Whether you are broken down on the side of the road or just need to get your bike to the shop for a tune-up, Speedy’s will have an electric van ready to head your way and transport your ride to your preferred bike shop.
(Full disclosure: Speedy’s advertises on Seattle Bike Blog, but this post is not sponsored. Seattle Bike Blog does not publish sponsored posts)
Founder Tyler Swartz got the idea for Speedy’s after both he and his brother encountered the same issue with their e-bikes.
“My brother had an e-bike in Miami, and he had a lot of trouble getting it into his car,” he said. “I ran into the same issue with my big cargo bike.” E-bikes and cargo bikes be difficult to transport by car or even SUV if the need arises, and that’s assuming you even own a vehicle in the first place. The service could also be useful for anyone who has trouble lifting and carrying these heavier bikes if the need arises.
“Everyone wants to make it more enjoyable to own a bike and operate a bike, so we’re just trying to figure out a way to remove some of those painful errands and burdens you have with a bike,” said Swartz, who launched the business in February.
Since these bikes are only getting more popular, the number of people with the same issue should keep growing, as well. So he started working on a business that could solve this issue in his hometown of Seattle and maybe help folks get out of some tough binds at the same time.
The result is Speedy’s, an “e-bike rescue” service based on an annual subscription model. For $200, you can register up to two bikes and receive two scheduled pick-ups (sign up at least 24 hours in advance) and one emergency pick-up for a full year. For $300, you get up to four bikes, three scheduled pickups and two emergency pickups. Extra pickups are $75 each. And yes, you can also use the service with a non-electric bike.
Speedy’s purposefully does not offer mobile repair services. Instead, their model is to work in conjunction with local bike shops. “My relationships are with the bike shops, and they’re the specialists in that,” said Swartz. This decision also allows Speedy’s to hire drivers who do not have specialized bike mechanic knowledge. It’s possible they will be able to help with very small tasks like flat tires, but the company is not trying to build out a fully-functional mobile bike repair shop.
A major benefit to this approach is that people can get their bikes to their preferred shops even if it is not the closest shop to their homes or workplaces. Not every shop is equipped to work on every type of e-bike, and not everyone is lucky enough to live near a shop that can work on their bike.
Swartz settled on an annual subscription model rather than on-demand payment because it will help them keep their operations in scale with their customer needs while also offering a year-round service. “I need to know how many vans, how many drivers I’ll need to cover Seattle” and nearby suburbs, said Swartz. Speedy’s also has potential as a perk workplaces could offer to their biking employees. Or perhaps shops could sell it as an add-on with a bike purchase.
For now, pickups (both scheduled and emergency) are available 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends. These hours could expand as their driver base grows.
Comments
10 responses to “Seattle area ‘e-bike rescue’ company will help you get your bike to a shop whether planned or not”
Oh this is genius!! I’ve had my ebike just over a year and it’s been incredibly robust, but the first time I got a flat tire (discovered when I returned to my bike after work, as a staple had caused the tire to deflate throughout the day) my bike was stuck at work for a week while I gathered the necessary tools and knowledge to fix it. I have an internally geared cassette and a belt drive, so it was very complicated to remove the rear wheel. If anything worse had gone wrong, it would have been a real pickle! What a cool idea, I hope it thrives.
An interesting idea, but I don’t think I would pay $200/year for such a service, given that there all alternatives. One obvious alternative is to just rent a U-haul. It costs some money, but nowhere near $200, and any van capable of carrying a sofa should be able to handle an e-bike very easily. Zipcar also has cargo vans for rent that could be used for a similar purpose. Or, depending on where you happen to be, the free option (walk the bike to a repair shop), or the cheap option (ride Link to a repair shop) may also be available. (Unfortunately, bus bike racks don’t handle e-bikes well, but Link trains and station elevators absolutely do).
The strongest case for paying for such a van service, I would imagine, would be if you want coverage deep in suburbia, where the nearest bike shop might be miles away, there is no Link around, and no U-haul site around either. But, the outer suburbs don’t have the customer base to sustain such a service in the first place.
Hi @asdf2. Tyler here of Speedy’s. Thanks for the feedback on the price. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and exploring a few other lower price offerings. For $200 you get 3 pick-ups per year, which comes out to $67 per pick-up if you use all three. Very competitive with renting your own uhaul when you also factor in gas, time, etc. But, if you only need the service once a year it’s less competitive, thus the need to come up with a lower cost offering. Can you share the type of offering you’d be interested in and price you’d be willing to pay, if any?
It sounds pretty reasonable to me. Sure, there are other ways to hack out a solution, but it is like AAA for bikes and priced similarly. It gives you piece of mind. I also feel that unlike AAA, you are supporting a local business that is focused on something good (biking). I mean sure, I can make my own beer (and it tastes pretty good) but I would rather go to a brewpub, even though it ain’t cheap. And I’m Scottish.
People can do what they want with their bikes/lives but… the idea that this kind of subscription could be attractive to someone doesn’t make e-bikes seem very appealing.
Let’s start from a bike point of view, since that’s where I sit most of the time. If you get a bike that’s so complicated that you can’t just take it to any shop, you have to take it to a special shop, so big that you can’t easily transport it, and so expensive to own and operate that spending $200/year just transporting the bike seems proportional to the overall cost, then you’re really dispensing with the traditional virtues and advantages that a bike offers. If, in exchange for this, you’re not even getting the range and capability to ride the bike to its own maintenance appointments, what are you getting?
Or suppose I was an average American with 2.5 cars. If I seriously believed I’d need three tows in the next year I wouldn’t go to the towing company and ask for a subscription, I’d go to the dealership and replace all my cars. Then I’d go to a lawyer’s office and ask about suing under the lemon law. If that’s what e-bikes have to offer in terms of reliable transportation then I’m not even replacing one of my 2.5 cars.
I generally like the idea of new businesses and services supporting e-bikes, since I own an e-bike, but a normal AAA membership does include bike pickup and towing, and AAA classic membership is $68/year.
Tyler, can you expand on what services Speedy will provide that will distinguish it from AAA membership?
Agreed that I need to make my prices more competitive. One differentiator I’ve been considering is to offer members loaners bikes when theirs is in the shop.
Also, Tom, I’m curious about your experience using AAA for bike pickups. I’ve heard that they’ve recently excluded e-bikes from their policy.
Never had to use it, but a friend got AAA to come pick her up when she was bike touring on the Olympic Peninsula. This is what I found googling e-bike and AAA: https://ebikelovers.com/2023/08/26/did-you-know-aaa-roadside-assistance-service-tows-e-bikes/
I don’t have AAA, but I have used State Farm roadside service to pick up my e-cargo bike. I just specifically asked them to bring a flatbed truck, the same as they’d use to pick up a motorcycle.
It’s quite funny to see a bike on a tow truck, and I can definitely see how a van, especially an electric one, would be a superior experience!
I love this idea, but I’m not sure I’d ever use so many pickups in a year? I’ve only used a tow once, and considered it another time, in 3 years of owning my bike. All other services I’ve managed to ride to the shop, then get a ride or take the bus, and return to pick it up and ride it home.
Very interested in a more a la carte solution in the future, but keeping a close eye!! :)
Its a cool idea. We have two ebikes in the family and one is a front loader cargo bike that I dont think I can fit in a car I own, nor do I want to own a car that could fit it. I am very close to a uhaul too. However, the value I see is 1) electric vans, I think at least a part of the reason you bike is for the environmental benefit, 2) hassle, its not that i cant solve the problem of getting the bike to the store, but my time has a value and pulling up an app rather than dealing with getting and returning a truck may be worth it. Including pick up, strap bike to side rails, driving big truck to shop of choice, parking!, unloading, returning truck. Is a pick up from the store the same use or is that my second use for the year? Anyways, i see the appeal, its a big price but its effectively roadside insurance plus planned travel with no hassle by someone who knows bikes. I suppose I will see if I pay it, but I am super glad to live in a city with people solving problems at this level.