For Elisha – @ Work Section – Brooklyn Cruiser Bikes Ryan Zagata and his bikes – http://www.brooklyncruiser.com photo:Alex Afervez (Photo: Alex Afervez)
For most New Yorkers, lack of storage space is merely an irritating fact of urban life. For Ryan Patrick Zagata, founder of Brooklyn Cruiser bikes, it was the impetus for a venture with serious wheels.
The athletic, outgoing Syracuse native, 37, already had a mountain bike and a road bike crammed in his Williamsburg condo when he announced to his wife, Thea, that he wanted a third — something “comfortable” he could use for errands around the city he’d called home since 1997.
“She told me it was ridiculous,” recalls Zagata, then working in software sales for the finance industry. “But she made a deal with me: If I got rid of my two bikes, I could get another.”
Thus began his quest for the perfect ride: one that combined the durability of high-performance models with the comfort and laidback look of vintage styles.
A local search proved futile. But a month later, on a January 2011 trip to Japan, Zagata found himself surrounded by commuter bikes with upright handlebars, and realized they were “exactly what I was looking for.”
So struck was Zagata with the bike’s city-friendly style that he saw not just his ideal wheels, but also a way to fulfill his long-held entrepreneurial dreams. Before he even returned to the States, he started mapping out a business plan.
He called an American manufacturer to ask about getting a few prototypes made. And over drinks with Thea, who runs her own p.r. agency, he came up with a name and brand image based on Brooklyn’s hip, old-school charm.
Undeterred by his lack of knowledge of the bike industry (“I looked at it as something I could learn,” he says), Zagata set to work collaborating with a domestic manufacturer to create a comfortable, durable, vintage-inspired model designed with urban riders in mind.
In took half a year — and a few thousand dollars — before Zagata got his prototypes last summer, but as soon as he and Thea took them for a spin around the ’hood, getting “immediate positive feedback,” he knew he had a viable product.
“The more feedback I got, the more I thought, ‘Wow, this is something unique,’” Zagata says of his design, which features cream tires, ergonomic leather grips and rustic-chic wooden carrying crates.
Bolstered by the positive response, Zagata found a Chinese manufacturer that allowed him to keep retail prices under $500. And he launched a Web site where customers could buy the bikes, which were shipped from a New Jersey warehouse.
The business got a huge early boost from Thea’s marketing savvy, which resulted in high-profile coverage in the likes of Vanity Fair and Maxim.
“We blew through our initial model super quickly,” reports Zagata, who was working long nights and weekends to balance his venture with his full-time work.
But to take business to the next level, he realized he’d have to get Brooklyn Cruisers into bike shops, where customers could “touch, see, feel and test” them.
So late last year, in an effort to ingratiate himself with potential sellers, he began visiting local shops and asking for feedback on the Brooklyn Cruiser’s design. The tactic not only led to important relationships, but also resulted in valuable advice on making his bikes better.
“We did about 98 percent of what these people told us to do,” says Zagata — including switching to double-walled rims and a wider tire to be more forgiving on the city’s streets — “and every shop we brought it back to said, ‘We’ll take it.’”
Since then, 13 local stores have started carrying Brooklyn Cruisers, and Zagata has left his office job to devote himself to the company full-time.
He’s also hired both a sales rep and a bike guru with a social media background to help him grow the brand.
“We wouldn’t be where we are without these guys,” Zagata says of his team, who work out of the Williamsburg co-working facility the Yard. “I’m massively aware of that.”
He also notes the importance of the city’s recent increase in bike lanes, and the growing popularity of bikes as an affordable and “green” mode of transportation.
“These things are really playing in our favor,” he says.
Now, barely a year into the venture, Zagata has sold more than 1,000 Brooklyn Cruisers, and reports that the business is already profitable.
But with an eye on both national and international expansion, Zagata says every cent the business earns is going back into bulking up inventory, contracting social media experts and financing his employees’ salaries.
“We want to build a business that’s going to last,” he says. “We don’t want to build a business that’s one and done.”
To that end, Zagata and his team have put a premium on personalized customer service, and make a habit of calling recent buyers to thank them for their business. Many, he says, reach out to him directly to offer feedback.
“We get e-mails saying, ‘I rode your bike this weekend, and 30 people must have stopped to ask me where I got it.’ ”
Still, Zagata — who’s just become a first-time father — concedes that he battles the occasional panic over being self-employed, and is still working out the kinks of first-time business ownership.
“The biggest challenge is the anxiety over inventory,” he says. “All our cash is tied up in bicycles, so it’s a delicate balance to pull the trigger to order more.”
But when he comes face to face with his customers — as he did at the recent New Amsterdam Bike Show, where he debuted his new line of three-speed models — the rewards are palpable.
“It’s the look in their eyes and the excitement when they see the bike,” says Zagata. “You realize, wow, we’re really doing something right. This is something real.”
Getting rolling
Ryan Patrick Zagata’s tips for launching a business:
Done is better than perfect: Zagata kept this “mantra” in mind during the initial push to bring his idea to fruition.
“There’s always time to refine later,” he says. “In fact, it’s much easier to refine after you’ve gotten real-world feedback.”
Know your story: Engage a publicist or marketing pro to help craft a distinctive product pitch, he advises.
“You need a story, something to differentiate yourself,” he says.
Spend wisely: “Know what your goals are, and each time you open your checkbook, ask yourself if writing that check is essential to reaching that goal,” he says.