Outdoor Fitness Site Retrospec Is Getting Into the E-Bike Game

Juliet Bennett Rylah
Juliet Bennett Rylah is a Los Angeles-based writer whose work has appeared in numerous local and national outlets. She's passionate about public transit, affordable housing and horror movies. You can find her on Twitter @jbrylah.
Retrospec e-bike

Retrospec, a Los Angeles-based ecommerce brand that sells outdoor recreation and fitness gear, is among the latest companies to enter the e-bike market. It will launch its first line on April 21st.

E-bikes have been on the rise lately, spurred in part by the pandemic and a desire for sustainable, outdoor transit.


Retrospec was founded in 2009 by Ely Khakshouri, who began selling bikes out of the back of a van as a student at USC. Over the past decade, Retrospec has expanded to include not just several types of bikes, but gear for skaters, paddle boarders, snowboarders and those looking to build a home gym.

Khakshouri told dot.LA that Retrospec always knew it would enter the e-bike market at some point, it just was a matter of timing.

"It feels like the demand is really there now," he said. "I think we're really highly regarded when it comes to urban cycling and everyday bikes. That's what — as much as many of us enjoy performance bikes and recreational riding — we focus on putting bikes out there that help people get from point A to point B. So, I think this is the biggest no-brainer of all time for us as a company."

Demand for several kinds of e-bikes has increased over the past year. Lime recently announced a $50 million expansion of its LimeBike fleet, thanks in part to an investment round led by Uber last May and the acquisition of Uber's bike-share system, Jump. The Pasadena-based delivery platform URB-E also recently raised a $5 million Series A round to expand its service, which uses high-performance bikes to cart around up to 800 pounds of cargo.

Retrospec's Jax folding e-bike

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Retrospec's e-bikes will retail between $1,000 to $1,500, and are meant for personal use, ideal for the daily commuter who doesn't want to show up to events winded or sweaty, or who needs to travel further than one might on a standard bike. The idea of going farther is what Khakshouri believes has increased demand for e-bikes among personal riders.

"Whether you're going trail riding or just riding down the boardwalk by the beach, there's always this fear of, 'I have to get back.' I think having the e-bike gives you extra access, and takes that fear and pain away," he said.

Additionally, e-bikes can also help equalize group rides, Khakshouri noted. Riders who need an extra boost to finish a ride or catch up have that via pedal assist, which decreases resistance as the rider pedals, and a throttle, which can completely take over for a fatigued rider or when facing a steep hill. The bikes also have an "easy start" push button that helps riders get going.

"We try to keep things really simple where it doesn't feel like you're driving a complex machine," Khakshouri said. "All of our bikes have a simple, clean aesthetic and one that also is nostalgic of what bikes have always looked like and the history of bikes, so I think that's all going to come through our e-bike line and differentiate us."

Retrospec will start with two e-bike models. The Beaumont 7S Electric Bike can reach up to 20mph and last up to 15 to 25 miles, depending on the battery. It's a stylish option for city riding available in four colors, including soft pink, pale blue, eggshell and matte gray.

The Jax Folding Electric can also reach up to 20 mph and last up to 35 miles, depending on the battery. It has a more rugged design with a foldable frame and thicker tires, and comes in matte black or olive.

While Retrospec is entering the e-bike market late in the pandemic and won't be able to gauge COVID-19's impact on demand for its e-bikes, the company did see an increased interest in their other products, from bikes to home fitness equipment over the last year. People who could no longer use their indoor gyms began looking for ways to exercise at home, and also experienced a renewed interest in outdoor activities. For many companies, including Retrospec, this demand ran up against supply chain issues, as Retrospec quickly sold out of products it couldn't immediately restock.


"A year later, we're still playing catch up," Khakshouri said. "What's cool about that is I think a lot of the used gear out there has gotten another turn. There's been a lot more upcycling that's gone on and that's obviously really good from a sustainability standpoint, too."

Retrospec's next move will be a literal one. It will leave the Vernon headquarters it's outgrown next month for a much larger space in the Inland Empire, and will also open an office in Los Angeles.

This story has been updated to reflect a change in the release date for Retrospec's line of e-bikes.

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How the 'Thrift Haul' Boosted Secondhand Ecommerce Platforms

Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
How the 'Thrift Haul' Boosted Secondhand Ecommerce Platforms
Evan Xie

If you can believe it, it’s been more than a decade since rapper Macklemore extolled the virtues of thrift shopping in a viral music video. But while scouring the ranks of vintage clothing stores looking for the ultimate come-up may have waned in popularity since 2012, the online version of this activity is apparently thriving.

According to a new trend story from CNBC, interest in “reselling” platforms like Etsy-owned Depop and Poshmark has exploded in the years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. In an article that spends a frankly surprising amount of time focused on sellers receiving death threats before concluding that they’re “not the norm,” the network cites the usual belt-tightening ecommerce suspects – housebound individuals doing more of their shopping online coupled with inflation woes and recession fears – as the causes behind the uptick.

As for data, there’s a survey from Depop themselves, finding that 53% of respondents in the UK are more inclined to shop secondhand as living costs continue to rise. Additional research from Advance Market Analytics confirms the trend, citing not just increased demand for cheap clothes but the pressing need for a sustainable alternative to recycling clothing materials at its core.

The major popularity of “thrift haul” videos across social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok has also boosted the visibility of vintage clothes shopping and hunting for buried treasures. Teenage TikToker Jacklyn Wells scores millions of views on her thrift haul videos, only to get routinely mass-accused of greed for ratching up the Depop resell prices for her coolest finds and discoveries. Nonetheless, viral clips like Wells’ have helped to embed secondhand shopping apps more generally within online fashion culture. Fashion and beauty magazine Hunger now features a regular list of the hottest items on the re-sale market, with a focus on how to use them to recreate hot runway looks.

As with a lot of consumer and technology trends, the sudden surge of interest in second-hand clothing retailers was only partly organic. According to The Drum, ecommerce apps Vinted, eBay, and Depop have collectively spent around $120 million on advertising throughout the last few years, promoting the recent vintage shopping boom and helping to normalize second-hand shopping. This includes conventional advertising, of course, but also deals with online influencers to post content like “thrift haul” videos, along with shoutouts for where to track down the best finds.

Reselling platforms have naturally responded to the increase in visibility with new features (as well as a predictable hike in transaction fees). Poshmark recently introduced livestreamed “Posh Shows” during which sellers can host auctions or provide deeper insight into their inventory. Depop, meanwhile, has introduced a “Make Offer” option to fully integrate the bartering and negotiation process into the app, rather than forcing buyers and sellers to text or Direct Message one another elsewhere. (The platform formerly had a comments section on product pages, but shut this option down after finding that it led to arguments, and wasn’t particularly helpful in making purchase decisions.)

Now that it’s clear there’s money to be made in online thrift stores, larger and more established brands and retailers are also pushing their way into the space. H&M and Target have both partnered with online thrift store ThredUp on featured collections of previously-worn clothing. A new “curated” resale collection from Tommy Hilfiger – featuring minorly damaged items that were returned to its retail stores – was developed and promoted through a partnership with Depop, which has also teamed with Kellogg’s on a line of Pop-Tarts-inspired wear. J.Crew is even bringing back its classic ‘80s Rollneck Sweater in a nod to the renewed interest in all things vintage.

Still, with any surge of popularity and visibility, there must also come an accompanying backlash. In a sharp editorial this week for Arizona University’s Daily Wildcat, thrift shopping enthusiast Luke Lawson makes the case that sites like Depop are “gentrifying fashion,” stripping communities of local thrift stores that provide a valuable public service, particularly for members of low-income communities. As well, UK tabloids are routinely filled with secondhand shopping horror stories these days, another evidence point as to their increased visibility among British consumers specifically, not to mention the general dangers of buying personal items from strangers you met over the internet.

How to Startup: Mission Acquisition

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

How to Startup: Mission Acquisition

Numbers don’t lie, but often they don’t tell the whole story. If you look at the facts and figures alone, launching a startup seems like a daunting enterprise. It seems like a miracle anyone makes it out the other side.

  • 90% of startups around the world fail.
  • On average, it takes startups 2-3 years to turn a profit. (Venture funded startups take far longer.)
  • Post-seed round, fewer than 10% of startups go on to successfully raise a Series A investment.
  • Less than 1% of startups go public.
  • A startup only has a .00006% chance of becoming a unicorn.

Ouch.

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From The Vault: VC Legend Bill Gurley On Startups, Venture Capital and Scaling

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

Bill Gurley in a blue suit
Bill Gurley

This interview was originally published on December of 2020, and was recorded at the inaugural dot.LA Summit held October 27th & 28th.

One of my longtime favorite episodes of Office Hours was a few years ago when famed venture capitalist Bill Gurley and I talked about marketplace-based companies, how work-from-home will continue to accelerate business opportunities and his thoughts on big tech and antitrust.

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