First I want to thank all of you who have emailed me with design submissions in the last month or so. I really do enjoy seeing conceptual designs from students or from anyone for that matter. I have quite a few submitted designs in the queue to post, but I just have been insanely busy lately with work and other projects. If you did submit a design to me, I probably have it in my “to post folder” and I will get to it at some point. If you didn’t already do so when you first sent it, please send a short paragraph explaining the concept in your own words (I have very limited time for blogging right now, so I’ll probably post it faster if I can just be lazy and directly quote the designer- see below).

OK, on to the post. I am sort of going in the order that I received these submissions, and this one was sent to me a little over a month ago. Pictured here is a prototype of a commuter bike that Nicholas Hardrath designed while he was a senior at MIAD in Milwaukee. I’ll let Nick explain the design concept in his own words:

The Bicycle was my 2004 senior thesis project at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). I was sponsored by a local shop (Wheel & Sprocket) and had help from the guys out at Trek bikes in the early development stages. My overall intentions were to design a user friendly commuter bike that is easily adjustable and has built in accessories like lights and storage. At the same time I wanted to change the aesthetic to draw attention to the bike in itself, if you can intrigue someone with a product there’s a chance they might be more apt in experiencing the product. Currently I’m altering details of the design to accommodate parts and then building a fully functional prototype.

So there you have it. Thanks for submitting your concept Nick. Look for more student design bikes in the near future on Bicycle Design. Stay tuned.