Rich Kronfeld felt like he was always one idea away from a good invention. The Golden Valley resident would often page through issues of Skymall Magazine and think to himself, ‘I could have invented that.’
Finally, while riding his bike to work one day in 2009, Kronfeld had his “aha” moment. Inspired by the need to create a bike that could travel great distances and shelter its riders from Minnesota’s winters, the Rahtmobile was born.
Short for Recumbent Automotive Human Transport Mobile, the Rahtmobile is a type of covered, electric bicycle. The bike’s pedals are connected to generator that uses human power to continually charge the bike’s battery.
And while the Rahtmobile is on display at the Minnesota State Fair this year, Kronfeld’s idea almost didn’t come to fruition.
In late 2010, after convincing his wife to invest some money to design the Rahtmobile, Kronfeld joined the Minnesota Electric Auto Association.