Keep customizing your bike to fit your needs with this Modefi concept

By Garrett Hulfish March 13, 2017

For avid cyclists, each bicycle is different. Even if two models are very similar, the bike is customized over the years to match its rider. With this in mind, three designers have developed a bicycle that allows cyclists to customize it to fit their lifestyle.

The bike is called Modefi and its design freedom is made possible by 3D printing, using carbon-fiber-impregnated plastic. Riders can choose from an assortment of storage options and aesthetic modifications to create a unique bike that perfectly fits their needs.

Modefi was designed by Nicole Assini, Louise Goacher, and Jane Neiswander for Georgia Institute of Technology. Their goal was to create a bike concept that appealed to all bike commuters. Everyone is different, so the bikes had to account for that.

Using 3D printing, the bike is made up of multiple frame pieces that can easily be swapped out. When a piece is damaged or needs adjusting, it can be fixed without repairing the entire bike. As a user’s needs and preferences change over time, they can modify sections for increased storage options or simple aesthetic form changes. It is a system that allows the bike to grow organically alongside us.

“3D printing as a medium of manufacturing allows users to create on the spot adjustments both quickly and relatively inexpensively,” said the design team on Core77. “It allows a level of customization that traditional manufacturing methods cannot support due to high tooling costs.”

Being a concept, Modefi is not yet available for purchase. However, the design is innovative and professional in a way that already makes it feel like a reality. A bicycle that feels custom tailored for the person riding it, an idea that could change the way we purchase and manufacture bicycles.

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Garrett Hulfish

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Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…

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“The 3D printing, robotic post-processing, and the ability to automate steps like the pouring of insulation means that Mighty Buildings will be able to automate up to 80% of the construction process,” Sam Ruben, chief sustainability officer and co-founder of the company, told Digital Trends.

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kamp c 3d printed building cobod printing

While 3D printing might be most commonly used to print smaller-sized models or prototypes, that doesn't mean it can’t also be used to print larger objects. Much, much larger. In Belgium, Europe’s largest 3D printer was recently used to print an entire house. Unlike other 3D-printed houses we’ve covered (of which there are a handful), this one has two floors -- making it one of the biggest and most ambitious 3D-printed housing projects we’ve seen.

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Health & Fitness

DIY ventilator plans are all over the internet, but is building one a good idea?

Dyson

It’s impossible to say no one saw a pandemic coming. In December 2007, a user of the how-to site Instructables uploaded plans for “The Pandemic Ventilator,” a do-it-yourself machine made out of plywood, plastic bags, threaded pipe, and a programmable logic controller (PLC).
“If a pandemic were to strike, the hospitals could not just go out and buy all the ventilators they need, because there would not be enough parts or manufacturing capability,” warned a user named Panvent, who at the time was expecting an outbreak akin to the avian flu.
Fast forward 13 years and the Pandemic Ventilator seems prescient. The U.S. national stockpile doesn’t have enough vents to support all of the states that need them; many of the ones in it are broken, and as they hunt for a cure, governors are rapidly discussing various ideas for alternative ventilators, including hacking anesthesia machines and hand pumping bag valve masks. One hospital in Italy even transformed scuba masks into personal oxygen machines for several patients.
In America, states like Arkansas and Florida are still trying to figure out of they have enough machines in preparation for a surge and President Donald Trump has blamed numerous governors for not being prepared. Having an extra ventilator on hand seems like a good idea. Should you build or hack your own?

A basic machine with a lot of bells
“At its essence, a ventilator is a pretty basic machine,” explains Randy Cremer, Director of Biomedical Equipment Engineering at New Jersey’s Deborah Heart and Lung Center. “It's just something that will create pressure that's a little higher than the lung pressure, so it will force you to take a breath.”
AmboVent 1690.108
The creator of the Pandemic Ventilator Project (PVP) seems to agree. Now an engineer at a startup developing a wearable dialysis system, this anonymous biomedical technologist has continued to develop schematics for his pet project, posting them on a Blogspot site, along with a discussion of the experiments and tangents the project has taken over the past several years.