Pure Fix Cycles, a bike company, Burbank

EMPLOYEES: 1

FINANCIALS: Revenue of $750,000 in 2011; revenue of $4 million projected for 2012.

Pure Fix Cycle co-owners Zack and Jordan Schau, Austin Stoffers and Michael Fishman, who have known each other since kindergarten, had wanted to start a business together for a long time.

So when the four L.A. natives saw an increase in the popularity of “fixies” –fixed-gear bicycles, originally used for track racing but now something of an urban fad – in Los Angeles, they thought they could bring the craze to places such as Wisconsin.

“We just wanted to try anything,” said Jordan Schau, younger brother of Zach.

Fishman and Stoffers were then studying at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

“We thought, ‘Wow, if we bring it to the Midwest, where this isn’t really going on, we could really kill it out there,’” said Fishman.

So, with no prior bike industry experience, they started the company during winter break of 2010. A manufacturer in China sent their first batch of 165 bikes to them in Los Angeles. Once the bikes got there, the word got out to friends and local dealers. They sold out within two weeks.

They had planned for Fishman and Stoffers to go back to the Midwest and take orders for the bikes during the spring semester.

“But when we got back to Madison, no stores were really interested because it was so cold,” said Fishman.

So they dropped their plans to sell directly to the Midwest and instead built the business in Los Angeles, eventually selling the bikes to retail chains for nationwide distribution.

Today, a year-and-a-half later, their orders have increased to several thousands fixies a month. Aside from the hundreds of companies throughout the United States that they sell to, including Sports Chalet and Amazon, Pure Fix also has customers around the world. Although California is still their leading market, their second biggest is Puerto Rico.

“We even have a distributor in South Korea,” said Zach Schau. “And we didn’t even contact him. He found us.”

Pure Fix is expecting to quadruple last year’s revenue for 2012. The co-owners are working toward releasing both a performance bike, which is for more experienced bikers, and a kid’s bike this summer.

In addition to coming up with their next business ideas, the four friends, who never knew much about biking before, have now gotten into riding long distances during their free time.

“I think the deeper we get into the business, the more passionate we become about the product,” Zack Schau said.

– Yasmeen Al-Shawwa