In 2015, more bicycles were sold than new cars registered in the UK (3.5 million vs 3.21 million). The vast majority of bicycles sold in Britain are imported, mainly from the Far East.
This project aimed to create a product that could be manufactured in the UK and offer a unique user experience to a customer by including them in the building, assembling and customisation of their own bike frame. The final design of the bicycle frame kit is a result from a breadth of user research and testing undertaken, along with technical design development and a focus on the production and manufacturing processes. The first prototype was produced using CNC machining to cut the frame parts out of MDF. This was to prove and demonstrate how the bicycle frame could be manufactured in the future.
The latest prototype has been produced out of Maple using hand and milling techniques, check out the video to see how this was done. Future aims for the project will be to work on developing the production process to improve the viability of the product for the UK bicycle market.
Project features on the Brunel University website as one of their showcase design projects.
Fellow Brunel Alumni Sam Does Design sketched the final maple bike at New Designers 2017.
International platform StudentDesign shared the project on their instagram.
Tech presenter, Jason Bradbury, highlighted his enthusiasm for New Designers 2017 by tweeting about the bike. #bikeporn
Client/For
Brunel University
Project Type
Product Design
Date
2017