By Julie Bort From Business Insider

Looks like the Storm eBike is going to be a smash hit, if its uber successful crowdfunding campaign is a predictor.

The bike has raised $3.16 million on Indiegogo since the campaign started on February 1. They blew by their $75,000 goal.

There’s several reasons why people are going so nuts for this bike. The great design of the bike. The very low cost of the bike. The amazing story of bike’s creator. The pledge that the bike company will support charity. The fact that the bike creator hired crowdfunding marketing expert Chris Olenik to help orchestrate the campaign and they very smartly did a big demo day with the tech press and potential sponsors.

Design
This bike is a beach cruiser with a motor, with big fat tires that make for a comfy ride. It’s got a 350-watt motor, a promised range of 30 to 50 miles on a charge, or about 90 minutes, and it weighs 55 pounds.

“It’s the 1987 Honda Civic of electric bikes, stripped down to the basics. There’s no regenerative braking, or a fancy housing to disguise the massive batteries,” writes TechCrunch’s Kyle Russel.

Storm eBike
Price
“Under $600.”

You can’t beat that with a stick. That’s about what you’d pay for a decent commuter bike, without the motor. Of course, you need a motor to get a 55-pound bike up a a steep hill in addition to pedaling with our legs (we’re looking at you, San Francisco).

The story
After the bike’s creator, surfer dude Storm Sondors, got injured in an accident, he wanted a stylish beach cruiser that he could still ride around even though he couldn’t pedal very well. He was a designer/manufacturer for McDonald’s Happy Meal toys. So he designed the bike he wanted, worked his Asian toy manufacturing contacts to source materials and hooked up with co-founder Jon Hopp to make it all happen.

Already giving back
Thanks to the millions raised via crowdfunding, the team is already looking for charities to sponsor, the co-founders wrote on their Indiegogo post:

“With the amazing outpouring of support over the past few days, we now have the opportunity to do some great things. We would like to align ourselves with a few charities that help people get to and from where they need to go. Do you guys have any ideas of some great ones? Possibly a Veteran’s organization, as we have had many comments about how the eBike could help them out.”

Tons of interest
In addition to the demo day with journalists in the Bay Area, they also held one in Santa Monica (the company is based in Southern California).

“There has been a lot of speculation about the bike over the past few days and we want to assure you that it is real, it exists and it is quality,” the co-founders promised on Indiegogo. The event immediately sold out, so they are planning more events in other Southern California cities.
For more and video: http://www.businessinsider.com/ebike-raised-32-million-in-10-days-2015-2#ixzz3RS3WtXOT