tl;dr most people don’t know what good bikes are
How a Group of Friends Made a Dent the $6 Billion Bike Industry.
Simplicity is the key to success. An old but well-known phrase actually works and today. To be more precise, fixed-gear and single-speed are the features of success for Zach Schau, Austin Stoffers, Jordan Schau and Michael Fishma.
Pure Fix Cycles is the company of $4 million in 2012 which was founded by four childhood friends. Today the company sells roughly 2,000 of its no-frills bikes each month both online and through a nationwide network of 300 bike shops. Incredibly, the team got their start while designing bike frames between college classes.
Back in 2010 Austin Stoffers and Michael Fishman were seniors at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, which has one of the largest cycling communities in the country, when they decided to go bike shopping. They were looking for a simple, functional, good-looking set of wheels for under $1,000. However, they “found a void”, so they did a research on why bikes are so expensive, and found it was because of the gears.
Their solution is “fixies”, which are rigged like most children’s bikes, with one gear, instead of having a complex multisprocket gear shifter mounted on the back wheel. This is the reason why the Pure Fix boys set out to design the ultimate, budget-friendly fixie which comes in more than 15 color combinations, like a gray frame with orange wheels, or a green frame with white wheels. Some even have glow-in-the-dark rims. (Seems like I’ve seen a bike by Pure Fix Cycles in Paris).
For the first batch, the boys built 165 bikes priced at $325 each, expecting to slowly sell them over the course of the next year. Instead, they sold out over winter break. “It blew our minds,” Zach Schau says. Later, they won $7,000 in a university business-plan competition and put it in the second order which was sold out in two weeks. After graduation, the boys moved to Burbank, California and hired Andy Abowitz, a former senior executive at Priceline.com, as president. Using their own distribution system, which kept costs remarkably low, the boys began selling their bikes nationwide. By acting as their own distributor and supplier, they were able to have an affordable product right off the bat. Cost, customer service and the stylish product are the reasons behind company’s hot streak.
The ultimate secret weapon of Pure Fix boys is their youth. The twentysomethings want what their young customers want—that’s why they got into the business in the first place.As summer approaches, get a new bike, a pair of headphones with good music and ride. You’re young, be inspired!
Alena M.
