Teens Gear Up for Bike Design

Bicycle designer F. Matthew Assenmacher, 55, lounged astride a sleek, black, chopper-style bike and repeated his mantra.

"Bikes are designed for a purpose and a person," he said.

Assenmacher, who was trained as a bicycle designer and builder in England by Dan Foster at Bob Jackson Cycles Limited, has been designing bicycles for 32 years.

Assenmacher, owner of three cycling centers in the Flint area, recently explained his work to students in a Hartland High School drafting class.

The students will form groups to design specialized bicycle frames that will be manufactured by students in Laszlo Szalay's Machine Trades class at Howell High School. Both classes are part of the Livingston Applied Technology Educational Consortium that is open to students countywide.

Assenmacher stressed the principles of bicycle design.

"What I'm going to try to do is shorten their learning curve, to tell them things they have to decide first, rather than last," Assenmacher said. "Like tires -- you wouldn't want to invent a bike that uses tires that nobody makes."

Assenmacher's cousin, Matt Assenmacher, teaches the Hartland High drafting class.

"This project will walk my drafting students through the design process," Matt Assenmacher said.

"What I'm really hoping it will do is show them the reality of the communication bar