Everywhere you go in Landrum Middle School you see it. Tiki bike merchandise. Hoodies, stickers, water bottles, and even the bikes themselves. People seem to not be able to get enough of it, but why? We will take a deep dive into the brand, speaking to customers, looking at the website, and even speaking to one of the company’s own members.
Tiki Bikes are always sold out. We spoke to customer Ethan Weinberg on how he got his. ” I had to wait weeks for the bikes to get back in stock. Every time the bike I wanted would get in stock, it would go out of stock the next day. I finally was able to get my hands on one, though,” he said.
If you look on the website only one bike is available, and it is the most expensive one of them all. The “OG Red 2.0”, which is currently listed at 1.5k dollars. The price does seem exceptionally large, but the reviews say it is worth it. Online user Shawn Collins rated the bike 5 stars and said “… had my bike for almost 6 months now. I’ve compared competitors E-bikes at much higher price points and tiki bike is still better!”
Why is it so popular and always sold out? We spoke to an owner of an electric bike, Logan Hunt. “I think their rise in popularity is because it’s in the community. We don’t have other bike brands straight from Ponte Vedra, and when you see your own friends riding bikes that you can just drive 20 minutes and buy, it’s a lot more appealing than a brand like Pedego.”
While the bikes are popular, it is really the merchandise that is the X-Factor. We spoke to an owner of a Tiki Bike hoodie, Christian Purnell, and asked him why he got his hoodie. “The daughter of the owner goes to our school, and she was wearing a Tiki Bike hoodie. I thought it was cool, so I decided to buy one for myself,” said Purnell. We asked him if he owned a Tiki Bike. “No.” he said
We decided to speak to the owner of Tiki Bike’s daughter, Elouise Owen, about how the brand started. “We started this company because my mom wanted an electric bike, so we built one,” said Elouise. “Other people wanted them, and it just became a business then.”
We also asked Elouise how they make the bikes. “We get the parts from China, and we put them together ourselves,” she said, “every bike is made the best it can be made.”
Whether you’re into the brand because it’s a fad, or if you actually enjoy the product, you can admit that there is a lot of work put into these bikes, and the brand will be around for a while.