An electric bike store in Northeast Portland has closed without notice, and customers say they’ve been left in a lurch.
Pedego Electric Bikes on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd is empty as of this morning. The shop’s phone leads to a voicemail box that’s full and no longer receiving messages, the listing on Google Maps says it’s “Temporarily Closed,” and one customer said her email to own of the co-owners bounced back as undeliverable.
From what I’ve gathered based on emails from readers who were customers of the shop, it’s been closed since the end of December, “with no prior notice or even a note on the now empty store giving any information.” Folks who own Pedego bikes say they’ve received no email or other communication to explain the sudden abandonment. There’s no mention of any closure on the Pedego Portland website. On the brand’s main, corporate website, the Portland location is no longer listed.
One BikePortland reader who purchased a bike from the shop said the manager told her the staff were let go. “The owners just closed the shop all of the sudden,” the customer shared with BikePortland.
Pedego opened in Portland in February 2016 on SW 2nd Avenue downtown. They moved to the MLK Blvd location several years later and, based on what I’ve heard through the grapevine and read from online reviews, appeared to have a strong business.
While it’s unclear why the owners of the Portland location left without a trace, there are several plausible reasons for why the shop would close. An article published today in Bloomberg titled, “What’s killing off all the e-bike companies?” describes a very challenging market for e-bike brands as high costs and dwindling demand have hurt the industry. The Trump Administration’s tariffs are another challenge mentioned in the article.
But Pedego appeared to be on solid ground. The company made industry headlines in November of last year when they announced a new owner. That new owner, Urtopia, was billed as a way for Pedego and its dealers to save money and bring in new bike models. Bicycle Retailer & Industry News reported that the brand, who currently has about 120 stores nationwide, planned to grow its dealer count to as many as 500 stores by 2029.
The Portland location might just be part of a recalibration of dealers by the new owners. But the way they’ve abandoned our market has left a bad taste in customers’ mouths.
“I don’t know what to do. I’ve given up on getting service and I’m going to have to find another shop to help me,” one local Pedego owner told me. “I’m super disappointed and feel very abandoned. Especially the way they’ve done this, no notification. It feels really scammy.”
I’ve reached out to one of the owners of the Pedego Portland and have not yet heard back. I’ll update this story if and when I learn more.
Thanks for reading.
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Back when BRAIN had a comment section on their article pages, Don DiConstanzo, the founder of Pedego, would often comment on stories related to e-bikes. The way he talked about Pedego, one would think they’re absolutely the best e-bikes in the world. I was always a bit suspicious of his takes, yet I never really came across any negative press or social media content about Pedego. Sadly, I’m not so surprised by this closure. Very unfortunate for the customers. Hopefully some other shops will help them.