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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Bikes With a Buzz

The lowly bicycle has gone high-tech thanks in great part to Chatsworth-based Currie Technologies, who is on track this year to sell $33 million worth of electric scooters and cycles and whose new product line debuting in January has company officials seeing green. Currie Technologies was founded in 1998 by what could seem like an unlikely pair the former chairman of Hughes Aircraft and Delco Electronics, Dr. Malcolm Currie, and Richard Mayer, a former high school automotive shop teacher at Van Nuys High School. At the time, Currie oversaw the solar and electric vehicle projects at GM and Delco after GM bought Hughes. Meanwhile on a similar path, Mayer was having his shop classes convert gas-powered cars to electric vehicles. They even sold some of the converted autos, with one of their first customers being actor/environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr. who is also a proponent of Currie’s current products. Currie and Mayer met at a competition where they were both racing electric vehicles and decided to join forces. Schwinn Bicycle Company became one of Currie’s first investors and helped the company get up and running. Although they sold thousands of units, sales never really reached critical mass. While Schwinn lost interest, Currie and Mayer continued to market electric bikes under the Currie Technologies brand name. Then, on the coattails of the kick scooter craze in 2000, Mayer modified a drive system that he patented and applied to a two-wheel scooter. The wheels were a little larger than those on the super-popular Razor and, in essence, created a new category of mini-electric scooters. “That really accelerated the company’s business,” said Currie President and CEO, Larry Pizzi. When Pizzi joined the company in the spring of 2002 as vice president of sales and marketing, the company’s revenues were primarily from electric mini-scooter sales. “In fall of 2002, a few months after I joined the company, I struck a deal with the folks at Pacific Cycle, a company that owned the rights to the Schwinn and Mongoose brand names, to license those brands for our category of light electric vehicles,” said Pizzi. “We made some moves to make some changes in our manufacturing process and we were able to hit some critical price points that really worked very well in retail.” When Pizzi stepped into the president/CEO role upon Currie’s retirement in April 2005, he made some even greater shifts in the company’s thinking. “Because I’ve had about 30 years in the bicycle industry and a passion for bikes, I began to refocus the company’s attention on bicycles and real transportation vehicles.” That refocusing combined with increased consumer interest in pedal-assist vehicles caused, in part, by rising gas prices and renewed awareness in environmental issues helped company revenues grow from less than $10 million in 2005 to more than $30 million last year. “Over the course of the last 18 to 24 months there’s been more growth in the electric bike category than there had been in the past eight or nine years,” Pizzi said. A number of companies dabble in the electric bike and light electric vehicle category but Pizzi said that in the U.S., they are the only company that has the niche as their sole focus. Currie’s bikes and scooters are manufactured in China by a factory outside of Shanghai that is dedicated to making only their products. The bikes are then shipped to Currie’s 51,000-square-foot headquarters in Chatsworth, which also houses R & D; functions and a distribution center. “We’ve stayed in the Valley primarily because we’ve been able to find a consistent, quality workforce here,” Pizzi said. In April, the company moved to that Chatsworth location a facility that more than doubled Currie’s space. “When we looked to move, we looked at all of our associates and where they resided and they pretty much they all lived within a 10-mile radius.” Currie’s scooters are sold under the Mongoose and Schwinn brand names as well as Currie’s own Izip and Ezip brands. All of those products use the patented Currie electro-drive power system. Pizzi describes it “as sort of the ‘Intel Inside'” for the company’s varied brands. Wal-Mart is the firm’s largest customer, selling a complete line of Currie’s products through its Web site. “For our store, [Currie] is our main electric bike/scooter,” said Erick Fernandez, manager of Cycle World in Northridge. “We do carry another company, but they’re more high end. For the entry market, the Currie is a good product. Their scooters start around $400 and the bikes start at around $600.” According to Pizzi, that’s set to change in January when they enter the “high-end” market with a new consumer product. Thanks to advanced batteries and advanced electronics, the new product line will have the ability to travel at a range of up to 75 miles on a single charge and the ability to climb a 15% grade at speeds of up to 20 mph. “What’s cool about these bikes,” said Pizzi, “is they really don’t look like electric bikes.” Batteries will be concealed in the bike’s frame and compact-size hub motors are used. “Also, they don’t have a throttle,” he said. “They use something called a pedal-torque sensor.” That means that as a rider pushes on the pedals they have the same sensation as if they were riding without the power assistance. Pizzi, who is one of the only company employees who doesn’t live in the Valley, puts his money where his mouth is. He rides a prototype of Curries’ next-generation Express bicycle on his daily commute from Santa Monica to Chatsworth. Wearing his office attire and carrying his computer in a bag slung over his back, the road warrior pedals over Topanga Canyon, arriving at work as clean as a whistle. Pizzi said the hard-core, Lycra-clad cyclists he passes on the upgrades are amazed when they see him passing them effortlessly. That passion for cycling and sustainable transportation is manifest in the company’s support for groups like the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition. A photo of Darryl Hannah astride a Currie bicycle graces the front page of the company’s Web site. “That was from the Los Angeles River Ride sponsored by LABC,” Pizzi said. “We’ve attempted to be actively involved in things that are promoting the use of cycling as an alternative to getting in a car,” said Pizzi. In this car-centric city, that can be a tough sell. But Currie Technologies is intent on making the right moves to meet the challenge. SPOTLIGHT Currie Technologies Year Founded: 1998 Revenues in 2003: $10 million Revenues in 2005: $25 million Revenue Forecast in 2007: $33 million Employees in 2005: 42 Employees in 2007: 45

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