A chat with Susann from Rad3

I've been 3 years in the cargo bike industry, working at probably the most recognised brand in the sector, Larry vs Harry. I could easily talk about how good the bike is, how people I meet rave about the Bullitt and so on. But what I love the most, and what I discover year after year, is the community around it. Around the Bullitt, yes (that part I'm paid to say). But also cargo bikes in general (this part I might lose my bonus for).

Those 3 years led me to the creation of this platform. It gives a meaning to what I do. The sense of community is often forgotten in our daily lives. We work because we have to. Try asking around you: how many would say their job is useful for society? And that's not a criticism. It's to say how lucky I feel to be able to say that. Because we're surrounded by people chasing a meaning.

And that's also the case of Susann.

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She's a legend. Like a proper one. This chat felt a bit like talking to a mentor. The setting was probably not the most ideal (in the kantine at VeloBerlin), but it was the only warm spot we could find at the fair. And Susann made me forget the noise around us for two hours.

We met the day before while at the booth of Velogut. A week earlier I had reached out to Susann, asking if she'd be OK to answer a couple of questions so we could write a blog post for opencargo.bike. She immediately said yes, asking if we'd meet at VeloBerlin.

So here we are in the kantine. Susann asking me: "Did you bring the questions with you?" Truth is, I had them on my phone. But the other truth is, I didn't want to make an interview. I wanted to have a chat with another human dedicating her life to cargo bikes, a hardware shop, and the people working with her at Rad3.

She's the grandma you wished you had. And that's what I told her. I don't want an interview. I want the full story.

She did sell it quite well the day before by saying: "You know Vince, I have a grandson. I have a lot of grandma stories."

I was in for a treat.

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Susann's encounter with cargo bikes was not a written path. In 2014, she was part of the organisation of the Degrowth Conference in Leipzig. I told you she's a legend. She was organising the camping ground for participants and needed a generator to let people charge their phones. She had heard of a cargo bike shop doing rentals in Leipzig. That shop was called Rad3. Bear in mind that in 2014, shops carrying cargo bikes were a rare species.

And that's how she met the Bullitt.

A few months later, she came across one of Rad3's founders again. But this time the founder didn't have the normal smile on. You know these stories where you have a founder with a crazy idea, one very structured, but they don't get along? Well, long story short, that's when Susann made her entry into the cargo bike world. Not as a shareholder, but as CEO to make the ends meet.

Rad3. Leipzig. Where 13 plywood products are born.

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And 12 years later here we are in Berlin, sitting and talking about how Rad3 went from a rental shop to a maker.

Back at the time, some accessories didn't exist for the Bullitt. But the demand for family cargo bikes was growing. Parents needed a safe, enclosed box. Nobody was making one.

And that's when Riese & Muller came out with the Packster. A cargo bike with a box made of plywood panels that you could easily mount and dismount yourself. Think of it as IKEA, just for cargo bikes.

So her colleague looked at the Packster and thought: let's do that for the Bullitt. The first thing they were afraid of was that R&M would see it as stealing their design. So the first move was to post on social media, showing their Bullitt KidsBox v1 to the world, to see the reactions.

R&M liked the post. Subtle green flag.

On Rad3 went. And it was that same colleague who took the project in his own hands. Production, shipping, customer support. Susann didn't need to manage it. She empowered it. That's how she works. In her words: "I work with humans, not human resources." When someone wants to own something, she lets them own it.

That KidsBox v1 became the KidsBox V2. Then the KidsBox X for the longer Bullitt X frame. Then canopies for rain protection. Then the BasisBox, a modular plywood base that turns the Bullitt into a hauler when you don't need the kids setup. Then the Schutzdeck, a protective deck plate. Covers, cushions, replacement parts.

Today: 303+ products. All plywood. All Bullitt. All built in Leipzig. Shipping internationally, there's even a customer in New Zealand waiting for one. All born from the same logic: parents needed something, nobody was making it, so Rad3 made it.

And then they had to find a line. It ended up being something like: "Inspired by Riese & Muller. Made for the Bullitt. Built by Rad3."

See what we're talking about when we talk about the ecosystem? Everyone inspires each other. Everyone pushes each other to be better, to do smarter stuff. A box designed for a Riese & Muller became the blueprint for a whole product line on a different bike. That's not competition. That's how an industry grows.

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But Susann is not just Rad3. Every Wednesday, she works a shift at Fedor Gross, a hardware shop in Leipzig that's been around since 1904. They saved it through a crowdfunding campaign. It's one of those places where every drawer has a specific screw, bolt, or rivet that you didn't know existed but desperately need.

"If someone needs to rebuild an Eiffel Tower, we probably have the right rivets."

It's not a random side gig. Fedor Gross supplies the hardware for Rad3's accessories. The bolts in your KidsBox V2 might come from a shop that's been selling hardware since before either World War.

Susann at Fedor Gross. Wednesdays. Since 1904.

That's Susann. Cargo bikes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Hardware shop on Wednesday. Community all seven days.

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She's also an engineer by background. When e-bikes started taking off and her mechanic wasn't a fan of the new technology, Susann was the one doing the diagnostics. Because someone had to. And because she could.

That's what made me fall in love with this conversation. Susann doesn't manage people. She reads them. She knows when to step in and when to step back. When to take the e-bike diagnostic herself and when to let a colleague own the KidsBox project entirely. She works with humans. Not human resources.

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And when I said it was like talking to a mentor, despite it being the first time we'd met, one piece of advice I will remember from her:

One project at a time. Finish one before starting another.

Unless: the idea is so good that the first will become obsolete. Or it will be so useful for the first idea to work much better. If not, finish what you're doing.

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So if you're looking for someone who'll give you the best advice in Leipzig, call Susann. You might end up with a grandma story. Apparently her coworkers prefer sometimes not to hear them. But if you have the chance, you should.

You can find all of Rad3's products on their maker profile on opencargo.bike, or visit them at rad3.de. And if you're ever in Leipzig on a Wednesday, stop by Fedor Gross. You might find the right rivet. You might find Susann. Both are worth the trip.

To all the Susanns in the cargo bike world: thanks for riding cargo.

— Vince

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