• Question: WHATS A CYCLE HACK?

    Asked by sofiaxx to Eleanor on 10 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Eleanor Sherwen

      Eleanor Sherwen answered on 10 Mar 2016:

      A Cycle Hack is a type of hackathon event where people make ideas of accessories/components for bicycles.

      Hackathons are normally 1 day or 2 day events where anyone, whether they are an engineer or not, can get a taste of what designing and creating is like. The workshop is run by someone with design experience who sets a topic to focus on, and helps everyone come up with lots of ideas. Then, the aim is to pick ideas and work together to make them real, with an actual prototype, by the end of the event. It’s a great way to show the creativity and passionate side of design & engineering, because lots of people who haven’t done it before think engineering is all dull paperwork and blueprints.

      I met CycleHack at the Eurobike exhibition in Germany, and I was really impressed with how they are getting people inspired by bike design. In particular, I was pleased to hear about how CycleHack are trying to open it up to more women – very few ladies in engineering + very few ladies in cycling = almost no female bike designers! I’d be pleased to see more young people, male or female, considering a career like mine as a possibility. It’s so much fun.

      If I win the £500 prize, CycleHack have said they are happy to work with me to do an event for under 18s, to give students a taste of what bike design is like.

      http://www.cyclehack.com/

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