The Family Business12/03/10
Did you notice that gas prices are higher now than they were over the summer? A real reversal of the norm, but then there's been nothing normal about this year. The unpredictable economy has affected our sales. We started the season with a backlog of last season's bikes, which fortunately sold. However, when we went to order new bikes, for certain models, all that were available were, ta-da!, last season's bikes that the distributor hadn't yet sold. In fact, they weren't even sure that 2010 models would be available for some models because of the excess inventory held by them and the factory. I found that Tomos wasn't alone. The same scenario played out in the motorcycle industry also. Because of this, we are offering over the winter 2009 NOS bikes at a significant discount. Did you ever think about the disparity in the various vehicle laws? In particular, I'm thinking about bicycles. You can ride motorcycles side by side on the road, and you can ride bicycles side by side on the road, but not mopeds. Is there logic to this, or is it that there's no voice for the moped rider? Another one is the 3 ft law. That strip is often the worst part of the road, likely to cause the rider to loose control, or perhaps to damage the bike. Bicyclists and motorcyclists can avoid that area legally. Mopeders must rely on the "where practicable" defense. And of course it's always irritating when the police misapply motorcycle rules inappropriately. We've heard stories about citations for failure to have a motorcycle endorsement, failure to have insurance, and no turn signals. Or the refusal to issue plates without a title. It is an interesting "special interest group" that we're in! Last winter we revised our website. This year, we're doing it again. The "we" in this case is the store manager, who happens to be the owners son, Jeremy. Jeremy is a programmer by advocation, often following his own creative instincts on the web site. My role is to provide the non-technical stuff like what content I'd like to see, my lazy perspective on usability, and somewhat on the presentation aspect. I've also conned, connived, coerced, or whatever it took to have him handle the websites for two local historical society's: cuyahogafallshistoricalsociety.com and northamptonhistoricalsociety.com. I believe in being a contributing corporate neighbor. Since we're really not rolling in the dough, this is one way that we can better our community. We also participate in the local adopt-a-spot program, 4H, and some other small projects. Getting back to Moped Depot's website, be sure to check it out later on this winter. I'm don't know when it will be going live or if parts will be phased in, but by spring it should be up and running with the newest goodies.
04/28/10
Moped Depot Ravenna-Edinburg store is officially closed and not expected to reopen. We have used it as a warehouse and "museum" for the last several years, occasionally opening it up when we had extra bikes available. The logistics of doing that has proven to be much more difficult than the idealistic me had imagined. I don't know how much longer it will be a warehouse as it seems better to consolidate stock closer to where it will be used. I would like to give a big THANK YOU to all of the supportive folks in Edinburg. We will planning to participate in this year's Memorial Day Parade, but we'll have to decide year by year on future involvement.
I'm expecting to see gas prices rise again this year. Not from excess demand, but from production cuts and "environmental" influences. Will this mean another bike shortage? Could be. The Tomos factory and the distributor are also playing in close due to the economy. Neither wants to get hit with a glut of bikes at the end of the season. That happened last season to them and to us. In fact, for some models, the current model year is 2009 and their may not be a 2010 version imported, or maybe even manufactured. I'm not privy to such knowledge, but some of what we've ordered are only available in 2009 at this time. I understand that Tomos isn't alone. At least one other bike manufacturer has no immediate plans to produce a 2010 for certain slower moving models. 2009 is their current year also. It is interesting times we live in.
09/20/09
It's been a slow year here at Moped Depot. The difficulty of getting bikes that customers want has made life somewhat tough. Add to that the effects of the economy and, well, let's just say it wasn't a great year. However, we did have a lot of great customers come through the store. Most needing repairs or parts, but many just looking for information. There is a lot of mis-information, confusing laws, wrong assumptions, and memories of younger days that needs to sorted out. If anyone is interested, I can get into a conversation about them in a future update. I believe that most everyone who reads this is already familier with Ohio's wierdness.
We will go to winter hours soon. They will be Wed and Sat 1p-8p (1300-2000 hrs for those of us who live in a 24 hours work day) with special appointments available. Jeremy, my son who actually runs the store, is the programmer in charge of the website. He has some great improvements in mind that he'd like to implement. Winter is when he has the time available to do this kind of maintainence. I am going to add to his burden a bit by having him help me co-develop websites for the two historical societies that I'm involved with. Fortunately, there is a payoff. Some of what he devises for one site will be utiised in one or both of the others. We are hoping to add more parts and drawings to our offerings, but that will be secondary to the behind the scene major overhaul that we will undertake. Check out the site once in a while, and if you are experiencing a problem, let us know. We want this to be easy for you. Let us know. www.50cccycle.com
04/20/09
Moped Depot has moved from our Tallmadge location to Cuyahoga Falls. We are now at 1836 Fourth St, South of Broad Blvd. The showroom is smaller so we won't have room to have as many bikes on the floor. Also, the service area is limited. Actually, pretty much non-existant. Therefore, the majority of the service will be done off-site. This whole setup is less convenient than I'd lke and doesn't present the image that I think we should have, but, in this economy, it is all about survival.
The same seems to be true of Tomos and our distrubutor. They are being very cautious. There is limited inventory of bikes, and uncertain shipping dates. We can't get some bikes yet, and don't know when they will hit the shore. Of course, we don't want to overstock either.
Be sure to check our website frequently. We're striving to make parts ordering as easy as possible. Usually winter is when we make major updates to the site, but with the move this past January, we really didn't have time. We did do quite a few updates though. This is also where you can see what used bikes we have available. When we have one ready, we post it on the website. Check it out at 50cccycle.com
Bad news for our electric bike customers. The price of batteries has gone up. We don't know if it is a temporary spike, or more or less permanent. We don't like to "shop around" for the best prices because we also want to have consistant quality. We've dealt with the same company for a couple of years now and are satisfied with their service. We did try a couple of other sources and got really burnt with one of them. The others were ok, but there wasn't a significant enough cost savings, especially after adding shipping. We will keep our eye on the market, and on new battery technologies.
10/14/2008
Wow, what a year this has been! When the gas prices soared, so did the demand for mopeds. We couldn't get enough bikes and neither could anyone else. It was pretty much a sold out market globally. We even had problems getting some parts.
Electric bikes is a different story. Those we could get, and sold quite a few. It's a little different market than for mopeds, but somewhat overlapping. Our best seller was a Forever E-Bike that resembled a moped. Our demo unit has quite a few hours on it, it's our quick run about town bike, and it get's ridden 4 miles home frequently. The folding bike is quite nice also. Much stronger than the model we carried previously.
Motor scooters are another hot item, but one we weren't active in. We had a lot of people surprised that we didn't carry them. Maybe we should, but it's most likely too late to get any other brand but Tomos. I think we could get an order in now for next year, but I won't guarantee it. All of what Tomos USA imported was presold. We did however guide customers to places that we thought were reputable, and gave them advice about what to buy where and why. It is amazing that there are so many people who have bought, or had planned on buying a $1500 scooter and planned on driving twenty miles one way daily - on the freeway! In Ohio, 5 brake horsepower is required for freeway use and I doubt that any $1500 scooter has much more than 50cc at a max of 1.5hp. We also advised them against anything less than 600 pound weight. The vortex off the semi's really throw around a four-wheeler. Imagine what it would do to a small bike. We only converted one or two of those customers into moped sales, but we would like to think that we may have saved a few lives.
5/28/2008
A new surprise from Tomos this year! Maybe we're getting used to surprises as this one was an "oh well" event for us. Tomos USA was going to cut back on the number of bikes that they were ordering this year so that they didn't get stuck at the end of the season. Therefore, we had to get our orders in early. Apparently we weren't early enough. We did get some bikes, just not the selection we wanted. It will probably prove to be another interesting season. (I'm told that an old Chinese curse is: May you live in intersting times!)
Bikes aren't the only thing in short supply. One of our aftermarket parts and accessory vendors was sold and some of the items that we regularly sell are no longer available. Also, very popular Techni-Gas exhaust is "backordered" with no announced delivery date.
In other news, we've added quite a few bikes to our museum. Ok, it's not open to the public, nor is it organized. Bikes are scattered amoung four locations. We do get to show some of them off once in a while if a customer is interested. We also use a couple of them in the Edinburg Memorial Day parade. We hope to get pictures of them on the web site someday, but right now our energy is focused getting the site as convenient to use as possible. Check it out and give us some feedback.
We have also added another brand of electric bicycle to the floor. We are currently dealer for Currie products. Their brand is I-ZIP, but have also sold under Mongoose, Schwinn, and GT. They have bicycles and scooters. A word of clarification, and confusion. "Scooter" is applied to a number of products. In this context it is the one that you stand on with small (4" to 10") wheels. The other meanings are the handicapped vehicles, a little low sliding thing for kids, and the type of highway vehicle that has the engine all enclosed and a platform for the feet. But back to the bikes. We are trying out the Forever E-Bike. After we have a chance to really test them, and we've decided which models we want to carry, maybe we'll find time to tell about them on the web site.
Speaking of web site, here it is: www.50cccycle.com Hope you enjoy it.
10/20/07
We field many questions about upgrades and accessories. This isn't a FAQ, but an attempt to address at least a couple of the more common questions. We have a 50th anniversory bike in our showroom that we have made some mods to. Nothing fancy, but it is often the first bike that people comment on even though it is at the end of the line. We changed the taillight and mirror to the West Coast Cycle (Iron Cross) style, changed handle bars, and added Tomos saddlebags. That's right, Tomos saddlebags. I think this is what catches the eye the most. So the answers are "No, they're not available" and "this is our display bike for what you can do to make your bike different, it's not for sale." I'm almost ready to commission someone to make Tomos branded bags.
Speed upgrades are next on the list. Tomos are the easiest to work with. We can pretty well handle the A35 with jug, exhaust, and carb. The Revival is the only challenge, the "crash bars" are in the way. No one has asked for anything for the A3, and the A55 has a different exhaust angle, so the ones designed for the A35 don't fit. We have been able to use the A35 jug on the A55 with some TLC, which opens up that path for upgrades. The aftermarket exhaust manufacturers have or are in the process of building ones for the A55, but the Revival is still a problem. Puch is the only other bike that we would consider putting "go-fast stuff" on. There is some of it being made, and the quality is good. We've heard of things that are available in Europe, but we don't have a lot of experience with any of it. And the legal disclaimer: If you make any mod that will affect speed, it can no longer be used on the street legally. Remember, Ohio law says 20mph on level ground!
Carrying capacity is an issue for some people, and since we ride our bikes and carry a lot around, we understand. We haven't found stylish baskets or inexpensive saddlebags to offer and some of the models are just hard to add anything to. Outside of some metalworking to make the required supports, the best we can recommend is to use a backpack.
We are continually looking for things that can be used to customize your bike, so be sure to ask about what we have.
04/14/07
Occasionally one of us here at Moped Depot will crank out a newsletter. Sometimes it will be blatant advertising, but most of the time it will contain something useful or interesting: maybe a bit of history about a particular bike, or a maintenance tip, maybe news of a ride coming up or that you missed, and just maybe a story about one of you.
In this one, I'd like to tell a little about the snag that really affected all of us last year. We didn't have any new bikes to sell! Not just us either. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - you know, the folks who brought us Ohio ECheck - changed the rules on two cycle engine emissions. Since the only new bikes that are on Ohio's accepted list are two cycle, they had to meet the EPA's new regs. Tomos reworked their bikes and went through the time consuming recertification. As far as I know, they were the only ones to successfully do this.
Mopeds weren't the only thing affected. Weed whackers, leaf blowers, chain saws, off road bikes and other two cycle powered equipment were impacted. Many manufactures saw what was coming and had the resources to make the mods in time, but not all. Part of this is due to the ongoing product development cycles that they have just to maintain that competitive edge.
Moped manufacturers don't work that way. They produce thousands of units compared to millions by the power tool industry. New engine designs or major mods are a big deal, and I think Tomos did a pretty good job of getting them out. They thought that they had the engines ready with the introduction of the 2005 models of the Steetline, but apparently minor unforseen rule changes wreaked havoc in 2006.
When the 2006 Tomos became available in late August/early September we ordered a few of what was available. This was from the Streetline only, as the Classic line was not being shipped. Even then, the pickin's were slim and we could not order but one each of the Black and the Copper Streetmate. We also quickly sold out of Revival TSs. We currently have the Silver Streetmate and all three colors of the Arrow.
We seldom get any real hints about what changes Tomos will make from year to year. I'm not sure that even the US importer knows much in advance, although their suggestions are taken quite seriously by the factory. It isn't until about February that details start leaking out. Usually the new bikes are pretty close, sometimes they even get the pics in the catalog right!
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