Jon Fairbanks of Scituate brought his mountain bike to college
in Worcester to get around campus, and to get away from academic stress by
riding the trails in Boynton Park and the nearby Appalachian Mountain Club land.
He didn't know he'd end up using it to get good grades.
Fairbanks and three other WPI seniors majoring
in mechanical engineering designed and built a full-suspension mountain bike for
their yearlong senior project, a key piece of their academic portfolio.
Their bike won first place among all the design projects at
WPI, and second place in a regional contest of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers.
Fairbanks' own Specialized Stumpjumper
came into play during the build, before the group had all the parts for their
creation. The students raided Fairbanks' bike for parts.
Fairbanks, Keith Levesque of Nashua, N.H., Matt Morin of Holyoke and Chris
Lambert of New Gloucester, Maine, all had their own bikes at school, but none
has both front and rear suspension. Lambert came up with the project idea, and
the biking buddies were immediately enthusiastic.
They designed
the bike on a computer, and shopped around for a bike manufacturer to weld the
frame, the only part they couldn't do themselves at WPI. Christian Jones of Rhygin Cycles in Boston took the job and got
them components at cost.
The students machined the parts for
the rear suspension, an original configuration separated from the drivetrain,
Levesque explained, "so as the rear wheel travels, the chain doesn't change. And
when you hit a big bump, the pedals don't move.''
Most of the
testing was done on computer. The fun part was the real-life riding, mostly on
steps and curbs and speed bumps on campus. "It felt better than I expected,"'
Levesque said. "The computer tells you what will work but you don't believe it
until you try it."
"It's stiffer'' than some off-the-shelf
models, said Fairbanks, who is a Category 4 road racer with the Mass Bay Racing
Association and won the B series in last year's New England cyclocross
championships. "And no 'pogoing' -- the suspension, not the drivetrain, moves
when you pedal hard, and the cranks don't move when you hit a bump."
The students knew they were on to something hot, but still they
were surprised that the project judges were so impressed. "There's so many
complicated projects,'' Levesque said. "People are building plasma thrusters and
stuff, things that go into space, and we built a bike."
They
hope to patent their rear suspension design and find a manufacturer for the
bike, which they figure would sell for $2,500 to $3,000.
Two
other WPI cyclists, Carl Verner of Manchester, Vt., and Jay Krajewski of
Manchester, Conn., designed and built a mountain bike suspension seatpost for
their senior project. "You suspend the rider instead of the bike," Krajewski
explained. "It keeps the seat parallel to the bike at all times, and counteracts
the force of bumps."
"At first it feels eerie,"' Verner said,
"but after a few minutes it feels really natural and you forget it's there."'
There are similar seatposts on the market, Krajewski said, but
the students' internal elastomer is an original.
~~~
A
friendly rivalry has developed between the Seven Hills Wheelmen and the
Charles River Wheelmen over national
recognition for their summer centuries. In March, Outside magazine put CRW's
Climb to the Clouds in a list of the country's best bike rides. And the June
issue of Bicycling picks the
Seven Hills club's King's Tour of the Quabbin as its Massachusetts selection
among "50 Great Rides."
Climb to the Clouds is July 19 and
offers routes of 33, 45, 58, 75, 90 and 100 miles, starting from Bolton or
Concord. The 58- and 100-mile loops go to the summit of Mount Wachusett. Contact
Ken Hablow (781-647-0233).
The Quabbin ride on June 13 has options of 62, 100 and 125
miles, starting from Rutland, with the long rides going around the reservoir and
then some. Contact Rich Whalen
(508-756-3148).
Both events cost $5, and both centuries have
more than 5,000 feet of climbing. Vote with your wheels.
~~~
Meanwhile, MassBike
(formerly the Bicycle Coalition of Massachusetts) plans to show off more great
roads for cycling on a 360-mile bike tour July 19-25. Riders will start in
Arlington and camp out at schools in Holden, Northfield, Northampton (two
nights), Dudley and Taunton. Gear will be transported by truck.
Cost is $375 for MassBike members, $395 for nonmembers, including meals. There's
an optional century ride out of Northampton on July 22 for an extra $40-45. For
details, contact MassBike (617 491-7433).
~~~
Pennsylvania
State University won the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference championship last
weekend in Philadelphia and finished the season as the No. 1 Division I team in
the conference. The University of New Hampshire ranked second. Those two teams
and Yale, University of Massachusetts and the University of Pennsylvania
qualified for the national championships May 16-17 in Greenville, S.C.
~~~
TIP OF THE HELMET to the Minuteman Road Club for earning
fourth place in its size category in the nationwide Club of the Year rankings by
the U.S. Cycling Federation. Criteria included support for masters, juniors and
women's racing; coaching and clinics; racing performance, and the number of
races promoted. Minuteman, based at Frank's Spoke'n'Wheel in Framingham, helps
run the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic in July and presents the Sterling Classic Road
Race next Saturday.
On the Sterling race course, the finish
line has been moved closer to the Common -- at the top of the first rise on
Meetinghouse Hill Road -- so the race should be more spectator-friendly than
last year.
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