Electric Bike Co. moves to Costa Mesa, expands
Sean Lupton-Smith has seen his Electric Bike Co., which he founded in Newport Beach in 2014, explode in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.
Business has been good. But then July 2 happened.
Lupton-Smith said he was told by Newport Beach officials that his company had to vacate the warehouse on Superior Avenue that he had been using since the company began, as well as associated units in the city.
“They told us we had to stop all industrial work,” he said. “The location is zoned for office [and] medical [work].”
Seimone Jurjis, community development director for Newport Beach, confirmed Thursday that the Electric Bike Co. was manufacturing bicycles in a part of town not zoned for manufacturing.
Lupton-Smith had to pack up quickly. Luckily, he said, a landlord on Logan Street in Costa Mesa had 10,000 square feet available.
Production at the new Logan site begins Monday, according to Electric Bike Co. sales and marketing director Blake Garcia.
Full production is expected to start on Aug. 21, when the company plans to hold a grand opening celebration at the new venue.
Most of the company’s six models will be built at the Logan facility, Lupton-Smith said.
The Model R — a popular trail and cruiser style bike that accounts for nearly 50% of the company’s orders — will be built at the old Hurley headquarters on Placentia Avenue.
Production is scheduled to start there in October; a lease was signed last week.
Concurrently, Lupton-Smith said he has secured a custom painting facility, located on Superior Avenue not far from the Triangle.
“[The move] was a hell of a shock for us, but it’s actually been really nice for us,” he said. “Now we’re all consolidated in one area, and we’ve got our painting in a proper commercial style. We call it our decorating facility. We paint everything … whatever the customer wants.
“That separates us significantly from any competitor. Any major competitor is getting their bikes made in Asia, and those are coming in fully built. They’re nice, they’re decent bikes and everything, but what they cannot do is customize it to a level that we can.”
With the new configuration, Lupton-Smith said Electric Bike Co. should be able to produce about 350 to 400 e-bicycles per week. That’s up significantly from the previous total of 100 to 150 bikes per week.
E-bicycles continue to gain popularity. In Huntington Beach, for example, the City Council voted in April to allow them on the bike path next to the beach. In Newport Beach, though, the fastest class of e-bike is prohibited on the Balboa Peninsula boardwalk.
Electric Bike Co. also has two showrooms open, one in Huntington Beach that opened in July 2020 and one in Newport Beach that opened last December.
“A lot of people wanted something to do,” said Garcia, who has been with the company since January 2020. “Things were shut down, so they wanted some type of recreation. E-bikes were definitely the big market. People were using e-bikes to deliver food for GrubHub, UberEats or PostMates. I had several customers who got the extended battery going the long range, because they find [being on an e-bike] easier than being in a car.
“Bike sales have not gone down. The bike industry has just seen an unprecedented boom. This industry didn’t suffer like other industries did. It’s sad to see other businesses suffer, but we went really up.”
Lupton-Smith said he is going to start franchising out the business later this month. About 30 people have shown interest nationwide.
“We aren’t guaranteeing any income, of course,” he said. “It’s up to them to do that. But we can say, this is your design studio. We will do the building, and we will ship you the bike to your store or to your customer’s door. The beauty of our system is that the bike comes fully built. That’s our specialty.”
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