It's electric: Motor-powered bicycles might help UHS students cruise to careers in energy, design

Sep. 29—Becca McFarland busted up her bicycle this summer.

One of those almost-over-the-handlebars, gravel road kind of accidents that can occur right out of the ether.

She was OK.

Her bike wasn't.

If it happens again — "I really don't want it to happen again, " the 15-year-old sophomore at University High School said, laughing — she'll be ready.

That's because she's now learning how to build bikes and repair them, too.

"Right now, we're doing handlebars, frames and tires, " she said.

"Then we'll get more advanced, with the electric motors. I'm looking forward to that."

Frontiers are fun in that way, UHS faculty member Josh Robinson said.

Robinson, a cycling enthusiast who teaches Advanced Placement psychology and other courses at the school on Bakers Ridge Road, is the advisor of an inaugural program here tapping into the pedal power of electric bicycles.

University High is the only school in West Virginia to house a Project Bike Tech classroom.

That's an outreach project of Rad Power Bikes, an electric bicycle maker in Seattle known for the sleek lines and stylish matte-black finishes of its designs.

Representatives from the company and other cycling entities came to the school Tuesday afternoon for the ribbon-cutting.

Company founder Mike Radenbaugh wasn't there, but did make a visit to Morgantown last November to talk about the tech program and to present a $60, 000 check to get the enterprise rolling.

As a pre-learner's permit teenager back home in rural Humboldt County, Calif., he was known simply as, "That kid with the bike."

Retooled engines from motor scooters.

Old motorcycle batteries.

Rudimentary power trains, running with the resourcefulness of electric tape and frayed bungee cords.

By the time he was done, those towering redwoods that are a signature of his home county were a blur at speeds up to 35 mph, as he was star of the morning commute to high school.

He christened his creation, "Frankenbike."

"It probably should have come with its own tetanus shot, " he deadpanned. "It stayed together and got me where I needed to go."

At UHS, the bike tech advisor and school principal see the program going as far as its students want to take it.

Principal Kim Greene can easily picture the next big thing in bicycles emerging from the mind of a University High Project Bike Tech alum.

"We're going to put in some bike trails around the school, too, " she said. "We've got the geography for it."

Robinson plans to peddle a lot of teachable moments along the way.

"You look at health and wellness, engineering, entrepreneurship, " he said. "It's all right here."

There's also that matter of the gas pump for those vehicles equipped with two wheels instead of four.

In car terms, energy pundits say, electric bicycles can net the equivalent of 1, 600 miles a gallon.

Becca isn't sure just yet if she'll professionally use the skills she's learning and honing.

She just knows that for now, she's holding on to the handlebars and having fun.

The student also enjoyed showing the bike that's been her project for the past two weeks.

"I'm not even mechanically inclined, " she said.

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