The Reevo eBike isn’t for the average cyclist. The hubless design puts an emphasis on style, making it the perfect eBike for a discerning rider. Reevo brings traditional bicycle design into the 21st century, and represents a perfect marriage between form and function. And with its state-of-the-art security and safety features, the eBike is as convenient to use and it is fun to ride.
We sat down with Alec Lim, CEO of Beno Inc. and creator of Reevo, to learn more about their crowdfunding campaign and find out how Reevo came to be.
Do you have a founding story?
I’ve been a cyclist for as long as I can remember. The introduction of electric bikes has been instrumental in my life because they allow me to travel farther without getting sweaty. But my friends and I have a love-hate relationship with electric bikes because so many of them are ugly. As designers ourselves, we knew that we could make an eBike that turns heads.
So in 2016, we founded Beno Inc. and set out to create Reevo. We relied on the three S’s to guide our design: style, safety, and security.
Style, to give cyclists a striking, good-looking eBike. Safety, to give riders extra protection when riding a bike with an electric motor. Security, to maximize the bike’s anti-theft features.
We started out building the bike just for ourselves, but making only a handful of eBikes was going to be expensive.We asked around and found out that a lot of people shared our views about eBikes: they thought they lacked style, and they wanted them to have more features.
What are you raising funds for?
The architecture of Reevo is a little different from traditional bikes. We make these beautiful bikes with injection molded frames. They require expensive tooling, which we can’t fund ourselves. If we saw enough demand through crowdfunding and got enough backers, we could fund the tooling and start manufacturing.
Who are the team members of your project? What’s their story?
Reevo has an international team. Andrew, Kenneth, Andrea and I used to work at the same company as colleagues and we became good friends. When we decided to make this bike, we joined forces, even though we all live in different countries now and don’t see each other for months at a time. As we built different parts of the bike, we got help from people we already knew. Many of them are still working on Reevo as a side hustle.
What’s the philosophy behind Reevo?
Life’s short. Don’t ride ugly bikes. Better bike, better life.
What surprised you most about crowdfunding?
We were so surprised by the enthusiasm for this project. We didn’t expect to get this many backers or to raise over $1M. We had never done proper business-style market validation; we had just asked people on Facebook what they thought of our idea. What amazed me is that there are so many people on Indiegogo that share the same struggle with traditional eBikes. No one wants to ride an ugly bicycle. When we showed this product to the backer community, they really wanted it.
How have backers helped you improve Reevo?
We’ve been getting a ton of feedback. We’ve changed some features to accommodate backer response. For example, we originally put the kickstand on the right side of the bike. But everyone said they wanted the kickstand on the left. So we adjusted the design.
What’s been your biggest challenge?
Trying to fulfill everyone’s request! We want to make backers happy, and it’s been challenging to find balance. We’ve gotten requests for reflectors, fenders, mounting points for baby trailers, racks for bike panniers — the list goes on. It’s hard for us to not fulfill these requests, but we can’t do it all.
Why did you decide to fund on Indiegogo?
Indiegogo has a bigger community for cycling products than other crowdfunding platforms. Indiegogo also provides better tools for marketing and tracking traffic from social media, which has made it easier to convert new backers.
Would you crowdfund again?
Absolutely! I’m a people person and I love interacting with all the backers. Seeing backer enthusiasm and getting backer feedback — it’s been so much more fulfilling than going a traditional funding route.
