Locally manufactured and custom-made
How can active mobility become a sustainable and individual experience? Another possibility for reconceiving the bicycle and better adapting it to individual needs is through ergonomic optimization, so that each bicycle becomes distinctive and personal while at the same time optimizing the mobility experience. This becomes possible through the digitally supported data capturing of the bodily dimensions of the individual user and the corresponding adaptation of the bicycle frame through the insertion of individually manufactured frame parts through 3D printing. Through this concept, “Frame One” offers a customized bicycle (design: Felix Pape and Mervyn Bienek). To begin with, the dimensions of the projected customized bicycle are determined by measuring the user and taking into account his or her personal riding habits. An individualized frame that conforms to the individual’s physical needs is created on the basis of a frame algorithm. Finally, the frame is manufactured locally on-site using 3-D printed sleeves and readily available, cost-effective, semi-finished products, and outfitted with the appropriate accessories. The personalisation of the bicycle not only allows functional and aesthetic adaptations, but also reduces health problems by significantly improving cycling posture. The bicycle’s design and the manufacturing process facilitate a local, intelligent, cost-effective production approach that counters the pull of mass production. Felix Pape and Mervyn Bienek are developing and marketing the “Frame One” through an independent, extracurricular startup, and have already realized a functional prototype.
Type of project • Student project, Applied project
Students • Felix Pape, Mervyn Bienek
Supervisors • Prof. Peter Eckart, Dipl.-Des. Julian Schwarze
Status • completed
Duration • 04/2016 – 07/2016 (subsequent development as startup)
Funding • Hessen Ideen (grant), Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (EXIST-startup grant)
