Ampler Bikes‏ – Takes You Further Without Breaking A Sweat

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Ampler Bikes was born out of three friends’ needs for having practical and stylish electric bikes that would be much of fun to ride with. Being engineers and avid cyclists, the strong drive to create ultimate electric city bicycles grew into founding Ampler Bikes. Below is our interview with Hannes Laar, co-founder of Ampler Bikes. Hannes is a passionate bicycle enthusiast with a lot of experience in bicycle mechanics and componentry. At Ampler, Hannes is responsible for bicycle design, components and assembly.

Q: What’s your startup story – how did Ampler Bikes start?

A: Ampler Bikes was founded by three friends who were all avid cyclist on top of other things. For example I have been on and around bicycles for over 15 years now. For many years, I used to ride BMX pretty seriously, after which I started viewing bikes and building bikes as a legitimate path I wanted to follow.

All of us in the team have known each other for many years. What started out as a simple longing for practical but good-looking bicycles that would be fun to ride with, got more serious when we decided to bite the bullet and start building them ourselves. This essentially grew into us founding what now is named Ampler Bikes. We started off with three people and are now a full team of seven bicycle enthusiasts. As far as technology goes, this year we finalized our minimalist design where the batteries are placed inside the frame. In November last year, we raised a small round of €91,500 to finance this product development.

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Q: What are main advantages of your electric bikes?

A: One of the main advantages is that our electric bikes look just like regular bicycles. All the batteries and electronics are hidden inside the frame, providing the minimalist looks.

Unlike most electric bikes on the market, Ampler bikes have really smooth and quiet pedal assist. The bicycle understands how hard you pedal, and applies assist according to that. It kind of feels like you’re always biking downwind or that you have a hidden superpower, when you’re able to overtake people pushing extra hard uphill with you just in your normal, day-to-day clothes and a smile on your face.

Additionally, the bikes we’ve produced are 35% lighter than the average electric bike sold on the market. Starting at 14kg, they weigh about the same as a regular city commuter bike – light enough to simply pick up when you need to. Thanks to removing all the middlemen and selling the bike directly to the end user, we’ve managed to keep the prices up to 50% lower than what similar and similarly equipped bikes cost.

Ultimately, though, they’re simply a ton of fun to ride with – even after such a long time of riding bikes and testing many different electric bikes, the feeling I get every time I hop on my Ampler is nothing short of joy.

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Q: You recently launched your Indiegogo campaign – tell us more about the campaign?

A: We’ve launched two new models – Bilberry and Hawk – in our Indiegogo campaign. The prices start at $1,690 for Bilberry and $1,890 for Hawk, and there are no hidden costs involved. Ordering a bike from Indiegogo is hassle free. The bikes come with all the relevant tools you need for the simple assembly and we’ve even made the shipping free.

Talking about the models, then Bilberry is an elegant and comfortable town bike that combines a great ride with a classic look, whereas Hawk is a fast and sporty aggressive-looking urban commuter.

The reason we launched the campaign in the first place was simple – we want to get our bikes directly to people at an accessible price point, and our name out there. The planning process for the campaign started last year when we decided to go international. This meant that we had to rebrand and come up with a new identity and the results are now out, both in terms of our new bikes, as well as our identity.

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Q: What is the #1 priority of the business?

A: In short, we want to make cycling a a constantly pleasant experience for everyday commuters. We want to give people who ride electric bikes the feeling that the sun is always shining and the wind is working for them, regardless of the weather. The good looks of the bike and the accessible price are also helpful in removing the stigma from riding electric bikes, which are typically seen as bulky and ugly objects meant for people who can’t be bothered to ride normal bikes.

Q: What can we expect from you in the future?

A: You can expect us to keep on growing at a fast pace and bring out new bike models. We’ve already got a couple of exciting bikes in the works, which you’ll be able to start ordering in the second half of this year. Keep an eye on our website and our Indiegogo campaign for news about our developments.