The White Lighting

In the second unit of Design and Engineering we learned about wheels, and we investigated the bicycle to better understand the evolution of transportation. For the last Action Project we were paired up with a teammate and had a scenario to build a scale model of our own innovative bike. Our client’s name is Peter, he lives in Hyde Park and is traveling on the Lakefront trail. Peter wants a bike that goes fast, but can help support his heavy backpack which tires out his legs. We made a bike that fits Peter's needs, called the White Lighting. What I enjoyed about this Action Project is creating the bike and making the model. What I struggled with was finding a name for our bike. Overall I enjoyed the Design and Engineering class, I learned a lot and will apply what I learned about designing in my life.

Created By JV & RD Bike 2015.

Our persona's name is Peter: he is 18 years old, lives in Hyde Park, and needs to get to school which is 11.5 miles away via the Lakefront trail. He wants a fast bike that will get him to school quickly. He likes to wear his backpack when he rides, which means he has to carry his heavy textbooks with him. This means his legs get tired quickly on the long ride to school, his arms get tired when they are in the same position for too long, and he has back issues. I interviewed my best friend to get some good feedback on what she thinks is best to have on a bike. She said “I like a lightweight bike so that way I can go fast.” This feedback helped me because Peter also wants a lightweight bike, so I decided to use carbon because it’s a light material to create a good frame.

The bike that we designed for Peter is The White Lighting bike; it has an ID touch handle bar, which identifies the owner of the bike, and the wheels have LED lights that turn on and off depending on how bright the sun is. The bike has handlebars that you can put your hands in and are also heatable. The seat has a back to it which provides the rider with more comfort and the seat is also heatable. The bike has a GPS which allows the wheels to move by themselves if the rider gets too tired. The GPS is water proof and solar powered, which means riding the bike more is better because they GPS will be powered.  It also has an adjustable speed, and the ID handle bar has a light that can be used for the night so that way the rider can have a better and clearer view. The bike has an adjustable basket in the back just in case the rider needs more storage space. The wheels are mountain bike wheels which would help with the snow and rain. Like I said before the bike is made of carbon which is a very lightweight material and the seat is made of nylon which will last longer during the winter and rain. The benefits of riding our bike is that you can go fast, you can change the speed on the GPS, it has cool LED lights, and it will provide you more support for your body with the chair seat. This bike is perfect for Peter because he does have to ride a long distance to get to school. The reason to believe is because my partner and I travel a long way to school, so we know the stress of carrying a heavy backpack and how tired you get.

Created By JV & RD Bike Model, 2015.

Since it takes Peter 11.5 miles to get to school that is 59 minutes. To find his average speed I had to divide 50 mins by 11.5 miles and that equals 5.13 meters per second and in miles per hour it would be 11.69. The wheel’s diameter is 26 inches, the circumference is 81.6. I got that number by multiplying 26 by 3.14. The number of times the bike wheel rotates is 60720 ft divided by 6.8 which equals 8929.4 rotations. Our model’s wheel is 2.36 inches tall, and the real bike’s wheel is 26 inches tall, so our scale is 26/2.36 or about 11:1. Peter is looking for a faster bike because he has to travel a large distance. He would want a big cog in front and a small in back so that he can go faster. The chainring in front will have 53 teeth, and the cog in the back will have 13 teeth, which gives you a gear ratio of 13/53 or .245. Our bike will demonstrate Kinetic Energy when Peter is riding down a hill because the bike is in motion, and Potential Energy when Peter is on top of the hill because the bike isn’t moving.


Citations:
Cardona, Nicolle, personal interview with biker. 11, October 2015.