Jason Bushby, a transportation design student at Northumbria University in the UK, recently designed “a bicycle for the non-enthusiast” as his final project. As you can see from the image shown here, he built a working model/ prototype of his design, which he calls the Prelude. Jason had contacted me some time ago to tell me about his project. It was around the time that the commuter bike for the masses design competition was coming to an end, and he pointed out that he was planning to tackle many of the same issues that commenters had brought up here on the blog. From his initial research, Jason determined that “the main contributing factors for people not using a bicycle for local trips were visibility in traffic, carrying belongings, durability, security of the bike and its accessories.” His design intent was to address those issues, while keeping the cost low, in order to develop a bike that would encourage new cyclists.
The first thing that you will likely notice about the Prelude is the integrated lighting in the frame. Jason explained his idea behind that element of the design:
“Night riding is inherently dangerous to cyclists. Small lights can easily get lost in traffic putting cyclists in danger. The Prelude bicycle improves safety at night by using electroluminescent lights for the rear and side, while using a 1-watt LED bulb at the front to light the way. This increased surface area of light allows the bicycle to be seen through 360 degrees. The placement of the lights follow the frames outline creating a recognizable symbol of a bicycle.
The lights are powered by a battery pack attached to the bottom of the seatpost inside the frame. The batteries are recharged from the dynamo front hub enabling the lights to never need any external power source other than the power produced by the cyclist. The electroluminescent wire is encased in silicon protecting the electrics from the elements. The Integration lighting system is not only convenient but also reduces the risk of accessory theft.”
I wish that I could share the entire pdf file that Jason sent to me, but I had to choose just a few select images. Hopefully this is enough to give you the basic idea. Jason is interested in hearing what people think of his concept, so any feedback on the design is welcome.
Update: You can now see Jason’s pdf file here.
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