{"id":298447,"date":"2026-06-06T15:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T15:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/298447\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T15:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T15:44:09","slug":"pinellas-e-bike-repair-service-credits-spc-course-for-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/298447\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinellas e-bike repair service credits SPC course for growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. \u2014\u00a0E-Mobilize Mobile Bike Service<\/a> owner Jake McFadden credits the St. Petersburg College \u201cGrow Your Business\u201d<\/a> free boot camp program for his company\u2019s recent success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re up about 16% over the last year,\u201d he said. \u201cWhich, for bike shops, that’s actually a really high metric.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFadden, 30, started his mobile company, which repairs e-bikes right at customers\u2019 homes, in 2020, but said it really took off after he joined the Tarpon Spring Chamber of Commerce<\/a> and enrolled in the SPC program last year.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s helped us grow a lot. They covered a lot of different topics,” he said. “The financial aspect of running a business, marketing, organization and things like that. What it takes to actually run a well-organized business and how to grow it.\u201d<\/p>\n

E-Mobilize Bike Service went from having 40 Google reviews for years to more than 300, according to McFadden. The eight-week \u201cGrow Your Business\u201d course is offered at the Chris Sprowls Innovation Hub at SPC\u2019s Tarpon Springs campus and is open to the general public. SPC Coordinator Shawn Partin called McFadden a star pupil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the kind of success stories we like to hear,\u201d he said. \u201cWhenever the community can come in and take advantage of what we have to offer, SPC\u2019s economic impact is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a Pinellas County Commission meeting last month, Chair Dave Eggers said he took an ambassador trip to the Innovation Hub where E-Mobilize Bike Service was honored.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exploding industry,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re here to stay, and they take their repair to the people\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palm Harbor resident Cindy Cahill said the convenience makes a big difference because of the weight of her e-bike, which she calls “old blue.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIt weighs 65 pounds,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is a lot of weight to lift up, and a normal bike rack won’t hold that.\u201d<\/p>\n

E-Mobilize Bike Service charges $125 for one hour of labor plus the cost of parts. McFadden said demand for e-bike repairs continues to grow as more people turn to electric bicycles for transportation and recreation. <\/p>\n

He said it’s allowing his business to accelerate at the same time, and recommended the \u201cGrow Your Business\u201d program for anyone looking to startup a business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you have a business already, you’ve had one for years, or you’re just thinking about even starting a business,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really helps out a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. \u2014\u00a0E-Mobilize Mobile Bike Service owner Jake McFadden credits the St. Petersburg College \u201cGrow Your Business\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2031,274,558,28,2968,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278],"class_list":["post-298447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-local-business","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-josh-rojas","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}