By Renee Larr
A new bicycle shop will soon open in Whitestown. But it isn’t any ordinary store.
In addition to regular bikes, e-Boom Electric Bicycles will sell electric bikes, pedal-assisted models that allow riders to turn on a small motor to help them get up a hill or through a long ride.
“You still pedal to make the bike go, but you can add battery power to make pedaling faster, easier or find a nice cadence that makes you go far,” co-owner Lee Ann McKay said. “It’s almost like you feel like a superhero. It’s like you have these extra powers.”
McKay and her business partner, Robin Coffman, gave up their corporate careers to pursue their passion.
“We both love biking. We’ve been biking all over the place for many years,” McKay said. “We got into e-biking just recently and fell in love with it. We thought, ‘Wow, this is what we need to be doing’. We decided we would like to sell e-bikes to our friends and people in the community.”
The store will not only offer a variety of different styles of bikes, but also sell clothing and accessories. There will be a service center for bike repair. They also will offer demo rides and organize group rides in the summer.
“We are going to be great neighbors and community biking advocates in Whitestown, Zionsville and Lebanon,” McKay said. “We will be big participants in any biking program, and we plan on starting a program to help kids who can’t afford bikes. We will refurbish donated bikes and give them to these kids as well as provide safe riding classes.”
The store is tentatively scheduled to open in late April. For more, eboomelectricbikes.com.
