Bicycles predated consumer radios by at least 50 years but as soon as radios and their battery cases became physically small enough to mount on a bicycle, many attempts were made and a few were even documented in newspapers and magazines.

The magazine article at left from 1934 details mounting a early vacuum tube radio along with it's batteries on a bicycle and instructions for constructing and mounting a loop antenna on top of the radio. Notice the radio chosen is not large enough to power a speaker and headphones would need to be worn by the rider. Read an earlier article from the 1920s here.

It wouldn't be until just before World War II that a radio designed by Motorola specifically for bicycles would appear in radio stores and bicycle shops.

After World War II the vacuum tube bicycle radios manufactured offered smaller battery packs or had the batteries installed inside the radio case. By the later 1950s transistors were replacing vacuum tubes in bike radios and in addition to smaller sizes, features like internal ferrite antennas, integrated headlights and horns began to appear.

Today's bike radios can fit in the palm of your hand, play your digital music collection and can have built in GPS giving you maps, your location. speed, direction, altitude, and more.