Cycling has become particularly popular over the last 18 months as people opted for fitness and
fresh air over public transport. But over the last few years, we’ve seen a rise in electric bicycles,
with deloitte estimating that the number of e- bikes in circulation to reach 300million worldwide
by 2023. One bike that’s taken the world by storm with particularly strong influencer marketing
is the Super 73, an American company inspired by small vintage motorbikes which were popular
in the 70s in California. But What is Super 73 and what is their story. Here’s how it happened.
First off, what is Super 73? Well they’re an American lifestyle adventure brand founded by John
Kim, Michael Cannavo, Aaron Wong & Legrand Crewse, which fuses motorcycle heritage and youth culture,
best known for their Electric Bike which has pedals and a throttle to breeze around town with
ease. With their long seats, parallelogram shapes, upright riding position, oversized
headlamps and big tyres, they’re reinventing the minibikes we used to see in the 70s.
Founded in 2016 the Super73 bike has proved popular worldwide thanks to it’s sleek design
and powerful motor, giving younger people access to more environmentally friendly transport. The
business is native to california, which saw it’s fair share of old school mini bikes back in the
day, which inspired the Super 73. A retro design with a modern twist. It’s become popular quickly,
but when the business first launched, they had to seek alternative methods of fundraising.
Following a positive reaction to their initial prototypes, the Super73 was switched to full
production, and looked to Kickstarter to raise the much needed cash. Their goal was to raise $25k
but they were slightly more successful, raising over $440k. They got to work and
produced the original, which turned heads and sparked imagination among their fans.
A year later and they launched the S-Series Super 73, the first of their vehicles to reach a global
audience. Following collaboration with Jesse Wellens with a Star Wars Halloween video, they
launched a Rose Gold bike ridden by Coco Rocha at New York Fashion Week. They’ve since launched
the Z version as well as a PSG inspired bike and as of 2020 they’ve rebranded with a new logo and
website as well as creating a more advanced drive system and mobile app as the business has grown.
A significant success for the business has been using influencer marketing to sell their product,
albeit indirectly, particularly with big time youtubers Jesse Wellens and Casey Neistat who
not only made specific videos about the bikes, but used them frequently in their videos.
This helped the public to become aware of the brand and the style which has now seen
the reach go further, even Will Smith and Post Malone have their own Super 73 bike,
Post Malone’s being a 24kt Gold version. Speaking of success, the beauty of the Super73 is that
it’s still classed as an e-bike rather than a motor vehicle, therefore you don’t need a
license or registration to drive one, making it accessible to anyone who can ride a bike.
The fat tyres mean you can ride anywhere at up to 32mph.
This meteoric growth has meant that the business is now known worldwide, with agreements being
made in different countries to work with local dealers, like Voltes in the Netherlands who are
the official dealer and maintenance partner. But what’s more impressive is that it raised $20mn
from investors in February 2021, led by Volition Capital which will be used to grow it’s team of
75 staff, improve customer service and expand the product line. They always set out to build a brand
and a lifestyle rather than just designing a bike and the celebrity endorsement has come about not
because Super 73 have paid up, but because these celebrities have fallen in love with the bike.
The new investment is welcome and means they can further improve the speed,
power and creativity within the company and the bikes. It’s come at the perfect
time just as bikes in general are seeing a boom in popularity. Despite being just 5 years old,
Super 73 are positioned perfectly as they’ve not only designed one of the most popular e-bikes,
but they’ve built a brand that will stand the test of time. And that’s how it happened.