Five minutes with: Bikonic

BikeBiz speaks to Tony Ray, founder of Bikonic

This piece first appeared in the August edition of BikeBiz magazine – get your free subscription here

Can you give us a little background on Bikonic?

Bikonic is a new brand, driven by innovation. For example, our launch product is a gas-spring assisted maintenance stand aimed at filling the gap between manual bike work-stands and electric stands.

The gas-spring takes the strain out of lifting an e-bike and is a fraction of the cost of an electric stand. This is the first product in a line of new, patented products and it perfectly sums up what Bikonic stands for: totally unique, clever engineering which is bang on the money

BIkonic is a new start-up with some very strong Intellectual Property, starting with the gas-spring maintenance stand. We want to build a brand that is associated with innovation, changing the way we do things.

Our mission is to build a brand that is ‘cool’ because it is innovative. We want to be ‘cool’ because we lead the way, not because we look cool. (OK, we aim to look very cool too)

Our launch product and the products that will follow it do not exist on the market at the moment. In fact, if a product already exists, then we won’t be selling a version with our name on it, thanks very much.

What area of the market do you target?

With this first product we are aiming mainly at bike shops and workshops, but creeping into the top-end domestic market too.

E-bikes are now the best selling class of bike in the market. They’re also finicky and temperamental which means shops are seeing lots of them in the workshop – and they weigh a ton.

Bike shops are having to invest thousands in electric stands which themselves can be temperamental with months-long lead times for spares.

Our stand is a million times simpler – working exactly like an office chair or the hatchback of a car, so it’s super-reliable.

It’s also very strong. To be honest it is over-engineered – but we want it to last a lifetime. It is also manoeuvrable and compact, and because it is simple, it doesn’t cost the earth.

At £600 + VAT, we should appeal to the premium end of the domestic market as well as the business market.

E-bikes can be very expensive and having a workshop to match often goes hand-in-hand with that type of customer. We’re running big launch discounts at the moment which is attracting a lot of attention from both markets.

What makes the products unique?

The gas-assisted stand is totally unique, with a patent application to prove it. We have already taken pre-orders from small shops and mobile mechanics who are desperate for a stand which can lift a full-fat e-bike and which is solid enough to manage a heavy bike when it’s up there, whatever the job is.

We want to offer support to businesses that may have already invested in an electric stand but who want real, viable back up. And we want to offer support to businesses that either can’t afford an electric stand or who don’t have room for it.

What sort of feedback have you received from the industry?

We were at the National Cycle Show last year to gather feedback and we were there again this year to show our pre-production prototype.

Feedback has been fantastic – really. There has been no negative feedback at all.

We are taking pre-orders which is the best possible validation of what we’re doing and as word is creeping out, more enquiries are coming in. It’s a very exciting time for us.

What are the plans for 2024 and beyond?

Our first production run was due to start at the end of July and we are taking pre-orders for that run right now, with a view to delivering in September, so it’s hard to look much further ahead than that at the moment.

For the rest of the year we plan to consolidate our position and take good care of our customer community, but our next product is already waiting on the drawing board, ready to go.

If we can bring that to market for 2024 we will, with another two products lined up for 2025, and so on.

Once we hit the market, we plan to build our brand through innovation, rather than rebranding open patents to build a portfolio. We have some very, very cool stuff in the pipeline.

To learn more about Bikonic, or to pre-order, visit: www.bikonic.co.uk