An all-electric bike shop in southeast Portland is calling it quits. Cynergy E-Bikes on Southeast Powell Blvd and SE 36th had been in business for 10 years changed ownership five years ago.
In an email to customers this week, owner Sami Khawaja said “We are throwing in the towel.” “We simply cannot compete with the internet and Amazon,” Khawaha added. “We have no choice but to move on. We wanted to personally thank you all your support and business over the years.”
This is the fourth bike shop to close its doors so far this year: Gladys Bikes closed in February, Citybikes stopped doing business in September, and Kenton Cycle Repair shut its doors in October.
Electric bike sales have boomed in Portland in recent years. We’ve seen shops increase their inventory of e-bikes, and in the case of River City Bicycles, they decided to dedicate an entire location to battery-powered wonders. This is the first all-electric shop I’m aware of that has stopped doing business.
Khawaja says while the retail shop will close, Cynergy will continue to service bikes of customers. “We will continue to service bikes at our current location until we find a business to sublease our space. At that point we will move to a new smaller and less expensive location.”
The shop is now having an “E-Commerce E-Screwed Cynergy E bikes” sale and everything is being discounted 20-50%. The sale includes e-bikes, helmets, apparel, locks, tires, and so on.
Check out CynergyEbikes.com for more information.
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Thinking out loud, after reading the BRAIN today…I wonder if the proposed legislative reform per ‘de minimis imports’ is adopted will provide some long term help for local bike retail against below cost parts and bikes shipped direct to customers from the PRC? https://bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2024/11/27/report-congress-recommends-eliminating-de-minimis-exemption
Multiple people there gave me bad advice that might have endangered me. At least 2 or 3 people on the phone and in person swore the 3.25 tubes they sold me would be fine to replace a stock radrunner one, but when inflated (outside of tire) theirs was visibly smaller by inches. I would have had to over-inflate theirs, risking blowout to make it fit right.
Probably not a big deal…
Is there a tubeless option?
You shouldn’t have purchased a bike with non-standard parts.
3.25″ tubes *would* be fine in the 3.3″ Kenda tires that come on that bike. Tubes expand in the tire. Unless these were crazy niche, ultra-lightweight tubes and tires, it’s fine.
This is close to my heart, and very sad. I worked at Cynergy in 2023, and it was already challenging. We had our finger on the pulse, and recognized that the decrease in sales (from a pandemic peak), was industry-wide.
A real shame as Ebikes are just about the best ecological manifestation of right-sized vehicles.
Best of luck to Sami going forward – he is a true ally of electrification and overall energy efficiency.
A great reminder to SHOP LOCAL … I once again stopped by Splendid Cycles last week for a routine “check up” to make sure my bike was running well. As usual, everyone was super friendly and helpful — I sure am glad people like that who live in my community have a job, and a job at a place that is nice to work and an asset to our community. Oh, and yes, I paid up front to buy an ebike in person after testing several, and having ridden nearly 3,000 in the first year, I’ve owned it, I’ve taken into the shop more than half a dozen times for routine check ups and some fine tuning. And in all that year, the only time they charged me for anything was when I purchased new tires and one new set of brakes. And the charge for both parts and labor was completely reasonable. (My coworker bought a cheap-o ebike at another Portland shop, and has incurred misery and expense because that great deal was … not a great deal. So also, know your purveyors.). SHOP LOCAL, SHOP SPLENDIDLY LOCAL, LIVE HAPPY, SHOP LOCAL.
Always seemed strange to me that a bike shop would locate themselves on a major thoroughfare that is not bike friendly in the slightest.
that is what I was thinking “surprised they lasted this long!” and that is surprising to hear their rent is expensive, that is such a crummy part of town… nothing about that stretch of Powell makes me want to do anything besides get out of there as fast as possible, whether driving, biking, or walking to the bus stop.