A revolutionary new bicycle design, created at Purdue University by Industrial Designers…Scott Shim, Ryan Lightbody, and Matt Grossman, may give parents less concern when teaching their children how to ride a bike. The 16-inch-wheel bicycle looks like a tricycle, but as the child gains momentum and learns to balance, the two rear wheels shift inward to merge into one wheel. This causes the balance to gradually shift from the bicycle to the child. This was there first attempt ever at designing a bike before and you’d have to say they did fairly well. Their design topped 853 entrants from 56 countries to win the $15,000 first prize in the 9th International Bicycle Design Competition in Taiwan late last month.
Both Ryan and Matt have been students of Scott Shim and claim the three worked very well together. Ryan is a Purdue ID graduate who presently is a designer at Strategix Vision in Bosman Montana, Matt Grossman is a current ID student at Purdue, and Scott Shim is assistant professor in the College of Liberal Arts at Purdue.
