North Royalton Couple’s Ebike Business is Booming

Belisa and David Rivera opened their Parma Heights business on March 1, held a grand opening and ribbon cutting at the end of April, and business has been booming ever since at Outspoken EBikes, located at 6477 Pearl Road.

The duo have a second location on the towpath at 1829 Merriman Road in Akron.

Their Pearl Road store features 5,000-square-feet of space, and so many different Ebikes, which stand as a testament to the growing popularity of this mode of transportation.  Belisa Rivera said their customers come from as far away as Kansas and Kentucky, along with plenty from right here in Northeast Ohio.

The couple have been together since eighth grade and have been married for 17 years. Residents of North Royalton, they live on Albion Road.

“We met at the Cadillac Bar, a dance club that used to be located in Middleburg Heights across from what is now Krispy Kreme doughnuts,” she recalled.  They each went there to go dancing and obviously something clicked.

Their EBike journey began several years ago.

After learning that her corporate job was going to relocate her to the Hilton Head Island market, she and her husband, who was a landscaper at the time, “bought a bunch of Ebikes intending to rent them to people after the move to South Carolina.

A short time later, she decided that the move south wasn’t for them, and quit her job. “But we still had all these bikes,” she said.

Long story short, they then signed a lease to do rentals, found the property on the towpath, and began their rental business.

“It just sort of exploded,” she said.

They soon found they needed more space, and after some looking, found their Parma Heights flagship store location.

Rivera said her customers buy E-Bikes for all sorts of reasons. “It really is different reasons for different people,” she said.  “Campers buy them to use when they go camping. Some people buy them to commute back-and-forth to work due to the very high gasoline prices. And many parents are getting them for their kids. Handicapped individuals get them because of their personal mobility issues.”

And yes, they even have special EBikes if you are disabled or handicapped, including those who are wheelchair bound.

Outspoken E-Bikes is part of the Cleveland EBike Rebate program through BikeCleveland.com.

Rivera realizes that some people consider the EBikes controversial.

As the parents of Trinity, 21, and Giovanni (Gio) 16, a junior at North Royalton High School, she understands the sensitivity that some feel surrounding EBikes.

“It starts with the parents,” she said. “Parents need to be educated about the bike, and they need to educate their children about the rules of the road (and safe driving habits). Do I think a 12-year-old should be on an EBike. No.”

She thinks there should be some kind of online certification or course for students, similar to training one would receive prior to obtaining their driver’s license. “We want everyone to be safe,” she said. “We’ve talked with the police department about this.”

Their best selling EBikes are the Velotric brand, as well as Fold1Plus.

Both she and her husband are leisure riders on the Towpath trail.

They invite people to stop in and check out the wide variety of bikes they have for sale.

By RICK HAASE

Recorder Editor