PEDAL (AND) POWER; ELECTRIC SYSTEM LICENSED TO SCHWINN.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Small, young Currie Technologies Inc. has given bicycle giant Schwinn the power to pedal into the emerging market for electric bikes.

Currie, co-founded about two years ago by former Hughes Aircraft Chief Executive Malcolm Currie, has signed a licensing agreement granting the Boulder, Colo.-based bicycle maker exclusive use of its propulsion module system.

The technology gives an otherwise ordinary bike a burst of power with the flick of a thumb control and comes in handy, say, on one of those pesky hills that can sap the energy of even the hardiest cyclist.

``It's a bike first, an electric bike second, and it gives you all the power you need,'' said Richard Mayer, the company's co-founder and executive vice president.

Schwinn Cycling & Fitness had been looking for just the right technology to propel it into the electric bike market, said Gregg Bagni, vice president of marketing for the company.

``This will be our very first electric bicycle,'' Bagni said. ``The way we look at it is we now have access to what we think is the most innovative . . . electric bicycle on the market today.''

Bagni isn't the only one enthusiastic about the marriage between Currie and Schwinn.

This team could be the one to charge up the market for electric bicycles in the United States, said Gary Coffrin, owner of San Jose-based Coffrin Group, which provides industry research and consulting services to bicycle manufacturers.

Electric bikes - which emerged in Japan in 1994 - are becoming increasingly popular in some countries overseas, but have barely rolled into the United States, he said.

For example, 253,000 of the total 8 million bicycles sold in Japan last year were electric bikes, he said. In the United States, by contrast, only 8,000 electric models were sold out of 11.5 million bikes, he said.

And in Europe, just two or so years ago there were no manufacturers or suppliers of electric bikes, Coffrin said. Now there are 64.

Unlike the electric bikes produced overseas that derive their energy through pedal power, Coffrin said, Currie's technology depends on a throttle that, flicked on, provides the bike with the power the rider wants when he or she wants it.

That makes the bike more versatile, and potentially more attractive to consumers - particularly the 76 million aging baby boomers who are likeliest to buy the bike, and who grew up in an era when Schwinn was synonymous with bikes.

``It could speed up America's acceptance for the electric bike, and the visibility of the electric bike, by a solid year or two,'' Coffrin said about the team. ``The reason I believe that is that of all the names you can put on the product to appeal to the aging boomers, the number one name, I believe, by far is Schwinn.''

Currie had already been selling another version of its technology, the U.S. Pro-Drive electric bike, through independent dealers and Sports Chalet, Currie Vice President Jack Pentlarge said.

Once the current Pro-Drive inventory is depleted, other bikes produced by the company will carry the Schwinn name, Mayer said. Currie and its dozen or so employees will remain in Van Nuys.

``Schwinn will have a technologically advanced propulsion system,'' he said. ``It is exclusive to them.''

``We think that Currie has come up with a system that answers most of the objections that have been raised'' about electric bikes, Schwinn Chief Executive Officer Tom Mason said, pointing out that Currie's system is lightweight, operates in all weather and can be easily serviced at bike shops.

Under the licensing agreement, Schwinn will essentially be funding Currie, Mason said. ``We can turn that to an equity stake in the future, if we wish,'' he said.

Schwinn plans to showcase the bike at the Interbike Trade Show in Las Vegas on Sept. 11, according to Bagni. The bikes should be on the market around year's end and sell for about $900.

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PHOTO (Color) Currie Technologies Executive Vice President and co-founder Richard Mayer shows one of his company's electric bikes in Van Nuys.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News