One of the pandemic's silver linings was a surge in people taking up cycling, whether to avoid public transport or inject exercise into their homebound lives. At times, retailers struggled to keep up with demand, leaving some would-be cyclists out of luck.
Turns out consumers can build their own two-wheelers instead, using a free set of design files provided by OpenBike. Spanish architecture studio Arquimaña has been working on OpenBike since 2015, and its latest version — Rev4 — is now on display at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
To create an OpenBike, users download manufacturing files and bring them to a local fab lab or other maker space to get a sheet of plywood cut into the bike frame's parts. Next, they assemble those pieces and add a few widely available bicycle parts, which can be purchased new or — even better — rescued from an old bike.
