Drew Palos: Community, eBikes, Collaboration, Mobility | Turn the Lens Ep26

Cold Open

Drew, I will just count us down and we will go.

Absolutely.

All righty. In three, two.

Jeff Frick

Hey, Welcome Back everybody for another episode of ‘Turn the Lens’ with Jeff Frick Coming to you from the home studio. And I'm really excited about this next episode. This is somebody I've known for a long time. We've done some interesting things together, and he's a specialist in developing community and everybody wants to develop community. Everybody wants to build a developer community, open source community. It's a really important thing. And why I wanted to invite this guest in is because it just doesn't happen by accident. It takes a lot of work, a lot of investment. So I wanted to go to the expert. So welcoming in through the magic of the Internet all the way from the Los Angeles area. He's Drew Palos, the Director of Events and Community for Super 73. Drew, great to see you.

Drew Palos

Great to see you, too, Jeff. Yeah, excited for this. I know a long time coming from knowing you for many years now and Yeah, excited. I mean, who doesn't want to build community who doesn't want to, like, hang out with good people good friends, new and old, And jumping on that bike is always a good time.

Jeff Frick

I love it. So full disclosure. So Drew and I have known each other. I had to look it up. The first time we got together was, I think in 2017, you know, 2019 at a Champion ride down in Los Angeles. So Drew put on a group ride and full disclosure, I own a Super 73. I bought it. I love it. It's an S1. And he had this group ride at Champions. And I went to check it out. And it was pretty amazing to see both the group of people that came together for this event, kind of this association with Champion, you know kind of a brand that was kind of up and on the rise. So Drew put on a group ride and full disclosure, I own a Super 73. I bought it. I love it. It's an S1. And he had this group ride at Champions. And I went to check it out. And it was pretty amazing to see both the group of people that came together for this event, kind of this association with Champion, you know kind of a brand that was kind of up and on the rise. So it was a really cool thing. And that was the first time we met. And I thought, ‘Wow’ this is interesting because, you know, let's face it, an electric bike is an electric bike. You know, they got wheels, they got a frame, they got a motor, they got a battery. So what differentiates one from another is really community. And I think Super 73 is an amazing kind of story or case study in taking what some people might view is kind of a commodity type of product, but really going way beyond the product to develop this lifestyle brand and this lifestyle community. So, how did you get involved with this in the first place? Drew

Drew Palos

Yeah, so a little bit of my background came from electrification. I used to work for K1 Speed, which is an indoor Go Karting company. When I started back in 2011, there was maybe about six centers and they're all electric go karts indoors. And then now, gosh, maybe they have over 50 here in the States alone and a maybe I believe overseas too. So electrification was I guess kind of in my blood since 2011, handling the marketing there, working with the teams there, social media, general contractors, managers, people on the ground at different centers, working with the locals there, the local chambers as well, just promoting sustainability, the electrification, getting away from those normal kind of gas carts that were around. There was one here locally that I still remember as a kid, jumping and just smelling the fumes and going, Mom, you know, why am I smelling gas from riding these little cars? So it's amazing time.

I was there for about seven years and then kind of dipped in and out of a couple of different companies. But gosh, I was looking at digital trends, high consumption, those kind of digital publications, those media forms online. And I just happened to run into Lithium Cycles Super 73 Original 2016. And I'm like, ‘Hmmm’ I've never heard of this brand. I don't know who they are. Clicked on the article, read a little bit about the founders and who they are and what they do, and the product itself found out that they were literally down the street in my hometown in Tustin, California, here in Orange County. And I was like, okay, well, maybe I can just give them a call, swing by, or maybe I could just swing by and just kind of surprise them and walk through the doors. This little small, little tiny warehouse in Tustin where I was met by Anh who actually is still one of our admins here at the office, got on the bike. I loved the product. It was super fun, but it was really the people meeting Michael and Legrand and Aaron, the co-founders of today, just getting to know them more, becoming friends with them. And I said, ‘Okay,’ there's you have something here. I actually want to get a bike and I want to find these people and start riding with them, too. And that's kind of where this kind of community started forming, I think with the Boosted Board and some other other PEVs started seeing what they were doing and then we kind of applied that to what we were doing and me just off the whim, getting a bike and kind of finding some of the these people. We started forming these groups of just friends going out and riding and just having a great time. So that's kind of the gist of, you know knowing them very early on Kickstarter days till now being gosh, several hundred people under as employees under our belt and being not only having a headquarters here in Orange County, but also in Rotterdam in Amsterdam. So it's been a just a huge growth for the past couple of years now.

Jeff Frick

Yes, so how many people were there when you joined approximately?

Drew - Gosh, I think seven, maybe, 7 to 10.

Jeff - Seven, wow

Drew - Yeah.

Jeff - Amazing

Drew Palos

So there was and there's still a couple that are here as well. We have a Karoline the designer.

We have MAC, who's customer service, of course, the co-founders there as well. Josh, who is the head mechanic, he's still with us as well. So there's still some people from like the old regime that still have that passion, that love for the brand, and especially with then Lithium Cycles and and several years later, now Super 73, they still fly that flag right.

Jeff Frick

So just a couple of things for people that are less familiar. And I looked it up. So it was founded in 2016 and it was a Kickstarter. And it's kind of funny you don't hear much about Kickstarter anymore, but at least according to Wikipedia, I think the target goal was 25 grand ($25,000) and Michael put out a video that that went hot and you guys or they raised over $400,000 on a $25,000 ask which is just amazing. And then sure enough, like 2017 as you mentioned, Casey Neistat, you know, busts on to the scene and that's what got me into this whole thing, as you said, riding this Booster Board all around Manhattan, just going, Wow, this is cool and really kind of opening my eyes up to what's going on with electric and what you can do with electric and I think I picked up my Super 73 in a, I looked it up, 2019. Yeah, 2019 March 21st,

because I think, you know, there's Boosteds and there’s OneWheels and there's all these things that people see, scooters and but I think electric bikes are the great crossover vehicle.

You know, it's a platform that people are comfortable with. Everyone, not everyone. Most people, you know, learned how to ride a bike. It's something you can sit on and is familiar.

So I think it was really interesting how kind of these forces came together and exploded kind of the heyday of the influencer Jesse Wellens' the Star Wars video. I mean, these were the things that got everybody excited. And that's when I jumped in and said, this is a really cool community. So talk about, the investment that you guys have made a little bit in terms of, you know, how many events are you doing a year, how many group rides, you know, are you do you even know about and then how many group rides are kind of out there that are self-organized within some of these super squad communities all around the world?

Drew Palos

Yeah, no, that's a great question.

I know we have our own official meetups and rides and ‘Super Socials’ is like what we like to call them as well. Here in the States, of course we control a lot of that. And then over in the EU with our our office in Amsterdam, our EU team has counterparts over there that are creating these activations and pop ups with brand partners like we do here in the States. But when it comes to the community alone, whether we're hosting it or a community members hosting it, it's just been absolutely amazing just seeing the growth and it being like just so organic as well, not forced. I think, when it comes to like motorcycle chapters or any kind of like membership, maybe there's a little bit of sales component, a little bit of promotions on that end and I'm not saying all of them, but I think some of them you kind of get maybe that feeling a little bit where you have to pay a certain amount of subscription to be a part of this. But for us, there's no subscription. If you have a Super 73 or any electric vehicle, you can be a part of this, this movement, the Super Squad. So it's really cool to see that dynamic to where we'll host some things like a Super Social, for example, we have one November 11th at the Bike Shed here in Los Angeles where the Los Angeles Super Squad is coming together and they're in downtown L.A. It's absolutely insane. The 6th Street Bridge and the arts districts and tunnels and bridges and things that you can kind of move around on on two wheels, whether you're on the bike lane or on the street itself and just a guided kind of like tours that we've had to with like murals, you know, seeing all the Kobe murals because we're big Laker fans down here, it's just amazing just seeing the people kind of come together and show that, Hey, the common thread is this vehicle, is a Super 73 or anything that you're on because we're about being inclusive, not exclusive. We want to know. We want to let people know that when it comes to this, two wheel movement or four wheels, if you're on a Boosted board or any type of vehicle, come in, enjoy this ride, have a great time, and just really be a part of this family, a part of this community. And it's really cool to see that whether we’re essentially organizing it or not or coordinating it, they're seeing a lot of the stuff that we're doing and they apply it to their ride. So they see we're working with Sena Bluetooth, which is a local company here in Irvine with Bluetooth devices. They're more, of course, for cycling and motorcycles. But for us, it's just so easy to pop it on a helmet and they have different devices to pop it on any helmet that you have. But that's how we can communicate organizing these rides. Hey, I'm the leader, you know, and there is a couple of people behind us for safety reasons. They can peel off, make sure people are taken care of, and there's no one left behind as well. That's the safety measures we kind of instill in these communities and let these people know that the hand signals are great, but when you have communication to where you have a helmet on and if you're not riding by this person, you could be, you know, a several lights back and talk to someone and go, hey, there's an oncoming traffic or maybe there's a detour that's coming up. You could tell that person that we're turning left here to make sure the group is organized and knows that we're going to be turning left here. So it's great to see these kind of communication features and safety features, not only what we're doing here in California, but instilled in all these other communities around the world.

Jeff Frick

I'm not letting you off the hook that easy. So how many weekends are you doing? Are you doing group rides? You don't give me the real number. But I mean, in the summers and every other week, I mean, you guys are out. You guys are out a lot. And I really want to highlight the commitment both because if if you want to develop community, you got to be ready to invest and it's not easy. And you got the van and you got the the tables and the tchotchkes and, you know, it's a real investment to organize people, get them together, have a venue, have a route. Absolutely. So, I mean, what are you out there? Every other weekend during the high season? Or someone from Super 73?

Drew Palos

Yeah, high season.  Honestly, it’s every week something's going on, whether it's a pop up activation or a group ride. Personally, for me, I I try to be involved as much as possible. People will see me popping in and out, whether it's in the beginning or hosting the whole thing or towards the end. But yeah, it's for me, I think it's every other weekend I’m at something and whether it's a weekday or a weeknight or a weekend, a lot of these people here in Southern California, here locally, if I'm not traveling somewhere, will see me either leading a ride or helping out a ride or supporting a ride because I really want to show these people to, hey, yeah, it could be a little bit intimidating hosting a group and being that leader, but honestly, you just go through this process and make sure that everyone's in the know and you have people who are there to make it safe. Then the group's going to really feel comfortable and know that, okay, you know, this person, Jackie, led the ride this time in L.A. She did an amazing job. I'm going to now tell my friends and family they should come. They should be a part of this. Whether you're on another vehicle or a Super 73, be a part of this movement. So, yeah, every every week there seems like there's something going on whether it's here in California or in another city.

Jeff Frick

And the other thing, you talked about it briefly but I want to double down on it is, Super 73 is a brand. You've got, you know, a few models of bikes, but you are very inclusive in this group thing and in this community thing, both within e-bikes in general. So if somebody doesn't have a Super 73 but has a different a different bike or people, as you said, that are on Boosted Boards or OneWheels or EUCs (Electric Unicyles) and I think there's going to be a whole nother revolution of new form factors, especially for older folks that are some some variant of like a golf cart, if you will that that combines little motors and little batteries to help people get around and avoid those three mile car trips. But how did that come about in terms of the inclusitivity? To really think of it as a movement and as a group? And yes, Super 73 is important and your brand is important, but not to the exclusion of trying to build a bigger thing and be part of a bigger thing.

Drew Palos

Yeah, to touch on that, Yeah, being inclusive on that realm, I started to see kind of very early on that, you know, some people didn't have that ‘Lithium Cycle's Original 2016’ and we didn't want to exclude them in any means. This was an interesting movement back in 2018 to where several people had a couple of the Supers, and then there were some more people with the whether DIY or they're on something a little bit faster or on four wheels, like a board started joining some of our rides and we got to know them as people. And that's really what's great about this is that the community gravitates towards towards those people. The common thread, of course, is the vehicle, but really getting to know these people, whether it's their families or, you know, different walks of life, it's just amazing to see, regardless of your age and race and religion and political views, anything that's all thrown out there. The common thread is really getting those people together who have that vehicle, who have that passion, and they just want to talk to you about, well, look at your board or look at your bike. I have this, I have that. They'll show that they will share their ideas. Where did you get that accessory? It's that fun kind of like aspect to where it's not so not so corporate. And yes, we are a corporation, we are a brand. But you really don't feel like that once you meet our customer service rep, our bike tech, who's passionate about the brand and gets on, commutes every day from work and home or to school and back, it's really refreshing to know that this culture, especially company culture internally, really exudes out to the public and they see that we're just also community members as well.

Jeff Frick

Right. I want to ask you about one of the more challenging aspects of it, and that's it's kind of a good news, bad news, like everything in life, right, is the whole customizations piece of it. And this is a really unique piece. I brought a friend to the group, right, that we had in Las Vegas. And, you know, his take was, my goodness, every single person has a different Super 73 because everybody puts their own touches on it, whether that's bags or changes out the seats or the tires or the handlebars or adds this, that and the other at the same time, you know, you've got liability. It's your product. And you know, you think of you know, kind of ‘right to repair’, which I don’t think has been a huge thing for you guys. But you think about as as products have more and more software and they get more and more complex you know kind of the lines between what you can repair and what you can't repair, you know, kind of this accessories, yin and yang. It's great when people build their business on your brand. At the same time, you know, there's opportunities and you guys are going to evolve over time. So have you seen kind of those two big issues, accessories and right to repair and still being a tight community and letting people do kind of their own thing, you know their own flavor of what a Super 73 means to them?

Drew Palos

Yeah, what's nice is we really lend to that whole motorcycle culture. It's that whole ‘Motorcycle Heritage fused by Youth Culture’ is in our mission statement and we really do feel like we do feel that, especially with that community and seeing all these different things, whether it's third party stuff like Blur Boundaries and LuminAID  and KANEBILT and IRV Labs, I mean, I could go down the list of all these people that I know personally as well that became good friends. And that's I think too, it's these people who are Super 73 owners, friends that saw this niche. They saw Well if Super 73 isn't making it now, or maybe it's down the pipeline it’s not a priority, I'm going to make this product because I know well for them, of course they’ll make money, but also ‘I want this on my bike’ and I see myself helping out and supporting this community that's near and dear to my heart, which is great. So customization cosmetic wise is is definitely what we lean on more. You know, adding that basket, adding, you know, an aerial Aerodisc on the wheel just for looks different grips, pedals, things like that is you know, in our wheelhouse. And we'll have of course components too from our accessory line.

When you dip into the whole electronic components with the controller, the motor, the battery, things like that, that's where it gets could be a little bit muddy. There is kind of like a fine line and a grey line when it comes to that end You know, things that we, of course celebrate and support are those ones that are more cosmetic. But when you do kind of dip into the legality wise, liability is a huge thing. So if you have a short in you installed some component that's not ours and there's a short you know, unfortunately that voids the warranty on our end. But you know, there's all these different platforms on online to let you know, okay, there's at least someone here community support that will get you back up and running, whether it's working with us and customer support or there's a people online that, ‘Hey, this happened to me too.’ Sorry that it happened. But here's some components that could get you back on the road so you're not dead in the water.

Jeff Frick

Right. So a different topic. We talked briefly. You know, that first group ride I was at was at Champion I got some co-branded gear that you guys were making on site, but you've done a ton of collabs. Wonder if you can share kind of the strategy with the collabs, with some of these other brands. And then the other thing, I don't know if you're doing as much or how functional or intentional, but you know, getting bikes in the hands of people who are going to have a good brand presence, whether that's, you know, Casey Neistat or I think some basketball players, are even on them, which is crazy that the bikes are not that tall. (laughter) But talk about, you know, kind of the brand collabs and then also, you know, kind of the influencer marketing,

Drew Palos

Yeah. I mean, like you touched on with Casey Neistat, that was absolutely amazing and organic as well. It's not like we're telling these people, here's some money, here's our product, now go tag us and go crazy. That became kind of more of a viral hit with him having that thumbnail with the S1 and the camera. It was just so iconic. And then talking about literally that whole episode, talking about the bike itself and his, you know, ways of, or means of transportation in New York City are just all over the place. And of course, he still uses his Booster Board a lot. But our, this bike, this S1 was something that he fell in love with as well, which was amazing, but collaboration wise Pacifico and YSL. And there's just so many other brands like you've mentioned already, Mattel and Hot Wheels. These are some of these brands that we align with very well to where of course, you know, days to months to years, sometimes when it comes to these collaborations and making sure that these true partnerships are put in a good light and that, you know, both entities and designers are happy with the product itself.

But yeah, we're seeing just huge growth on that end because we can only reach people so far with it as an e-bike brand, a lifestyle brand, a culture. But then there is these people who are already ingrained in the Mattel's and the Hot Wheels and Pacifico cultures to where we're now touching them going well, you know what? I'd never really thought of, you know, jumping on an e-bike or an electric vehicle and maybe that kind of spurs something on there and going, Well, I like this brand. I love this brand. Maybe I live and breathe this brand. ‘Oh’ well they collaborated with Super 73 “Oh’ I want to start you know, I want to know what they're all about. Now I'm going to do a little bit more research and I find out there's a dealer, a retailer that's close by or I found out that I have a friend or a family member that has one too. And then that starts that whole conversation of, okay, well, that happy marriage ended very well and we could continue with this marriage, which is great because with Mattel and Hot Wheels and all these other ones, it's not just that one. It's not just a one shot like a one and done. There's a continued partnership that's ongoing, which is great.

So you mentioned, I think the influencer side, too, is that we're lucky enough not to go out and have to seed these type of people. They're coming to us and then we have this kind of Rolodex, this contacts list of these influencers, celebrities, athletes, who ever they are that want to be on our brand, which is huge. So it's not like, Hey, we're paying you to endorse us. It's hey, we like your brand, we like the bikes, we like the product. We want to I want to integrate that into myself as an influencer creator or my brand. And it's really cool to see that dynamic of kind of that shift because I know in agency life you see those endorsements and I know with college too the NIL name image license. I know those college kids that are making money off of these brand deals and sponsorships. And for us it's it's pretty amazing not having to spend spend budget on these type of things. And it happens organically of I'm on this bike, I like it enough to where I'm going to tell my followers and my fan base my network that this is a Super 73 and this is the one. You know, Customize it. I built this and something to touch on that too is like a Paris Hilton. Never would have thought that we would be working with someone like that and Amazing Lady and came to the offices and showed us what she could do with the bike, adding her spin and her flavor to it, and then seeing her post and going to Burning Man and all these other different areas and activations And it's just cool to see you know, the Paris Hilton's to the Mychal Thompson, which is an ex NBA Laker, champion as well. Seeing you know, a gentleman that large being on a Super 73 and being so passionate about it too. He has several at his house here in Southern California. And I had the liberty to actually go and meet him and visit him. He had the garage door open. He was there greeting me, said ‘Hi’, shook my hand. He had an issue with one of the bikes, one of his derailers on his on his RX was a little bit off. And then he candidly told me ‘Hey’ one of my sons came down and they started ripping the bikes around. And I think maybe he laid it down. So this is probably the issue. And I said, Not a problem Mychal, We will take care of you. So it's really cool to see.

Jeff Frick

I knew Klay (Thompson) had one I didn't know Dad had one, too.

Drew Palos

Absolutely. Yeah. Dad was the first one to reach out to us and he got to know Aaron Wong, one of our founders really well and talk about that whole, I mean, Klay being up in the Bay Area, Aaron from the Bay Area as well. Went to school up there and lives up there and now his parents are up there as well, having that fun kind of dynamic of you can have anything. But you reached out to us because you saw this product, you got on it, you love it, and they continue to ride it, which is super cool.

Jeff Frick

So how many of the collabs are kind of showcase designer one offs versus we're actually going to go into production and make this particular model?

Drew Palos

Yeah, there's a there's a fair mix. There's some like YSL, there's another one that I can't say right now, that’s going to be in production fairly soon You've probably seen maybe some of some pop-up activations happen overseas with this particular brand that is going to be in production. So there's like Pacifico doing giveaways, There's a couple other collaborations where there's maybe 20 to 25 that were built

Jeff Frick

Like a limited edition kind of thing. Like a super limited edition kind of thing. Limited run.

Drew Palos

Yeah, absolutely. And YSL is in that same mix Okay. I think they 20 - 25 very limited.

Jeff Frick

So that’s it, It's a limited run special feature.

And then I wonder if you could speak so on the influencer thing, I think it's really interesting, you know, even Apple on their VR goggles, and they and there's no bigger brand or more powerful brand than Apple even they had influencers where they pre-released it to like Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) and other people so that they could do the review. And you know, what's interesting is you don't like you said, you don't get control. You know, if you have Jesse Wellens out running around on Burning Man on his bike with his dad, which was a super cool video, a big part of why I got mine. But you don't have control, but you're getting these other benefits. I wonder, you know, if you were to speak to another marketer that says, you know, we're thinking of kind of releasing our stuff to the wild with these people, but you just don't know what's going to come back, which is, you know, kind of the deal that you make if you go down that path. It's obviously worked really well for you. What would you say to someone who's trying to think about dipping their toe into, you know, kind of user generated content? I hate this word influencer because we’re not talking about Kim Kardashian specifically, but, you know, but using really community generated content as a significant piece and a meaningful piece in your go-to-market strategy.

Drew Palos

Yeah, do your homework. That's for sure. There's some people out there that may not fit your brand very well, whether it's in-person or on a Zoom or a Google meet, Face Time, whatever it is. Getting to know these creators before you do hand over your product or something that you've built, whether it's, you know, months or years or whatever it is, someone could tarnish that right away with, you know, maybe bashing on your product or giving a bad review. So that's, of course, never fun. I know on our end, we definitely tried to, you know, make sure and let these creators know that here’s kind of the right and wrong things to do but not take that away from what they do. You know, they still have to talk to their network, talk to their community, talk to their fan base, and we're not here to go. Okay. You have to say, you know, at minute, you know, 15, you know, please mention @Super73 on Instagram blah, blah, blah. So definitely not, you know, doing that route. But let them know, you know, we have a mission statement. We have these kind of pillars when it comes to the brand itself that we want to hit the community is a big thing. The brand and design are big avenues that we hold near and dear to our heart as well, and hope that, you know, they make the right decision on, you know, really showing your product in a good light. I know there's other companies and agencies that have NDAs. They have certain contracts, and things like that where they can say this and they can say that or they can't say anything until that product is first released, like I see with Apple and Samsung and Google and everything else. We We’re like the disruptors. We don't want to kind of fit that norm. And we really, really like to see these content creators, these community members that do have this product really speak to, you know, why they decided to go with the Super 73 bike or accessory or apparel or anything like that under the umbrella.

Jeff Frick

Yeah. So That's good. You just talked about accessories and apparel. So I want to talk a little bit about kind of the company growth and that includes line extensions. That includes, you know, a different thing. I had a really interesting conversation with an executive of a major League soccer team here in the U.S. and he said, you know, one of his biggest challenges was they had these, like hardcore fans that had those people not existed in the early days, they probably wouldn't have been able to stay in the market, but they weren't necessarily the most family friendly. They were like the hardcore screaming, you know, soccer fans that thought they were in Europe someplace. And then, you know, but they're trying to expand their base and bring in families and have more family-friendly areas and all that stuff. But just he had a conflict between kind of the old fans and the old thing that made it what it was. I assume for Super 73, like the OG 2016, people are probably, you know, if they could get that bike, they would love that bike versus trying to expand into clothing. You guys have introduced a kids line. You know, you've teased out the new motorcycle, whatever it's called, the C1X which you’ve teased. So how is that kind of, you know, how are you seeing that as the community manager? You know, feeling some pressure to be pulled some other ways outside the core? Is the core still the way to go and those other things follow along? How, how are you going to, you know, kind of grow and develop and change the community, go to market as these new lines and these new product extensions come on board.

Drew Palos

Yeah, I think on our end this new kind of I think the core itself is still there that culture is still there, especially with these new lines that are out there now are saying, it's kind of like when you jump on a Super 73, you could be 7 (years old) or 73 jumping on this full lineup now with this K1D, a kids electric balance bike all the way up to the C1X that's an electric motorcycle. Where you’re going to have to have your motorcycle license, insurance. You know, the full gamut when it comes to owning a motorcycle. So it's interesting to see that dynamic. And when it comes to the apparel wise, it's like now you have mobile billboards, you have people that are passionate about the brand itself, that are like, well, I want to show people that, you know, I'm a fan of the brand. I like it where it has 73 here, which are small little icon hits. I wear the hat, whatever it is, it kind of shows that you're a part of this brand. Maybe it's bigger than yourself and maybe you're saying, okay, well, this is something that I want to be a part of, and I want to show people that this is something I have passion for. And Super 73 is is a brand that that I you know, they essentially believe that they could. It's just like wearing like Nike and Adidas and Supreme and all these different things where it's like that lends to you, it speaks to you and you have this on your chest, your hat or on any kind of logos anywhere, socks, apparel, this kind of shows like a reflection of yourself,

There you go. That's one of our older ones, which I love seeing that. I know even before I got hired in 2016, there was that shirt with the little red hit on the side that the co-founders used to wear. And we didn't make another round. They didn't make another round of those. But I wish I did have that, but I have everything else under the sun that I still wear, whether I'm out with family, whether I'm hanging out with the squad. It's just a fun, representation of like who you know, who you are as well and that you're a community member too.

Jeff Frick

It's funny, said a bunch of brands, but didn't say Harley Davidson. And you said, you know, you guys are stealing a little bit from the motorcycles. I don't know if it’s a little too hardcore, but I mean, there's no better brand than Harley Davidson that people literally, you know, tattoo to their body. And I think it's a great case study in terms of passion and community and accessories. And, you know, clearly they got the group ride thing down pretty well. I want to shift gears a little bit. And again, you're out front. I've watched some videos getting ready for this you’re out in the stores, especially on these group rides, visiting dealers, you guys are direct, but you also have dealer community. And the good news is these things do take some maintenance now and then. So there's a great opportunity for dealers to add value and adjusting things and swapping out brake pads. It's not you can do it yourself, but not everybody wants to. How is that kind of worked out? It's kind of a modern, you know, direct-to-consumer company. But you've also got dealers. And then now to, you know, as you mentioned, you're in Europe. I know you got a great dealer. I met them down in Australia. So talk about, you know, the kind of conflict or how that works out together.

Drew Palos

Yeah. Shout out to Ben Bucker (Boards) in Australia amazing distributor as well as dealer down there and it's been amazing to see his growth on his end. Drew - Not just Super 73 Jeff - I have one of his t-shirts too, I don’t have it on though. There you go. Yeah yeah. I mean that's his, his like, the icon that they have of Ben Buckler. I love that logo and the way it looks too. Touching on that too is when it comes to the retailers and dealers, distribution network, it's awesome because we don't have any flagship stores other than the showroom here in Irvine. We're going to be moving out of that location in the next couple of months and then having everyone in-house at our headquarters just down the street off the 405 here, they become an extension of us a brand extension for sure, and some will be more of a lifestyle retail play like a Jack’s Surfboards or like, say, a surfboard brand or a snowboard brand. or a shop or skate shop that has that just sell Super 73s and maybe has some accessories. And then there's other dealers that have the full gamut. They're a bike shop. They could do service as well, not only on our bikes but other two-wheeled vehicles too.

And we're testing out this maybe the past four, five, six months authorized service centers. (ASC) So we do have some here locally that they are tagged as an authorized service center. Our customer service team picks up the phone, can call the dealer and let that dealer know, ‘Hey’ we have a customer that's going to be coming in. We don't have the components. And maybe It'll take a little bit too much time. They can go to that dealer and that bike shop and get their bike fixed on hand. If the showroom, the service center, is backed up with customers that they got to take care of these authorized service centers in the area can take care of them in a timely manner. And I know that service itself, our program itself, has been working, and I know that there's certain proprietary components that we test on our own, whether it's the battery, the motor, the controller. There is this kit that these ‘ASC’s Authorized Service Centers will have to test these things like we do here at our service center. So it's amazing to see that kind of growth within our dealer network. And we'll see that even more come next year. More people will be interested in being these ASCs and part of this network to really grow and get the community excited about, ‘Hey’, I have my bike here. I know this is an ASC, I can bring it here, get up and running like this within the next couple of days. I'm now back commuting, hanging out with friends, you know, back on the road.

Jeff Frick

Right? So I know it's a little tangential, but it just popped into my mind, just like for the CX1 which is a real motorcycle. Will that have a different distribution strategy or is there, you know, a class of E motorcycle world that I'm just not aware of now that you know, there's other dealers that have similar types of products because that's obviously, you know, not quite the same as a little bit smaller, less complicated machine to work on in your garage.

Drew Palos

Yeah. What's great is we do have powersports partnerships. There's Indian Motorcycles, AEO (Powersports) and the list goes on Langston Motorsports, Malcolm Smith (Motorsports) here. So I just named a few here in Southern California that we work with that also are powersports stores and they already sell motorcycles, side-by-sides, ATVs as well as our products. These are the type of network that we're going to be leaning on

Jeff Frick

All right. Awesome. So I want to shift gears a little bit because as fun as e-bikes are and as fun as Super 73s are in group rides, I think there's a much bigger story here and I think you're part of a much bigger and more important trend and that's just kind of this ‘e’ everything and you mentioned it even before you got here. It was e e the carts, right? No more Malibu Grand Prix outside. When they move those, those Go-Kart places inside big one in Vegas. probably a lot of people have been to And I know like Alix who was there before you know she's been a huge a huge advocate of making sure you guys are in all the right places in terms of more bike-friendly cities and making sure electric bikes are kind of part of that and don't get excluded because I know there's some some conflict there. But as you've gone around and ridden in other cities and started to get a feel for, you know, your place and e-bikes place in kind of, this conversion of cities to have more more bike paths to have, you know, more car-free zones, to have more places designed for people and not necessarily cars and parking. I wonder if you can share some of your experiences. Where do you see what do you get excited about?

Drew Palos

Gosh, I'm excited about the infrastructure, the amount of money that's going to be poured into not only the infrastructure here in the States but globally. I know Amsterdam alone is essentially the Mecca when it comes to two wheels. Everyone's getting around on a bike, whether it's ours or not. And it's just amazing to see that kind of growth and people taking that and applying to, you know, their infrastructure, investing in their own community, whether it's bike lanes, bike paths or some other areas that are becoming Class two, Class one or two, you know, appropriate. So you could take your e-bike out on these trails to where it's not private BLM land like these, mopeds, not mopeds but let's say, yeah, dirt bikes that have some more power. They can only go to these kind of private areas. That's your destination. You have to get in a car or truck, go over there, and that's the way you have to ride out there.

But with us, it's everywhere, which is great. A lot of the places that we can ride, you know, whether it's on the streets or paths or national parks, it's amazing to see that there's a movement when it comes to these programs. And one big organization is People for Bikes. Massive, of course, here in the States, they have infrastructures all over the place. They deal with legislation, they deal with governing bodies and they have people from all over different walks of life, whether they're in electrification with the PEVs (Personal Electric Vehicles) or whether they're more of like the traditional mountain bikes and road cyclists. They kind of have this amazing ties with all these different organizations to help build out what Southern California could look like in a certain city. Or someone in Minneapolis, which I hear in Minnesota the infrastructure there is, I think, number one, the past maybe a couple of years now. which I'd love to be out there at some point. But yeah, as you see in Southern California, I've been in Hawaii a couple of months ago, I was in Utah, Colorado, going to be in Texas next week, Florida, all these different states.

You see all these different dynamics of, okay, you can be in this bike lane, but only class two vehicles or you can ride this road and It’ll say ‘May use full lane’ or all these different kind of avenues you have to take and the e-bike class laws to some states have adopted them and some haven't. So it's interesting to see that I could ride on the sidewalk here, but then in another county or city or state, I can't ride it here, which is always a weird, different, a weird gray area that's still out there. And hopefully one day they'll just be one big unified law for e-bikes itself. But I understand that it's still very, very new, and especially with an e-bike boom that happened during the pandemic. These people who are making the investment in this whole program, the e-bike laws and enforcing they're realizing that this is a massive movement. It's not going away. This is a big wave that's going to hit you and you can't just like, block it and just kind of veer off of it.

It's amazing to see even here locally, we've been to a couple of these e-bike summits that have been put on by the local enforcement and getting to know them a little bit more. San Diego County Bike Coalition has been a massive supporter with a bunch of resources. They host bike rodeos, they host e-bike summits. They work with local high schools, elementary schools. And we've been a part of that, too. And it's great to really get into those classrooms, talk to the parents, talk to the kids, hear more about what their challenges are with little Jonny on a Super 73 in his neighborhood with someone yelling at him, you know, just riding around with his buddies to people who are commuting back to work or school and then law enforcement knowing, wait, is that a motorcycle or is that more of a high powered e-bike, or what is this? Getting knowledge underneath them. Education, I think, is the big key to this. And hopefully there's more of that, not here statewide, but globally for people to know, ‘Hey’ I'm on a certain vehicle. Super 73 is a class two e-bike out of the box. I know that I'm legally able to ride in these certain areas, and there's some other more powerful vehicles that are out there that these, you know, local law enforcement are going to see. And we've unfortunately seen some people getting their vehicles impounded because their riding unsafe or they're riding a certain vehicle that's not supposed to be on the roads or the paths.

Jeff Frick

It begs the question, have you guys gotten big enough or do you have a dedicated person that's that's really kind of public policy, you know, focused in terms of, you know, doing that as a full-time day job and going to these things and helping to get uniformity across laws and rules and because, you know, that's a big part of your adoption, right. Is people's perceived and they've never been yelled at by anybody before they got this bike. Hey, what are you doing? And mine I, mine looks like a motorcycle on purpose. So people get really angry at me all the time. But are you guys, you know, taking a more formal role and you know, trying to change that landscape?

Drew Palos

Yeah, more of a committee at the moment, you know, Michael (Cannavo) which is one of the co-founders, our CMO as well, we both have kind of taken the lead, taking the charge internally here, and we have some other team members as well that have been helping out too, like our relationship with San Diego Bike Coalition People for Bikes and other organizations too, We’re making sure that when it comes to a brand like Super 73 and I can go to Laguna Hills, which is a high school here in southern California, 90 something percent of all their bikes outside locked up are Super 73s.

Jeff - Are you kidding?

Drew - And it's insane. Absolutely insane to see it looks like a dealership, you know, outside of a school.

Jeff Frick

Oh my goodness Well, the only thing worse is when they start driving Teslas, when they're 16, which is I don't know if that's even more crazy. These kids are driving, you know, super high performance cars, which up until a couple of years ago. Right. That performance was only available to the super rich or the super good drivers. Now it's the age where they're all getting the hand-me-down Teslas. It's like, oh my goodness. Well, that's wild.

Drew Palos

Yeah, that instant torque is pretty insane.

Jeff Frick

Right. Well, and also, they're just you know, they're just not as big, you know, because those are not super nimble bikes, especially with, you know, the big fat 20-inch knobs on them. It's not an insignificant thing to ride.

Drew Palos

Yeah. In some way. I mean the Z-Series is right around that 60 lbs. and the R-Series is right around that 80 (lbs) so I mean that's a good amount of weight and then add the rider weight as well. So it's a fair amount of weight coming at you knowing that our brakes, you know, from 2 to 4 piston brakes they can stop on a dime at sometimes, but again bike maintenance is is definitely the key. You definitely want to make sure that you know everything on the bike component-wise whether it's the shocks or your brakes, even the PSI in your tires really affects the way, you know, the ride could be and whether you could stop or not.

Jeff Frick

Right. So we're getting to the end of our time. And I just want to kind of bring it back to what we started with, and that's community. And I'm just curious if you have any advice for people, you know, kind of what not to do, is there some classic mistakes or just, you know, things that are just not worthwhile. And really, what should people kind of prioritize who are trying to build a building community. How should they really think about making that investment so that they have a robust, self-sustaining whether you're there or not, you know, they'll still get together and have this kind of mutual shared experience.

Drew Palos

Yeah, I think it's like be open-minded and don't be discouraged if it starts out small. I mean, that's how we started. It could be, you know, 1 to 2 people at first, and then the word will get out and maybe you start posting some things on social media to where there's a monthly ride, weekly ride, whatever it is in the community. Yeah, don't get discouraged. Start off slow, make sure communication is the key. Safety is a massive thing as well. Making sure everyone is is comfortable. You don't want someone to feel uncomfortable being on this ride and next thing you know they'll be writing on the Reddit sore or talking to their friend saying, I don't want to be a part of this community or this group because of their, you know, their experience. I know when it comes to community building, the big thing is just being inclusive. You're going to find these people riding on something else, which they could be potentially, you know, Super 73 owners at some point, but feel that, like, these are the people that you want to bring in, you want to talk to them, get to know them more. Maybe there's, you know, the common thread, of course, that brought you there was the group ride, PEV. But you get to know them personally. And I think that's what makes brings a massive value.

You know, I know for myself going to these group rides, whether we host it or not, I tend to go to whether it's L.A. or San Diego or some other city. And they know, ‘Oh’ I see you on the video. I saw you on the YouTube video talking about the latest firmware update or, you know, whatever it is online. And they know that I'm from the brand. They feel like, wow, okay, I could buy running shoes from Nike and I don't feel like someone from Nike is going to reach out to me going, Hey, you want to go for a run? You want to hit this marathon real quick with me? and with us, it's as easy as, Hey, we're still small, we're still a small business, even though we have, you know, Super 73 has that well-known name now. But we started very small. We're still have that kind of scrappy mentality of back in the Kickstarter days to where we don't feel like we're that important to not go to these events and not go to a smaller ride and introduce ourselves, you know,

Hey, I'm Drew with Super 73. Very nice to meet you. Oh, I want to see your bike. What components do you have? How did you hear about Super? How did you hear about this group ride? Where do you ride? You know, take us to your favorite coffee house or whatever. There's so many little things, little dynamics that are really cool to see when building these communities and seeing that flourish from, you know, Paris, France to Honolulu, Hawaii, all these different kinds of people from different life, different backgrounds come together because of the love of whether it's Super 73 or, you know, two wheels four wheels, PEVs. It's just such a cool dynamic. Nothing that I've been a part of, you know, anything with my previous careers, and that's why I'm still here. The passion is still there with this brand. The founders are, I consider some of my really good friends, and I think the community too. I became really good friends with them to the Elijah's from Blur Boundary, the Irvan from Irv Labs to, you know, everyone else in between. They were community members just like myself. And they started, you know, really liking the brand so much to make these companies to help out and support these people. So yeah, it's, it's really cool kind of people that you get in your network that become really good friends and they almost feel like family.

Jeff Frick

That's awesome. So just for a scale for people to know, I lied, I have got one more question for you. What's like the biggest what's like the biggest group ride that you've been a part of in terms of number of bikes approximately

Drew Palos

During the pandemic 2021, I believe it was, we hosted a big ride with Evolve Skateboards. I know their corporate office is overseas, but they had like a smaller office here in San Diego. We worked with them on hosting a toy drive. actually don't sorry, not a toy drive. It was an ‘Earthday Ride’ but we had people come in and donate for the local food bank. So of course, people are masked up. Social distancing was still a big thing, but 200 and like think like 230 people showed up. 230? Yeah. Think about taking care of 230 people. It was insane from our friend Joe, who's now in Las Vegas, who used to work for Evolve Skateboards and myself up in the front to all these other people in the middle and in the back, just making sure communication wise, we're all safe. We're staying to the right of the lane bike lane, as well as the street that was dedicated to us going maybe about seven or eight miles because the group was just so big. We wanted to kind stick close and not go as far. But yeah, just it's like herding cats. It's like you have all these people on all different bikes and boards and whatnot all around you, and you just kind of sit back and look and go, Wow, this community is just they're so passionate about what they're doing and they just want to be a part of something that's bigger than themselves. And it's cool just to see this sea of this electric mobility just passing by you and you're like, Wow, I could see then all these different cities.

We host a Super 73 day on July 3rd, and that's for the past couple of years since our five year anniversary, we've been doing that. We had one in person and then in the past couple of years. Of course, it's been more, you know, virtual digital. But it's cool to see that dynamic of these people just coming together, whether they're 20 or 30 or smaller or 100 plus all coming together for one common cause. It's hey, the love of the brand, the love of Micro-mobility, the love of you know their and they're just coming together, having a good time with each other, you know, sometimes maybe it's for a cause or it's just hey we're just having fun on a weekend. It's amazing to see these groups really invest their time and efforts to put these things together. And I give them a lot of kudos. If we're not the ones helping out or supporting, they're doing it organically on their own and we see it online and we see it in person when we do, you know, go to these cities on this roadshow. So it's really, really cool and amazing to see this kind of movement really start from a couple of people that were just on a bike or a board.

Jeff Frick: Right. That's awesome. And you guys are doing stuff and I mean, we’ve got to go but you doing stuff in racing and all kinds of stuff in terms of really looking for, kind of sub communities within the community or kind of sub activities within the activity to just, you know, methodically over time building relationships with people across all these different things, it's really a great story. And congratulations to you and and the team because I think it's such a big part of your brand and I'm sure you feel it at trade shows and stuff. There's probably a lot of cool bikes, but there's aren't many companies that really have, you know, kind of this brand passion that you guys have developed. That's awesome.

Drew Palos: I appreciate that. Thank you so much, Jeff, and just I mean, meeting you in person several years ago, till now. And I know we did a Super Squad Story on yourself and you're one of I think maybe eight or so that we did a couple of years ago. I consider you a good friend, and I appreciate you bringing me on here to talk about Super 73, the brand and the culture and the community.

Jeff Frick: My pleasure. Thanks for coming on. You know, I'm passionate about it and likewise. So great to meet you and and to have that opportunity to do the Super Squad thing and to actually lead the group through San Francisco one time which was which was very fun, which is very cool. And then I got that great video from the Vegas trip, which I share quite often with people because hard to do video when you're leading that trip.

Drew Palos: Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff Frick: All right. Well, that, I think we'll leave it there again. Thank you, Andrew (Drew) for coming on. I really appreciate the time today. Awesome.

Drew Palos: Thanks again Jeff, Appreciate you.

Jeff Frick: Alright. He's Andrew. I'm Jeff. Excuse me, Drew. He goes by Drew in the community. I call him Andrew. My son is Andrew. So I can’t help it he's Drew Palos. I'm Jeff Frick. You're listening to ‘Turn the Lens’ with Jeff Frick. Thanks for watching. Get out and get yourself a new e-bike. Get a Super 73, get outside music, movement, and fresh air. You can't beat it. Thanks a lot. We'll see you next time. Take care.

Cold Close: Clear. Clear. Awesome. That was awesome.