Nearly 20 years ago, a terrible mountain biking accident left Assistant Professor Noel Joyce paralyzed from the chest down. Years later, he was back out on the trail, had designed his own affordable adaptive bike, and was helping disabled people across the globe enjoy biking as much as he does.
Joyce had been fascinated with mountain biking since he was young; however, he could never afford a high-end model. He built his bikes by cobbling together available parts. His passion for mountain biking only grew as he got older. Then, one day in 2006, he collided with a tree headfirst, resulting in a paralyzing spinal injury. Unable to use a regular bike, Joyce began studying adaptive bikes for people with his condition. Unfortunately, these adaptive bikes come at an initial high cost, require a lot of maintenance, and are often expensive to repair. The solution was simple: he began his own open-source bike design project. He called it Project Mjolnir, and it would end up helping disabled bikers around the world.
A Journey of Innovation
Joyce had been an avid mountain biker since a young age; he loved the speed, the trails, and the thrill. Unfortunately, in 2006, while riding downhill in wet conditions, he couldn’t slow his bike down and collided with a tree headfirst. The accident left him paralyzed from the chest down, and if not for the help of his friend, a good helmet, and some passersby, most likely would have died. After he left the hospital, it seemed like mountain biking would be a thing of the past; however, 15 years later, his friend encouraged him to try out a three-wheeled adaptive mountain bike that would allow him to ride on gravel trails. From that moment on, Joyce was back in the saddle.
“Going down that first trail, the bug bit immediately, and I was hooked again. I was mountain biking on three wheels instead of two, but it was happening, and it was exhilarating. It wasn’t long before I was outriding the bike’s capabilities, and I was repairing it more than I was riding it,” explained Joyce.
The cost of a bike for someone in his condition was expensive, but what made things worse was the cost of replacement parts. After one particularly hard ride, Joyce found that his rear suspension structure had broken. A replacement was going to cost a pretty penny, and once more, the wait time for the part was eight weeks.
Joyce discovered that high prices and long wait times were standard for bike parts for disabled riders. Joyce knew that because of his condition, he would not be in riding shape forever, and every week not out on the trail was another wasted opportunity. There had to be a better way.
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Joyce used Autodesk software to design the parts he needed to fix his bike. The result was a set of parts that cost about a quarter as much and had a two-week delivery time. The next step was simple. Joyce began creating an open-source bike design that won’t break the bank and uses parts that are easy to manufacture and ship. Project Mjolnir was born.
Affordable Adaptive Bike Design (Infographic)
Continuing to Innovate
Over the past two years, Project Mjolnir has reached disabled bikers all over the globe, including China, Ireland, the UAE, and the United States. Many disabled athletes around Boise, Idaho, and Reno, Nevada, can ride because of their work with the Challenged Athletes Program and other organizations. In Addition, around 10 bikes were built in Ireland, establishing the sport of adaptive mountain biking in that country, and they built the first adaptive bikes in the UAE and China. It is important to Joyce and everyone involved with Project Mjolnir that adaptive bikers worldwide can make their own builds with minimal assistance.
“Not only do our bikes impact the riders but the families and friends of those riders who now have found a sport or activity they can do together — going somewhere for the first time, going where they never thought possible, obliterating barriers for all of us,” said Joyce.