March 6, 2017

Meet Timothy Park of BMEBIKES in Northridge

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Timothy Park.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Timothy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
BMEBIKES started with a motorcycle accident. I was riding my motorcycle, I got hit by a car, I sustained multiple injuries, I tore my ACL, and I ended up getting surgery. The accident was a devastating blow to my life – I was no longer able to practice martial arts, play sports, or even run properly. Additionally, the lawsuit ended up unfavorably, and I was in debt with medical bills for my injuries. It was an incredibly rough time, both physically and mentally.

However, it was during this time that I started my “rehabilitation project” – I was desperate to find ways to get out of the house and start exercising again. What happened next was that I ended up building one of the first e-bike prototypes in the market (this was way before e-bikes even became a thing). I loved what I had created – not only was the e-bike the perfect rehabilitation tool (due to the pedal assist feature from the electric motor), but it was also ridiculously fun to ride. My friends saw what I had built and asked me to build e-bikes for them as well… this is how BMEBIKES first started.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road to where we are now has been everything but smooth. As I mentioned earlier, I was in serious financial difficulty after my motorcycle accident occurred. I barely had enough funds to build my first e-bike prototype; after I received pre-orders from friends to build them e-bikes, I used those funds to bootstrap the company from my garage. Every sale I made was reinvested right back into building the company. I spent countless hours and resources in R&D, testing out different e-bike motors, batteries, and configurations. At the end of it all, I had built one of the most powerful, performance-driven e-bikes in the market, at a price point that was unmatched by competitors.

However, an added problem was that electric bicycles – as a product category – was relatively new and unknown to the public. Consumers didn’t know that e-bikes existed. Even for those who walked into our store out of curiosity, it took an extreme amount of effort to educate the consumer on the product – only for them to walk out immediately afterwards. Business was extremely slow in the beginning, and there were many times where we almost had to shut down the business due to the lack of cash flow.

Additionally, our store was burglarized during one of our roughest business seasons. That didn’t help much.

However. Regardless of all the hardships that we went through, we always made it out alive somehow. We never made the same mistakes twice, and we had the good fortune of meeting many influential people in the e-bike industry who helped us along our journey. As of right now, the majority of our e-bike sales come from word-of-mouth – our customers are our most powerful brand ambassadors.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the BMEBIKES story. Tell us more about the business.
BMEBIKES specializes in performance electric bikes. We build all e-bike models from the frame up, manufactured with rigorous requirements in terms of power, speed, and durability. Equipped with mid-drive motors and ultra-high-end components, each e-bike is capable of climbing steep mountain trails and rocky terrain, or simply cruising down the neighborhood streets. We simply build a powerful, versatile e-bike. Oh, and everything is built right here in the USA.

What sets us apart is that we provide the highest quality e-bikes at a price that’s unmatched by competitors. All production is kept in-house, and all advertising is done via word-of-mouth from previous customers; as a result, cost-savings are passed down straight to the end consumer. Comparable e-bikes in the market are easily 2 to 3 times the price for the same level of quality. Basically, we provide a premium product at affordable prices.

By the way, we have a coffee bar right in our shop. We serve specialty, single-origin coffee of the highest quality, along with nitro cold-brew coffee. We are both e-bike AND coffee enthusiasts.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’m not sure – we have had our fair share of both good and bad luck. I think the only thing that matters is that we continue to work hard to provide the best product and service to our customers.

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