Before he was the Founder & Chairman of North America’s largest ebike maker, Mike Radenbaugh was a teenager tinkerer. He’d spend hours in his parents' garage soldering spare electronic parts to an old bicycle in hopes of developing a better way to complete his rural and hilly 15-mile ride to high school.
The result was “The Frankenbike,” a battery-powered ride that could outpace cars — and get him to class without breaking a sweat. His mom suggested a catchy name for the new project: Rad Power Bikes.
Mike made a name for himself converting traditional bicycles to electric bikes, selling them by word-of-mouth, at local craft fairs, and through newspaper ads. Some years later, the “ebike guy,” as he was known to locals, had a vision for a professionally crafted, rugged, comfortable, and high-performance ebike that could replace car, truck, and SUV trips at a massive scale.
He teamed up with Ty Collins, his childhood friend and marketer, for an exciting next step: crowdsourcing the development of Rad’s first flagship product.
Within 30 days, Rad raised $320,000 to start building the all-new RadRover, an electric fat tire bike that would go on to transform the entire industry.
