Extra kick — Locally made electric bikes have plenty of 'whee factor'

It all started as a labor of love — a husband looking for a way to make bike riding easier for his wife.

Rocky and Nell Raymond, both baby boomers, wanted to get more exercise and be healthier, so they bought bikes. Riding a bike was something Nell hadn't done for years, but both she and Rocky did pretty well with it, she said.

However, the Salt Lake couple lives on top of a big hill in the Capitol Hills neighborhood. Nell said she would get to the bottom of the hill and run out of energy to get to the top, so Rocky would have to go get his truck and pick her up. Rocky told Nell what she needed was a power assist to get her up the hill.

As he had a background in electrical engineering, Rocky came up with the idea of a battery-powered bike. He went online and did research to figure out what kind of motor the bike would need and how it would operate.

"I wanted to find a motor that I could spoke into a wheel. In most motors the shaft turns and the motor is stationary. I wanted a stationary shaft and moving motor, which is just opposite of most motors," Rocky said. "I wanted to spoke the motor into the wheel shaft so the stationary motor spins around the shaft."

What he came up with was the first electric bicycle — a retro-style bike with a battery pack spoked into the front wheel, so Nell could have her power assist when she needed it.

The idea caught on and VROOM Bikes was born.

The Raymonds discovered that there were more people like Nell in need of a power assist while riding. Their children, friends and even random people who saw them riding all wanted a battery-powered bike. Before they knew it, the Raymonds were in China finding a place to manufacture their bikes so they could start their business and provide a means for anyone to have one.

The Raymonds opened up their VROOM Bikes shop at 451 S. 300 West in Salt Lake City in November 2005. However, their real intention was for their business to be primarily Web-based, so they also started their own site, www.vroombicycles.com.

In March the Raymonds were featured on the Daily Buzz, the WB's morning news show. VROOM Bikes was also accepted into SKYMall, the airline catalogue magazine, which has a readership of about 19 million per issue.

"We were very excited because not everyone can get in there," Nell said. "They have so many submissions. Very few individual small companies like ours can get in there."