rhode island school of design students create an unconventional 70cc commuter bike

two juniors from the rhode island school of design have designed and fabricated a 70cc campus commuter bike as an independent project. they have always been drawn to cycling, in order to get around the city as fast as possible. in providence, rhode island, parking is a hassle, which has inspired a motorbike design that incorporates the portability of a bicycle.

70cc campus commuter bike

with no prior bike-building experience, caspar nagel and kalil grinberg began their project with 5 weeks of research regarding bike building, frame geometry, and familiarizing themselves with the language of motorcycles. then, they proceeded to sketching out ideas and turning those ideas into rough mock-ups to get an overall look of the bike. they chose a 70cc engine, which made it easy to work on without an engine hoist and would make the finished bike light and compact. ‘we considered the design of the fuel tank, and noticed that it would add visual clutter to bike. realizing we could simplify our design by building the fuel tank into the frame, we created a tank underneath the seat.’

the bike is light and compact

the finished bike incorporates a playful color palette which translates the do-it-yourself nature of the project and unconventional design elements.

bike details

fuel tank underneath the seat

unconventional design elements

the finished bike incorporates a DIY nature

the motorbike design has the portability of a bicycle

caspar nagel and kalil grinberg

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: apostolos costarangos | designboom