Bakcou

Bakcou got its name from a lawsuit. The Ogden e-bike company was called Backcountry eBikes until Backcountry.com, the Park City online retailer, sued it and its founders over the word in its name. The two sides settled on confidential terms, and the bike company came out the other side as Bakcou. The new name keeps most of the old one's letters.

The fight had been building for a while. In 2017 and 2018, the Salt Lake Tribune reported, Backcountry.com sent Dave Andre letters asking him to stop using what it called infringing marks. According to the suit, Andre denied there would be much confusion between the two companies and kept using the word. The complaint called the bike company's conduct "extreme, outrageous, despicable, harmful, and/or in reckless disregard" of the retailer's rights, and it sought punitive damages.

Backcountry.com had filed trademark applications on the word "backcountry" in October 2018 and then went after several small companies that used it. A social media backlash followed in late October 2019, and on November 6 the retailer dropped one of its lawsuits and apologized. The e-bike company had already renamed itself. Andre told the Tribune the settlement terms barred him from discussing the case.

The bikes were the point all along. Andre and Bryan Child describe themselves as hunters, and the company says it began with a wish to reach remote country without engine noise and with as little disturbance to wildlife as possible. Gear Patrol notes that hunters have long liked electric bikes because they are quieter than gas machines and give off fewer smells. Elk notice that sort of thing.

The company says it never wanted to sell a conversion kit, meaning a mountain bike frame carrying a motor it was never designed for. It designs each frame around the motor and drivetrain instead. In 2022 it added the Kodiak AWD, with a Bafang hub motor in each wheel, and Andre said the goal was the flexibility to switch power from the rear wheel to the front.

The frames come from manufacturers in China, according to Really Good Ebikes, a retailer that sells them, which points out that many big names in the bike industry do the same. Ogden holds the headquarters, with a showroom and a stocked warehouse on Wadman Drive. Bikes ship with step-by-step build videos for the last bit of assembly at home. The e-bikes carry a one-year limited warranty, and the frames get a lifetime limited warranty if the original owner registers within 45 days.

Child has spent time at the Utah Capitol as well. The company says he was instrumental in crafting the state's e-bike law, which caps an e-bike motor at 750 watts. A machine over that limit with no pedals can count as an eMoto, which has to be registered and insured like a motorcycle.

That line explains the newest machine. The Puma X22 SD, which Bakcou sells as an eMoto, has a motor rated at 6,000 watts and a top speed of 77 mph, Gear Patrol reported. Nobody hunts at 77 mph, so the quiet bikes stay in the lineup.