Women represent less than 5% of participants in the World Human-Powered Speed Challenge. Team Bath Human-Powered are addressing this gender gap by designing and building a competitive recumbent bicycle for female riders. By focusing on female performance metrics and ergonomic requirements, they seek to provide women with a fairer experience in recumbent racing.
As part of their degree, students in our Department of Mechanical Engineering spend a semester working in teams on a Group Business Design Project. Team Bath Human-Powered is a group of six engineering students managing the design and build process. Guided by academic supervisors, team members take on various roles such as marketing, finance, or technical. The project encourages students to develop specialist knowledge and essential skills like teamwork and communication.
The team collaborated closely with partners like RS, the WISE Campaign, Julian House Bike Shop, Cadence, and Easy Composites. They provided support through spare parts, discounts, outreach assistance, and engagement efforts. Through partnerships with industry leaders, the team organised events to encourage more women to take part in the exciting world of recumbent bike racing.
Innovations and challenges
The team has achieved significant milestones during the project. The lack of information on female riders in recumbent biking was a real challenge. Inspired by Caroline Criado Perez's book ‘Invisible Women’, the team incorporated user testing and research to address this gender data gap. User testing revealed issues with comfort for female riders on existing bikes. This led to detailed research on bike layouts and seat configurations to optimise power output and comfort. The team designed a custom carbon fibre frame with gear ratios and crank sizes tailored to women's needs. Their expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) helped in simulating fairing performance and selecting aerodynamic materials. Securing funding and partnerships further supported the project's innovative approach.
The team also wanted to focus on public engagement and outreach. They collaborated with different groups to promote the sport, notably through a Designathon. Its main goal was to create a winning design for the World Championship that promotes inclusivity in recumbent racing for female riders.
Fostering new skills for wider impact
Through this experience, students have gained valuable knowledge and skills in team building, project management, and engineering. They have explored innovative data collection methods, CFD and FEA techniques, and embraced new skills beyond their university education.
'I learned how to perform CFD modelling during the project. This was a new skill that I had not yet encountered at university or while on placement. It was a fun and interesting experience to learn.' — Matteo Mandolfo, MEng (Hons) Integrated Design Engineering with Professional Placement
While developing the bike, the team uncovered a gender data gap in engineering design. They recognised the challenges women encounter in this field and were motivated to create improved solutions. Applying academic knowledge to a practical project like this was challenging, but also empowering to be able to support women in the sport.
'I particularly enjoyed the responsibility of owning a component and the chance to make a meaningful impact as a designer. Knowing that our efforts could help improve representation and comfort for women in the sport was especially rewarding.' — Fionna Uppilirajan, MEng (Hons) Integrated Design Engineering with Professional Placement
Peering ahead into the future
The team has a goal to evolve the project into a permanent student organisation like TBRe. This will enable future cohorts to build upon the current groundwork. By launching initiatives such as the Designathon, the team aims to engage first and second-year engineering students from an early stage. Students will be able to contribute to the team’s extracurricular activities while maintaining a balance with their studies. The team aspires to become a consistent contender at the World Championship in recumbent racing. They aim to establish a strong presence in the sport and use that platform to promote its growth and advancement.
When looking ahead to their journey after graduation, many team members plan to pursue careers in the engineering industry. They also believe that their work on this new recumbent bicycle has enhanced their understanding of engineering principles and their ability to collaborate effectively in diverse teams.
'I expect many of the skills I have developed in this project such as structural mechanics and especially CAD will help me in my future career.' — Lewis Thorne, MEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering with Professional Placement