As the school bell rings at 3:30 pm, the student exodus begins, with everyone running as fast as possible to get to their afterschool activities. All of a sudden, you see a flame-haired man in his leather jacket casually slap on a helmet, hop on his motorcycle, and ride off into the sunset—more accurately, the maddening traffic on Chesapeake Street. Wondering who this main character is, we made it our mission to expose the man behind the helmet and his underlying skills: Jake Hamilton.

But hold your horses, or rather, e-bikes—Hamilton isn’t some mysterious guy from the Southside Serpents. He’s a senior here at Jackson-Reed who’s owned his own mobile e-bike repair shop since August 2022. What ignited this? A post-gym banter with a stranger who complimented Hamilton’s ride (which has a range of about 60-70 miles, 45 horsepower, and “the ability to go faster than most sports cars,” while only being about 150 pounds). What’s more impressive is that Hamilton built the bike himself and it only cost about $5,500 in parts, an amount much lower than any mainstream equivalent would go for. Fascinated with his work, the stranger asks if Hamilton could work on their own bike—becoming Hamilton’s first-ever client.

Fast forward, Hamilton has become a master of electric mobility, serving clients with a diverse range of vehicles: scooters, bicycles, and motorcycles. Google agrees—his enterprise proudly claimed the top spot of these past years when you looked up, “e-bike repair shops.” His business has gotten so large that he has had to turn away clients, having “90+ different clients, many being returning customers” since that August.

When beginning his business, “Electric City Bikes” was one of the only mainstream e-bike repair shops in the DMV. “[They can charge] up to $200/hour and sometimes [won’t] even repair the bike,” reports Hamilton. In contrast, Jake’s e-bike shop costs $50-80/hour, which is still a substantial amount for a high school start-up, but incredibly low compared to competitors. In fact, Hamilton offered completely free diagnostics for new customers! 

Hamilton could be seen whizzing around the streets of DC as he attended to his up to 10 customers a week. His shop was entirely mobile, meaning that he traveled to his customers, not the other way around, making his service extremely convenient. Hamilton liked to “arrive on [his] bike [he] built so people have a little more faith in [his] skill.” As he started this booming business at just 16 years old, he’s definitely faced some obstacles as a young entrepreneur, but his clients always end up “very satisfied by [his] talent.” 

After two very successful years running, Jake’s e-bike Repair Shop has closed its doors this winter as Hamilton is soon to begin the next chapter of his life, furthering his education at college. Although it will be closing for the school year, he still plans to be active during the summer or holiday breaks. 

While to many here at Jackson-Reed, Hamilton may just seem like your average, bubbly redhead, but despite his youth and doubts, he extends his expertise beyond our school with his occupation and passion. “It sounds really hard to start a business, but it’s much easier than you think it would be. If you have a strong idea, go for it!” 

Hamilton wishes to leave his clients in best conditions and inspire people to do what they feel passionate about, despite the hesitations, hardships, and workload that might come with it because doing what you love will always pay off!