GOAT Bikes & ElectricMountainBikes.com work hand in hand and have been acknowledged as pioneers in the fast-growing electric bike industry, we were the first the first to turn the phrase – Electric Mountain Bike / E-MTB
Now we are building the first proper Electric Road bikes too such as the GOAT Race. I Guess in a few years E-Road will slip off the Tongue like E-MTB does now!!
Remember where you heard it first!
With now 12 years in business in 2020), designing and building electric bikes for our customers, we have learnt what it takes to make an electric bike, exceptional.
We use cutting-edge technology to build e-bikes of the future … today.
The Drive System used inside GOAT Bikes weighs only 1.8 Kg!
The end result is incredibly lightweight electric bikes, weighing under 9kg.
History is in the making with GOAT Bikes … a new breed!
In 2005 moving to a remote area of the North York Moors. To say bit was hilly was an understatement and my passion was for mountain biking! It occurred to me that the addition of some assistance on top of what I could output myself, could turn my local off-road bike ride, which included over 50% getting off andpushing, into a flowing ride without any pushing at all! (hopefully)
After some research, I realised there were limited complete electric bikes on the market and the few that were, tended to be fuelled by cumbersome lead acid battery packs weighing nearly half a ton, as well as generally being equipped with a shopping basket on the front; not a sporty look at all!. As my interest was primarily in riding off-road, I turned my attention to retro-fit kits and the idea of constructing my own electric bike to suit off-road riding. There were also few retro-fit kits on the market at that time. I tested what was available. Eventually, when after a couple of years l reached my goal, I had found something that withstood a decent amount rough treatment. This was my first E-MTB Bike project, maybe the first anywhere by anyone???? I felt that the experience was such a buzz that I wanted to share my ideas with others. It struck me that it was ‘something other’ than just a bicycle; it was a lot of fun recreationally but I could also see that it could be so beneficial to many people for many reasons. So I used the ‘world wide web’ as a platform to share my ideas (it had been invented by then). I soon received positive feedback as well as requests from people enquiring if I could build something similar for them. This was the beginning of electricmountainbikes.com. in 2008.
My goal and passion from the outset was to make the electric bikes more attractive, cool and accepted. I felt that unless electric transportation looked more appealing, it had little chance of becoming a popular transport of the future. I thought that each bike I produced that looked good, performed well and was reliable, would be a positive advert for an alternative mode of transport. Now you only need to google electric mountain bike to see there is a lot of choice and they are extremely common place. Most of the big players in the Bicycle industry have several E-MTB’s to choose from, this was definately not the case in 2008.
I also felt passionately that if more people were exercising, having fun and enjoying the pleasures of the natural world, then there couldn’t fail to be a positive effect on their wellbeing. I felt electric bikes was a piece of a jigsaw that could bring happiness, and was not the transport of a ‘lazy person’ as I heard so often in those early days from those with a less broad-minded perspective.
I still stand by these same values now and this is the driving force behind bringing my ‘GOAT Bikes’ brand to the market. I am hoping to set a new benchmark with the GOAT Bikes brand, in what an electric bike can offer, with a clear focus on quality, style and innovation.
In those very early days a lot of serious mountain bikers would scoff at the idea of an electrified mountain bike, and road bikers would roll around laughing at the concept of power from anywhere else apart from their own legs. But I was determined to continue to promote the enjoyable experience that could be had or extended with the addition of a motor, for those that wanted exercise and enjoyment without the pain.
The riding of electric mountain bikes is now common-place and the market is steadily growing, so now I feel l can turn more focus to electric road bikes. With the launch of my new brand – GOAT Bikes, I look forward to helping cyclists from all disciplines, prolong and keep their days in the saddle, as well as promoting a new, sustainable way to have fun and to keep healthy and get from A to B without fossil fuels.
Since my first visit to the Eurobike trade show 2008 in Southern Germany, there has been a massive rise in the popularity of electric bikes. At this first show, I remember spending 4 days walking through each hall, methodically visiting each stand in search of electric bikes which I would be proud to ride. I was surprised to discover that most of the leading-brand bicycle companies had not yet begun to offer electric bikes as an option. Around this time lithium-based batteries became a more stable and affordable technology and had a big part to play in propelling the growth in the electric bike market.
Within the next couple of years, most of the leading bike companies had given their name to an electric bike. These new creations were displayed in pride-of-place at the front of their stands, all be it most being non-functioning prototypes, some even fitted with cardboard battery cases and dummy switches stuck on with blu-tack. These were obviously rushed to be ready for the show, so the companies would not be seen to be lagging behind on the innovation front! But this served as an indicator for me that the big companies were aware of the growing demand for electric bikes at street level.
From this I realised there was a gap in the market, and it revealed to me that what I had been doing to date, ie. custom-building bikes, was in fact a niche market. Previous to this, I had mostly retro-fitted kits to customer’s bikes, but further to this revelation, I sought out bike manufacturers who could supply me with frames and complete bikes that I could fit motor kits to, in order to offer my customers a complete, quality package to suit their needs.
The following years showed substantial growth in the electric bike market with Bosch cornering a large portion of sales in Europe and other large companies following on with more mid-drive systems. Yet still I felt that most systems on offer looked heavy and cumbersome, often with the positioning of the motor hampering the riding experience. It occurred to me that If there was ever to be a bicycle to appeal to a road cyclist as well, then it needed to be quite different to what I had seen on offer so far.
I make a point of visiting Eurobike every year as it is a great window to view innovations across the whole of the bike industry, as well as to forge relationships and connections with others in the trade.
I hope you find the Information on my websites helpful
– Steve Punchard