I have been bike commuting to work for the past 6 months and recently with an electric bike and completely love it. A co-worker even bought one because I did; both of us bought them online as the bike shops had ridiculously high prices and none really catered to electric bikes.
He brought up the point that it could be a good time to start a business and be an entrepreneur in it; which sparked something in me, because I would love to sell/rent/tour electric bikes and would love to get more people to ride them instead of driving cars. My father-in-law wanted me to help him in a family business in Florida for an Airbnb/entertainment thing, he lives right next to miles of bike trails and beaches. So I am thinking I could take advantage of this with tours and rentals.
Though I would be a first time business owner, likely would have to leave my stable IT job and risk it, though I can rely on my wife as a nurse.
I have looked into Pedego which seems to cater to baby boomers with high quality high priced electric bikes. You can find their information here:
http://bit.ly/2k2GaSS it seems like a lot of hand holding and helping which could be good, from what I researched online its like an $75,000 investment, seems riskier but maybe more rewarding if you can sell them (there have been multiple independent stores opened and they are the fastest growing electric bike company)?
I have also looked into rad power bikes rental fleet which seems decent (PDF attached), a lot less risky and I could buy 12 bikes cash. Though I would just integrate it with the mentioned business above, so profit would come from tours/rentals and referrals to buy them online as well as selling them after at least a year.
Does anyone else have experience with this business? Any advice for deciding whether or not to go for this?