NORTHAMPTON — Quadrini Electric Bikes, an importer and distributor of Italian-made e-bikes, is tucked away behind other Florence businesses, making its 45 Main St. shop invisible from the road.
But it’s just a few steps from the Norwottuck Rail Trail, giving Quadrini plenty of room for test rides and significant exposure to its target market of bicyclists and active commuters.
“You have to put in the motion, but you don’t have to put in the effort,” owner Robert Nuttelman said last week about the appeal of electric bikes, which many customers ride year-round. “Having that option just opens up the opportunity for so many more people to be out enjoying themselves and nature.”
Electric bikes are perfect for couples with differences in their fitness or activity levels, he said, because the assisted pedaling allows the slower companion to keep pace with less exertion. Some models can travel up to 28 mph.
“What the electric bike industry has done is put unlikely people back onto a bike, and that has just been remarkable,” Nuttelman said. “The reason you don’t get on a bike is that you think about, ‘Oh, there’s hills, there’s headwinds, I don’t want to get sweaty, what happens if I get there and I’m exhausted and I’m not going to be able to get back?’ Well, the electric bikes take all that away.”
The most popular Quadrini model is the Mini Max, which folds up to fit in a carrying case. Prices for the full line of bikes range from $1,800 to $4,200 and Nuttelman said customers can get 0% financing through a partnership with UMassFive College Federal Credit Union.
Business has doubled every year for the past three years, he said, because of excellent word-of-mouth marketing.
“The reason that demand has increased so drastically is that people who buy them talk about them,” he said. “The fellow that started it, Alessandro Quadrini … used to tease me that my shop in Florence, Massachusetts, sells more bikes than his shop in Florence, Italy. His was doing better to begin with, but now ours is.”
A former floral and garden center sales representative, Nuttelman started his Quadrini operation in 2011 as a 26-bike rental service on Cape Cod, which he ran from his office at 30 N. Main St. in Florence.
He said he got the idea from a longtime friend and mentor who saw the surging popularity of electric bikes while traveling through Asia. After researching manufacturers for a year, he chose to forge a relationship with Alessandro Quadrini in part because the only product he makes is electric bikes.
Nuttelman’s company wholesales electric bikes to other brick-and-mortar stores and runs rental services based in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Florida and at RV resorts and campgrounds along the East Coast. Retail partners in each state connect customers with their reserved bikes.
“It certainly is a nice segment of our business where it gets our bikes out in front of more people and then we bring them back, clean them up and so on, and sell them as used bikes,” Nuttelman said, giving customers an option that saves money.
Nuttelman said one of his recent Florence rental customers was a DoorDash driver who is trying to avoid paying high gas prices. She rented a model that can accommodate a basket above the back tire.
Every Quadrini bike comes with a three-year unconditional warranty, Nuttelman said, part of the service-centered approach the business takes. Still, wear-and-tear is “next to nothing” and maintenance is minimal.
Fred Fierst’s children bought him a Quadrini electric bike four years ago for Father’s Day. He said he’s been “an avid biker all my life,” but when he reached his 70s, the hill near his home on Route 66 had become a challenge.
“I only ride the bike when the weather’s nice,” Fierst said, describing his 6-mile daily commute to work in downtown Northampton. “Every time I need a tweak, which is not very often, I just ride it in from the bike path and they fix it immediately.”
Nuttelman said maintenance is mostly only necessary for traditional bike components, such as brake pads and spokes.
“If something happens, we’re going to come to your location and fix it on the spot,” Nuttelman said. “If we can’t, we’re going to leave you another bike to ride until we can return yours.”
He said he has considered expanding his operation or making other changes to the business, but he always decides against it because he wants to be personally available to all of his local customers by phone.
“I don’t need to own the world,” Nuttelman said.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.