UC Student Participates in Bike-Design Competition with Co-op Employer

University of Cincinnati Industrial design student Christian Lange is competing in a national bike-building competition with his 

cooperative education

 employer, 

INDUSTRY

, a design consultancy in Portland, Oregon. 

INDUSTRY is one of five agencies competing in The Bike Design Project where selected agencies from five U.S. cities compete to create the ultimate urban utility bike for the everyday rider. For the project, INDUSTRY partnered with the veteran bike-builders at 

Ti-Cycles

, to develop the next-wave urban bike with the goal of reshaping urban mobility.  

Christian joined INDUSTRY this summer as an Industrial Design co-op student. He participated on the bike project team during the design phase by providing 3-D CAD assets. During his co-op experience, Christian designed the bike's rear rack in collaboration with Robb Hunter, UC alum and lead designer of The Bike Project, as well as Oved Valadez, co-founder of INDUSTRY and creative director for the project. Christian also developed and organized additional CAD parts and retouched the final photographs of the bike.

Christian has thoroughly enjoyed his co-op experience with INDUSTRY and feels that it has been an awesome experience.

"During my time at INDUSTRY, I have been fortunate enough to work on some amazing projects for global clients – many of which will go to market with my impression left on them," Christian stated. "I’ve been able to apply and test the skill sets I learned in school, as well as learn new skills and tricks from the people I work with. Being in the professional environment has really forced me to take the quality of my work to the next level."

INDUSTRY’s team and design process has been featured monthly on Fast Company ("Creating a Bike" and "Inspire Everyday Cycling"). The final physical bike, called SOLID, has been shown at various locations in the community throughout July. Public voting is currently available until Aug. 2. Voting allows the public to choose the bike they want to see developed into retail availability. Through the project's innovative partnership with Fuji Bikes, the winning bike design will move from concept to production, arriving at bike shops in 2015.