Our eBikes make it possible, not just to enjoy reliable, efficient, cost-effective transportation that is environmentally friendly, but to do so in a way that helps you increase the amount of physical activity you are getting up to the limit of what you want. You can either glide along in full-electric comfort, use the pedal assist to extend your viable range and reduce fatigue, or simply pedal the bike with the motor off like… well, you know: a bicycle. That’s the greatest benefit of the products we offer. Even if you run out of electric charge on a particularly long ride, at worst you just have to pedal the whole way back (unless it’s downhill, of course). At the end of the day, your electric bicycle is still a bicycle, and that is the whole point of what we’re trying to accomplish. We help you to get where you want to go faster and with less energy spent, and we help you to go farther than you thought you could… but we also want you to enjoy the ride, and we want you to make a definite impression on your stylish, well-made, high-quality electric bike.
Electric bicycles like ours really do provide the best of all possible worlds when it comes to fuel efficiency, cost of travel, and sustainability. It doesn’t matter whether you ride your eBike for recreation or you need your eBike for commuting to school or to work on an everyday basis. If the terrain and the distance, not to mention the weather, allow you to ride on a scooter or a motorcycle, then they allow you to ride on a Wave eBike. Our electric-assisted eBike models are much more cost effective than even a scooter, which is typically a very fuel-efficient vehicle with a low cost of operation. That’s because the cost of the electric power to charge the eBike’s motor makes its cost of operation only pennies for every mile that you travel. This compares to many times that cost for anything powered by gasoline, and even public transportation costs more overall (and allows you less freedom and flexibility).
The benefits of adding a Wave eBike to your life aren’t just in the cost, however. We created the Wave eBike product line because we believe very strongly in living healthy, active lifestyles. The typical American does not get enough exercise. As a culture, we lead a very sedentary lifestyle. When you make your fair-weather transportation your Wave eBike, you can not only increase your own activity level, but you can monitor just how much exercise you’re getting while regulating it using the electric motor. It really is the best of all possible worlds, because with one of our eBikes, you can travel in style while getting the boost that you need when you get tired, when you’re in a hurry, or when you don’t feel up to tackling that particularly nasty hill.
At WaveElectricBikes.com, we know that our success is not just attributable to you, our customers, but that it started with you. Not a day goes by that we do not remember our crowdfunded roots, and it is thanks to customer demand that we were able to put the Wave eBike product line out for your enjoyment. We will never forget that when we needed your help to get us started, you were there for us. We will be there for you, our customers, in return. We stand behind our product line one hundred percent, and we would like nothing better than to put a Wave eBike under you and get you on your way. Add a Wave eBike to your life and start enjoying all the benefits electric bikes have to offer.
Don’t, Won’t, or Can’t Drive? No Problem!
One of the greatest advantages of the Wave eBike is that it is a viable means of non-automobile transportation. Arguably, Western industry was built on the automobile. Ever since Henry Ford’s Model T first started rolling off assembly lines, the West has had a love affair with cars. If you happen to be somebody who doesn’t drive, however, that can cause some problems for you that range from minor irritations to serious issues. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t have a driver’s license or doesn’t enjoy driving, or you just don’t want to incur the expense of a car, you can be left high and dry in some key instances in life. But you still need to be able to get around, even if you don’t drive. You still need to get from Point A to Point B, you still need to commute from home to work or school and back again, and you still need to be able to get around town, go to the store, just visit with friends. You can either be dependent on rides from friends, or you can use public transportation. Until recently, those have been the only really viable options if you didn’t have a car of your own to drive. RIght?
Everything changes when you acquire a Wave electric bike. That’s because the Wave is viable transportation in its own right, without a special license. In most areas anyone can ride a Wave and it’s perfectly street legal (although obviously you should check your local laws). Let’s say, for example, that you live in a city where automobiles are more trouble and expense than they’re worth. Did you know that residents of New York City are more healthy, on average, than residents of the suburbs? That’s because the lifestyle in New York is entirely different. Many more people walk everywhere because the congestion and the expense of parking a car in that overcrowded city just aren’t worth it. The result is that people do more exercising when they live in New York and they tend to be a little healthier compared to the national average. But the downside to walking everywhere is that you’re limited to how fast the human body can get on foot. Sure, you could try running everywhere, but you’ll get tired fast. Walking everywhere means you can’t get there much faster than three miles an hour, and if you’re sticking to the sidewalks in the world’s most congested cities, you may be moving even slower than that (because you can’t move faster than the crowd).
Now picture yourself tooling along in your Wave electric bike. The Wave is a hybrid method of transportation. It’s a vehicle that lets you get out there at the edge of the traffic, and it can move you without your muscle effort at all for as long as the battery’s charge lasts. But it puts you within striking range of the lower end of motorcycling, which means you’re now on a very real, very legitimate vehicle… that requires no special license to drive, that requires no fuel other than an electrical charge, and which can get you where you need to go with a minimum of fuss. It’s also very, very affordable, especially compared to cars. It’s very expensive to buy a car, to park it, and to maintain it in most areas. When you have the Wave eBike, you can “park” the bike in your apartment if you need to. If you live out in the suburbs or the country, you can of course park it anywhere, and the expense of parking isn’t a big concern… but cards are expensive just sitting in your driveway. A car must be driven if it is not to rot and seize up from neglect. That means you’ve got to pay insurance on it. You’ve got to pay for the sometimes very expensive fuel that goes into it. You’ve got to pay for maintenance. And in some areas you’ve got to pay for a place to park it. The result is that your car is a very expensive proposition, and for some people, that is simply too much money to deal with.
Then, too, there are people who, for whatever reason, cannot get a driver’s license. Maybe they have some issues in their past that prevent them from getting a license. Maybe they have issues that prevent them from qualifying for a license that, while they would not stop them from riding a bike, do stop them from passing the DMV’s tests. The Wave eBike is a very viable option for people who might otherwise want to drive cars, but can’t. And it’s a great option for those people who do not like cars. There exists within our society as subset of citizens who do not enjoy driving, who do not want licenses, and would rather spend as little time behind the wheel of a car as possible. Some of them still do drive, if reluctantly. Others refuse completely, and they would be at the mercy of public transportation or rides from their friends and family if it were not for the freedom and the independence offered by the Wave.
It’s scientifically proven that riding a bicycle is the most energy-efficient means of transportation human beings have yet conceived. It is just ironic that in some congested cities, riding a bike is actually faster. When cars and trucks are sitting bumper to bumper, unable to move, a person on a Wave eBike can move easily through traffic thanks to the greater mobility of a bicycle. And he or she can do it for much longer than on a standard bicycle without a motor. With the Wave, there is always the option to let the motor pick up some of the load (or do all the work entirely). Many people find that a very comforting thought. Are you ready for a truly “green” transportation option? You want the Wave.
Cost Efficient Transportation with the Wave eBike
You know that bicycle transportation is efficient and effective, environmentally friendly, sustainable, and fun. You know it makes you happier and healthier as you increase your activity levels. You know it can be a great bonding activity for the whole family or for you and your partner. These are all great reasons to buy the Wave eBike, which is so much fun to ride and which has so many great benefits for you. But have you considered the benefits to your wallet, too? You may be thinking about the cost of the Wave eBike compared to comparable electric bikes that cost many times more. Yes, our bicycle is very cost-effective in terms of its initial purpose. We have, by working closely with our suppliers, manufactured an electric bicycle that is truly a great compromise between quality/features and price asked. But when we think about the money the Wave will save you, we’re not actually thinking about the initial purpose. We’re instead thinking of the cost to maintain and operate the Wave electric bike over its useful life.
Somebody did the math once and determined that an automobile is one of the absolute worst investments you can make. Automobiles generally do not go up in value. They can be very expensive to purchase, but all but a small handful of them (which become coveted classics) ever go up in value as they get older. Most cars depreciate by a substantial percentage the moment you drive them off the lot, because when you drive away in that “new” car, it suddenly isn’t new anymore. The second you sign the paperwork, that car is used to anyone but you. It’s only new to its initial buyer. And the industry will ding you a considerable portion of your cars price tag over that new car/used car depreciation. Just based on that alone, cars are a terrible investment, and almost no one buys a car thinking that it will go up in value over time. No, most of us realize that cars are purchased and then slowly lose value until they are discarded or replaced. This is just the reality of the automobile.
But losing a huge chunk of your investment the moment you drive the car off the lot isn’t the only way that buying a car is a terrible investment. The other component to this terrible equation is the cost of operation. Cars are expensive to operate and their most important expense, the one that you’ll feel every week (depending on how much you drive, of course) is the cost of gasoline. In the last years we’ve seen huge fluctuations in the price of gas. While there have been some notable reductions in price (usually corresponding to serious economic fears nationwide), the overwhelming trend is for the price of gas to go up. Sometimes it spikes unpredictably. These changing prices make it much harder for you to budget your expenses. Worse, if the price of fuel increases suddenly, you could find yourself canceling plans for which you had budgeted some of your money for the month, because the increased cost of that fuel has to come from somewhere. The fact that you have to put gas into a car makes it a tremendously expensive transportation option all by itself, and setting aside the cost of the vehicle initially.
Then too there is the cost of insurance. You usually have to buy special liability insurance for automobiles. The requirements vary by state (some states do not mandate insurance at all, but of course if you wreck your car, you have to pay out of pocket to replace it or just go without a car). Especially for those just starting out, the ones who are in the “risk pool” for insurance because they are considered younger and less experienced, the price of insurance can equal the price of the car itself, or come close. But just when you thought the expense of a car was looking unbearable, there is another element you have to factor into your equations. That factor is maintenance costs.
Most people know from bitter experience just how inconvenient unexpected car repairs can be. Especially if you are not terribly mechanically inclined yourself, you are at the mercy of auto mechanics, some of whom are less than honest and upfront with their customers. All but the most reliable cars break down from time to time, and in older, used cars, those repairs will be even more frequent. Sometimes, the costs of these repairs is staggering, to say nothing of the cost of normal “wear” items like tires. You can have your month’s budget carefully laid out until you realize you need four new tires, to the tune of several hundred dollars all at once. And what happens if you have a car repair you can’t pay for? Unless the car repair place is willing to extend credit to you, you’re flat out of luck. You’ll just have to wait until you can scrape together the money to fix your vehicle… and until then, it’s back to walking or public transportation. Or is it?
Wave eBikes have none of these costs associated with them. For one thing, your eBike is much, much cheaper than a car. (Perhaps it would be more accurate to say you can’t expect much for a car that sells as cheaply as a Wave eBike does by comparison.) Yes, there is a little money associated with the initial purchase, and a little money associated with charging the electric motor’s battery, but other than that, there is not much you have to spend your money on when you have a Wave eBike as your means of transportation. And you don’t have to necessarily use your Wave as your only means of getting around, either. You could supplement other travel with occasional bike riding, saving up money for a rainy day (or a treat for yourself). There are so many options with the Wave!
The Environmentally Friendly, Environmentally Sustainable Transportation Choice
Do you want to save the environment? Everybody’s pretty conscious of the challenges facing us environmentally these days. It doesn’t even matter how you look at the big issues people always seem to be discussing. We can all agree that our resources are finite, that pollution is bad, and that if we can find a better way to do things, it would be silly and wasteful not to avail ourselves of that new method. Well, when you buy a Wave eBike, you’re taking the first step toward a more environmentally friendly future.
Your Wave eBike, like all bicycles, helps reduce the demand for more paving and more roads for automobiles. The reduced demand for automobiles and the roads to drive them on helps reduce pollution overall. Cars emit harmful pollutants, but your Wave electric bike emits nothing. It has absolutely no carbon footprint unless you factor in the small amount of electricity used to charge its electric motor, and that’s a negligible amount. It’s certainly far less than that required for automobiles. The more you bike, the less you drive, then the less you need places to park your vehicle. Driving cars produces road wear, but riding the Wave eBike produces less road wear. And the Wave eBike doesn’t need much space to park it in. You can park up to twenty bicycles in the area needed for a single automobile. One study says that for every four miles you pedal a bicycle, you are preventing up to 15 pounds of pollutants being pumped into the environment. You understand that, most likely, because most of us do… but did you know that cars also create water pollution? That’s because cars leak oil, brake fluid, transmission fluid, antifreeze, and other liquid pollutants that find their way into our groundwater eventually.
There’s another type of pollution you may not have considered, though, and that is noise pollution. What is the background noise of every city? What is the canned noise that movie makers put into the background so that you know you are in an urban area? It’s the sound of automobile engines and the honking of horns. Well, your Wave eBike doesn’t produce any noise at all. It’s completely quiet except for the faint hum of the electric motor. There is no noise pollution to contribute to the overall detriment of the quality of life around you. When you choose to ride the Wave eBike instead of an automobile or a train or a bus, you are reducing the amount of noise in your environment, which reduces overall noise pollution. That’s a very good thing, even when you haven’t previously considered it. But wait, there are more ways your Wave eBike helps you save the environment.
Specifically, choosing to ride a bike helps reduce deforestation. Right now, forests are cleared so that rubber plantations and crops for ethanol can be planted, which is bad for the health of the planet. But bicycles don’t use much in the way of fuel, lubricants, and rubber (except for the tires) compared to automobiles and other vehicles. This is one way that buying the Wave eBike helps you save the planet simply because you’re not using a different mode of transportation that is more fuel-intensive. And you’re also preventing roadkill by reducing the number of automobiles on the road, which is better for the planet’s wildlife. Riding a bike means reducing overall congestion (which is one of the reasons bikes are so common in some third world cities that are nothing but congestion all the time). And the more you bicycle, the more you encourage the development of biking infrastructure (like bike paths) that help make your area and your property values appreciate. When you ride a bike even part time, you’re leaving your car at home, which means wherever you are going, that’s one more parking space for someone else, which helps pass the benefits on to others.
Less conventionally, you may not be thinking in terms of crime when you use a bike instead of a car, but choosing to ride the Wave eBike instead of a motor vehicle is a way to improve the level of crime in your area. A tremendous amount of crime is actually associated with cars and accessories for cars. Cars represent a store of value, and many of us keep valuables in them. Thieves know this. The car itself is valuable, and there are components within the car that are valuable (like the radio, a GPS system, etc.), so thieves will target the car to take these things, or they will hunt for items you kept in the car. During the holidays this threat increases, as thieves target vehicles with valuable newly bought goods stored inside as people shop. (This is a big problem at shopping centers.) And of course the stealing of cars is big business, with some models being more popular and more frequently stolen than others. When you choose to ride the Wave eBike instead of driving a car, you are removing all of this crime from the equation. That helps improve overall quality of life for you and for everyone else around you. It is yet another way that Wave eBike improves your life and helps you feel better, happier, and healthier.
More than anything, your Wave electric bicycle represents a better way to get around. It is an environmentally friendly and sustainable way to go from home to work or school, to the store, and to anywhere else you might like to travel. It is great for the environment, yes, and that is satisfying in and of itself, but it’s also tremendously fun. If you can get where you want to go, enjoy yourself, save the planet, and also improve your health, why on Earth wouldn’t you? The time to start enjoying your Wave electric bike is now. Contact us today. We will make sure your Wave eBike is everything you need it to be.