Today we’d like to introduce you to James Standley.
Thanks for sharing your story with us James. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
We started our business in College at USC/Chapman back in 2009. At the time we saw riders like the New York City riders pop up riding these one speed fixed gear bicycles. At the time, you had to build these bikes piece by piece, and it was going to cost you $1,000 – $2,000. We wanted to make an all-in-one bike for a fraction of the cost!
The founders and myself were not what you would consider traditional bike guys. Our backgrounds come from music, art, and fashion. As a result, the way we brand, market, even distribute our bikes are different than any other bicycle company.
Our goal is to provide our customers with a simple, easy-to-use, easy-to-maintain, beautiful bicycle that is not going to break the bank! “Why settle for something you don’t love? Chances are your current bicycle is nothing more than mere transportation… Solé exists to change that.”
This is the quote we live and die by, the quote that motivates us to think outside the box time and time again, and inspires us to provide our family with much more than an ordinary product, but an extraordinary object of self-expression.
Has it been a smooth road?
Of course not! We’ve had many struggles we’ve had to overcome since inception. Some of these include lawsuits, almost running out of money more times than we can count, manufacturing issues that in one instance almost ended the business, having to scale back headcount then rebuild back up, and many more…
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Solé Bicycles story. Tell us more about the business.
Solé Bicycles is a supreme manufacturer of affordably priced fixed gear, single speed, and leisure bicycles. Built by hand, our bicycles are ordered by customers, from a user-friendly, simple website, where the bike gets delivered to one’s door in under a week.
Due to the lack of a traditional retail chain involving distributors, tremendous, measurable savings are passed onto our riders. We are the most proud of the fact that we’ve sold over 35,000+ bicycles since inception!
Unlike other bicycle companies, we look at our bicycles as an extension of yourself, an object of self-expression and with prices starting at $275, our bikes will never break the bank.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
E-bikes will continue to be one of the fastest growing categories in the bicycle industry. Drivers of this will be decreased costs + more accessibility as volume increases & technology continues to further develop.
It’s going to be interesting to see what the shared economy providers (bird, lyft, lime scooters) do to the industry. My opinion is they’re going to continue to provide an easy access point for consumers to try alternative forms of transportation. I think this will help bring traditional car drives into things like scooters/bicycles.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1330 Main St. Venice, CA 90291
- Website: Solebicycles.com
- Phone: 1-844-336-SOLÉ
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @solebicycles
- Facebook: @solebicycles
- Twitter: @solebicycles
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sole-bicycles-venice
Image Credit:
@hazardoustaste (Instagram)
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