Kevin's new bike

Everyone who's ridden an organized ride in Michigan, especially a long ride, knows Kevin Degen. Kevin has ridden PALM 22 or 23 times. One year he missed it because he was doing an awareness ride across the country that ended in Washington DC. During that ride he rode thru snow (he hates cold) and thru 100 degree heat in the desert (he loves the heat). Kevin rides a trike using one arm and one leg. (Don't shake hands with him when he uses his good hand. He could crush coconuts with it.) He's been riding the same trike for years. I've lifted it into his car. It's heavy. Sturdy, but heavy. Reliable, but heavy. And old. Two years ago the St. Hupert's youth group rode PALM and met Kevin. They decided that he needed a new bike. So they held fund raisers and raised over $10,000.

Everyone knows Kevin. A group of Toyota engineers met Kevin on the MS 150. They volunteered to design the bike. Several bike shops researched components for it. A framemaker from Grand Rapids welded the custom frame together. Last Sunday at St. Hubert's community center in Harrison Township, we all got a first look at it and met the people who put it together.

The Toyota engineers outlined their design objectives. The bike has two wheels in the front. The engineers said that was so that Kevin could get on and off the the bike easier (because the top tube is lower) and so that the bike would be more stable. (They are still not happy with the stability.) 90% of the bike is off the shelf components. This was because the engineers figured that Kevin would be biking everywhere so part availability was critical. The engineers captured the layout of his old bike digitally and duplicated it on the new bike. This means that Kevin will have exactly the same riding position on the new bike as on his old one. Overall the engineers from Toyota have invested over 400 hours in this project.

The Toyota engineers realized that they didn't have all the expertise they needed so they reached outside. They had the bike shops pick the components and steer them to where to get the tubing. When they needed the frame welded, they didn't do it themselves: they went to somebody who builds frames for a living.

It was very interesting to hear the engineers. If you asked them a question (like, Why aren't the front wheels at an angle?) they gave you a good reason (It would stress the wheels differently. You could build the wheels differently to handle the different stress, but this would mean that the wheel was no longer an off the shelf item.) You could tell that an awful lot of thought went into each part of the bike. They did a lot of detail work: for instance, they picked a shifting mechanism that would be easy to use with one hand so that Kevin could shift on hills which he couldn't really do before. He would just power up them.

The bike needs some more work. In fact the Toyota engineers may decide to go with a two wheels in the back design if they can't overcome the stability problems. Even in that case, all the components will be transferable. They are committed to finishing the bike in time for the current bike season. I can hardly wait to see it on the road.