With this project, I was tasked with creating a product centered around sustainable design.
Inspired by the encouragement of cycling in urban areas, I started by sitting along Chicago's lakefront's bike trail and made observations of what I saw.
These observations are crucial to understanding the wants and needs of cyclists from many different backgrounds. From this point, I made insights, thus pointing to areas of potential innovation.
Since I was concerned with encouraging cycling and increasing the aerodynamic and energetic efficiency of cycling, I created sketches that encompassed these themes.
Below: Sketches combining an aerodynamic shroud with the prior insights.
I decided to combine an aerodynamic shroud with a short-wheelbase recumbent bike.
Recumbent bikes already have a much lower drag coefficient than traditional bikes, so combining that with an aerodynamic shroud has huge potential.
Additionally, Divvy bikes have done wonders for promoting cycling in urban settings, with some of which being electric. The efficiencies gained through an aerodynamic shroud and a recumbent design could mean much further distance per charge.
I then made some keywords that I wanted the user to resonate with while riding this type of bike.
Below: My concept sketches of the idea based on the list.
Now with a clear vision of an electric recumbent bike with an aerodynamic shroud, I took my sketches and inspiration to Rhino.
Below: Orthographic views of the finished bike in Rhino.
Lastly, these are my renders of my bike, created in KeyShot and edited in Photoshop.
