As the cycling industry experiences a slump, one area of seeming resilience is that of electric bikes. There has never been more choice or better technology available than we have now. And while it may take a little while longer than you’d like to get hold of one (depending on the make and model of course), the e-bike market as a whole is going from strength to strength as more people adopt them.
In that vein, we’re also seeing more brands popping up, and more and more people wanting to get involved. From car manufacturers to bicycle companies that hadn’t yet embraced electric bikes, it seems like we’re seeing new bikes appearing almost daily.
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One of those brands is Beameo. Not a car manufacturer, but a new start-up based in both Thailand and the UK, whose aim is to provide affordable, yet high-quality e-bikes to entice more people to ditch the car or get on their bikes. Move Electric spoke to Mark Almond, Beameo’s UK Country Manager about the new brand and what it's aiming to bring to the table.
Give us a bit of background on the company and how the idea for Beameo came about.
“So the founder is from Thailand, but he's long had a strong association with the UK. His daughter, Neal, who is running Beameo in the UK went to university here, and so there's a strong affiliation with the UK. The founder wanted to extend his business into the UK and to see what the market was like, so that's how I got involved.
“And so we've come up with the Beameo idea, which is very much about rediscovering joy. As cyclists I think we sometimes forget that we’re almost revisiting our youth as children, with that freedom as well as obviously exercising and so on. So it's really about rediscovering that for a new generation. And with the way things are going, we want to get people out of cars, onto bikes and going into cities, doing the commute, and so on, but also for the older generation who want to keep up with grandkids on their bikes. That's kind of where we're aiming with Beameo.
“So yeah, very much about rediscovering joy and at a price point that was affordable. When it comes to e-bikes. Any e-bike is a lump of cash, that is a given, but we want to make it as cheap and affordable as we possibly can whilst giving the quality that the consumer deserves. We wanted something that was nice to look at, enjoyable to ride, something that's reasonably maintenance free, reliable, and just let people learn relearn about cycling as a lifestyle.”
Tell us about the range of bikes you’re offering.
“Initially it's a range of six bikes. We will be looking to potentially extend that in future years once we learn what's popular, what's not, what we can change, what we can improve. But six e-bikes to start with, and the prices range from £1395 through to £2100. The £2100 is a hardtail e-mountain bike, and the lower end £1395 is the hybrid/city/commuter type bike.
“We've got something in there which we think will appeal to all kinds of people from various age groups, both sexes and so on. I know every brand says this but we've tried to get something in there for everyone. Hopefully you'll see when you look at the range, they are all very bright, they're all nicely specced for the price, and just something that hopefully people will look at and have a sense of pride and enjoy riding it.”
What brand of motors and batteries will the bikes come with?
“We’re using Bafang displays on some of them, but the motors – and this is something slightly different I guess for a new brand – we're using our own brand of motors and batteries. The founders have a factory in Thailand, so we have the ability to manufacture whatever it is we want to make. Longer term we are looking to bring that to the UK, and of course we've got to walk before we run but that is the long term plan.”
Is having your manufacturing in-house the reason you can keep the prices low, but still offer mid-drive motors?
“It is the beauty of having your own factory. We have that complete cost control. We have our own quality control, which obviously is at a high standard to ensure reliability, but we've just got control of all our costs, obviously with the exception of components and things like that that you have to buy in. But the vast majority of it, we've got control. And it's amazing when you take control of manufacturing your own motor and battery, that cuts your costs quite considerably. So yeah, I mean, we're lucky in that respect.”
With the motor being proprietary tech, how will consumers need to go about getting their bikes repaired or parts replaced?
“We have a warranty person based here in Wales, so any issues with any of the bikes that people buy, if it's covered under warranty, he can do that for them free of charge. In terms of any other repairs then most bike shops will be able to repair them. If it is a battery or motor issue, I would still argue that most bike shops can do the basics on those things. But if anything more specialist is needed, then we have Craig our warranty guy here in Wales who can cover it.”
Tell us about the name, Beameo, what does it mean?
“It's about joy, a beam of light, and that kind of thing and we thought, Beam, well that's been taken, so what can we do with the word beam? I wish there's a more exciting story, I must admit, but we just kind of played around with it a little bit and we came up with Beameo.
“It just seems to strike a chord with everyone that we mentioned the name too, and also hopefully it's easy to say. I just think the way it rolls off the tongue sounds fun which is what we're trying to inject.”
What would you say that your USP is as a new e-bike brand?
“There's a couple. Whether they’re USPs or whether they're strengths I’m not sure, but in terms of the feel and the quality of the bikes at that price point, I think is quite rare. I think one of the things we're keen to try and develop (and this will take time and a lot of effort), but we're keen to develop a brand. It's not just a range of bikes. We actually want people to feel like they're part of something when they have a Beameo.
“I know it's been done successfully with some other well established bike brands but I think in the e-bike space, perhaps less so with a few exceptions. We're keen to give people that ownership and that kind of family feel, I know it sounds a bit cliché, but it's that all inclusive feel as though they're part of something.
“The whole tone of everything we're going to be doing whether it be on a website, an event, a Demo Day, whatever it may be, it's going to be about having fun. Yes, you’re probably going to use these bikes to go to work, and perhaps work isn't fun, or perhaps it is if you're lucky, but we can make the getting there bit fun for you. That's really where we're centring in on: the experience of owning it as opposed to the e-bike itself.”
I know it’s early days, but what plans do you have for the future?
"Obviously we want to get through the first year and see how it goes, but medium term, we are looking to move everything to the UK. To move manufacturing to the UK, to expand our team in UK first and foremost and develop the range. The bikes have just arrived, so now it's time for the reality check.
“Now we're going to get consumers seeing these things and touching and feeling and riding them. We're going to do a lot of that a lot of demo days where we can talk to people directly to get their feedback, build that into the range, change anything we need to change.
“We see ourselves as not just a bike brand. We want to try and use my contacts and my knowledge from the industry, along with the founders’ dynamic drive to get things done, to work with local authorities on local infrastructure, on cycleways and on education in schools. All the stuff that we know is currently slightly lacking, and perhaps is putting people off riding a bike.”
Beameo will be launching early April, with the first chance for consumers to see the bikes up close at the Cycle Show in London on April 21-23.
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