logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2020
1h 10m

Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh

Guy Raz | Wondery
About this episode
Growing up in rural Northern California, Mike Radenbaugh hated biking to high school—it was a 16 mile slog; hilly and tiring. So he scrounged up a battery and a motor, rigged them to an old mountain bike and began cycling to school without breaking a sweat. When Mike's neighbors starting asking him to motorize their bikes, Rad Power Bikes was born. He eventually designed an eye-catching e-bike with fat tires and a throttle that could push any pedaler to 20mph. Today, Rad Power Bikes is the largest e-bike brand in the U.S., and has barely been able to keep up with demand since the pandemic began.

Pre-order the How I Built This book at:
https://smarturl.it/HowIBuiltThis

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Today
Advice Line with Norma Kamali of Norma Kamali (2024)
Iconic fashion designer Norma Kamali joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early stage founders. Plus, Norma shares her take on balancing a strong creative vision with the financial realities of building a worldwide brand. First we meet Ahmed in the ... Show More
50m 34s
Jul 7
Rick Steves' Europe: Rick Steves (2021)
Rick Steves spent the summer after high school backpacking through Europe on two dollars a day—sleeping on the floor, sneaking into museums, and subsisting on a diet of bread and jam. When he came home, he found people were hungry for tips on how to visit Europe on the cheap, so ... Show More
1h 17m
Jul 3
Advice Line with Jim Koch of Boston Beer Company (August 2024)
Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three founders about finding product-market fit.Today, we meet Kim, whose tropical-inspired apparel company in Florida is venturing into the rum market. Then Llance from Washington ... Show More
51m 11s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2019
Electric Bikes | 7
Harley Davidson built its brand on big, loud and heavy bikes. So why is the company staking its future on an electric motorcycle? It turns out Harley's main demographic, baby boomers, are aging out of the motorcycle scene and the company is looking for its next target market. But ... Show More
27m 33s
Jan 2021
Comment transformer son vieux vélo en vélo électrique ?
Si le vélo a fait un retour en force ces dernières années, ce sont surtout les véhicules à assistance électrique qui ont gagné en popularité. Cependant, tout le monde n'a pas les moyens d'acquérir vélo, skateboard ou trottinette électriques. Problème résolu avec le kit Clip, perm ... Show More
1m 47s
Oct 2022
The Safety Bicycle
The basic mechanics of the bike are pretty simple --- it’s basically a triangle with wheels and a chain drive to propel it forward. No batteries or engines. It seems obvious in hindsight .... And that’s why most people guess the bike was invented a long time ago. Yet the ‘running ... Show More
33m 17s
Aug 2019
Harley and the Biker Wars - The Hog Is Born | 2
It’s 1903, and Harley-Davidson is entering the spanking new motorcycle market. Of the hundreds of fledgling brands, the bike to beat is Indian, and Harley has the company in its crosshairs. But a decade later, Harley is on the defensive, scrambling to distance itself from the dea ... Show More
23m 49s
Jul 2021
Biking More To Get Rich #389
You might be saying “Yea, yea- we know Joel and Matt love biking…”, but did you realize that you’re literally missing out on millions of dollars by driving instead of biking? We crunch the numbers for you in this episode. So if you’re not biking, you should really give it another ... Show More
49m 17s
Apr 2021
Pedal power: How bicycles can change lives
This is the story of how one man is trying to transform lives through the power of the humble bicycle. Many rural communities in rural Africa don’t have access to cars or good roads, which can make it hard to take fresh produce to market or get to school. But Wyson Lungu wants to ... Show More
24m 1s
Apr 2019
Bicycle
The bicycle was to prove transformative. Cheaper than a horse, it freed women and young working class people to roam free. And the bike was the testing ground for countless improvements in manufacturing that would later lead to Henry Ford’s production lines. Tim Harford considers ... Show More
8m 59s
Aug 2019
Harley and the Biker Wars - The British Invaders | 1
By the late 1940s, Harley-Davidson has become America’s leading motorcycle manufacturer. The family-owned Milwaukee brand has battled hundreds of companies since its first bike rolled out of a backyard shack in 1903. Now they’re facing the birth of the outlaw bikers, disenfranchi ... Show More
24m 38s
Aug 2019
Harley and the Biker Wars - The Freedom Machine | 5
It’s 1969, and the iconic film Easy Rider stars Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson and—most prominently—Harley choppers. It boosts the brand’s cool cred even higher with the American counterculture, much to the chagrin of the aging, conservative company owners in Milwaukee. They’ve long ... Show More
25m 8s
Dec 2019
Evan Friss, "On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City" (Columbia UP, 2019)
Evan Friss, an associate professor of history at James Madison University, historicizes the bicycle’s place in New York City’s social, economic, infrastructural and cultural politics.On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City (Columbia UP, 2019) curates a history ... Show More
49m 26s