As Saskatoon-based e-bike manufacturer and retailer Biktrix nears the one-year anniversary for its shop in downtown Edmonton, a company leader says the experience has underlined the importance of doing business in the core.
"In Saskatoon, for example, we're right next to (a downtown) mall that has a fairly high crime rate. When you're reading on the news about people being pepper sprayed, nine out of 10 times it's at that mall," Ryan Barber, Biktrix's general manager told Taproot. "I think there is a struggle, Canada wide, with downtown cores not being as friendly as they used to be. I think it's good for us to take part in trying to help turn that around."
Biktrix is something of an anomaly in e-bikes given the company started in Saskatoon with a Kickstarter in 2014 and now has two locations in Prairie cities that, despite recent changes, are often perceived as being far less bike friendly than cities like Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver.
The Edmonton location is the company's fourth showroom (the others are in Saskatoon, Vancouver, and Kelowna) and opened in June. Barber said Edmonton is one of Biktrix's top cities for sales, though said he couldn't tabulate a specific ranking because lots of Albertans have made the trek to Saskatoon to buy in person, in addition to strong online sales. "Edmonton is a real cycling hot spot," he said. "There's a lot of avid cyclists."
It doesn't hurt that the showroom at 10135 97 Street NW is close to the river valley's bike trails, Barber added. Despite describing the area surrounding the Edmonton Biktrix location as a bit "rough around the edges," Barber said he's found the city to be extremely welcoming. For example, while biking in the river valley, Barber said he encountered city employees and they later delivered bike network maps to the Biktrix showroom. Barber also has a personal connection to the city because he lived here for a few years after graduating high school.
Not all is smooth going for Biktrix, however. Some of the parts Biktrix uses come from the United States, which is itself a high-volume customer of the company. Does that make it subject to threatened tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump?
"That's a really good question, and that's one that we don't have a definitive answer for at this point," Barber said. "It's difficult for us as a business that ships there. There's a date that they say these things are going to be tariffed, and then it's removed, and then applied, and then it's removed. We're doing everything we can to ensure that we're sending a Canadian product that should be exempt under the (Canada-United States-Mexico) Agreement, but there's a lot changing daily, so we're not 100% sure what's going to happen. As of now, we are fine."
Biktrix bikes are a mix of parts from Canada, the U.S., and Asia. Barber said the XD line of e-bikes have motors that are designed and assembled in Canada using mostly Canadian parts. The motor is exclusive to Biktrix.
Barber said Biktrix is having a "scratch and dent" sale closer to the showroom's first anniversary for gently worn e-bikes. In the Biktrix lab, its team is working on new anti-theft measures that offer an "added layer of protection" in addition to bike locks. Barber declined to give further detail.
The City of Edmonton is also interested in preventing theft of bikes, electric or otherwise. A secure lock-up at Century Park Transit Centre moved from pilot to permanent in June 2024. The city has also partnered with Bike Edmonton on a seasonal downtown bike valet program with secure parking in 2023 and 2024.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that not all Biktrix e-bikes use American-made frames.