Passing on the Wrench!

  By AT | June 28, 2013 - 11:38 pm |
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Look who stopped to visit us at HWI! It is Grant, our former bike director, his wife Katie, and young Will. Grant’s dad owned 2 bicycle stores while Grant was growing up. So we are passing on the wrench to the next generation. Thanks Will for bringing your mom and dad by to see us again.

 

Spring Arbor University & HWI Brainstorm Session

  By AT | June 28, 2013 - 11:22 pm | , ,
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On Monday June 24th Kevin and Alice left home at 5AM and drove 4 hours to Spring Arbor University (SAU). There we met with old and new friends. One of the old friends was Carla, Alice coast-to-coast cycling leader from 1977. It only took us 2 hours for 5 of us to travel the world through our brainstorming efforts. Pray with us as we watch our university trike consortium grow. (more…)

Bikes for Sunshine Gospel Ministries

  By AT | June 28, 2013 - 11:06 pm | , ,
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Last Tuesday Shawn came out to HWI headquarters from Sunshine Gospel Ministries on the south side of Chicago. We have partnered with Sunshine for several years. We loaded 26 bikes into this trailer and 16 bikes into this truck bed.

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Trike Stress Testing

  By AT | June 28, 2013 - 10:06 pm | ,
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Today we did some potentially destructive testing on a DOTT trike frame. (Note that all of these tests were performed without the additional strength of a “Haiti Brace” installed. The Haiti brace is an extra support welded into the frame below the seat that helps to strengthen the trike frame. All current HWI trikes use this brace.)

These tests at HWI were done in parallel with the Solidworks computer stress analysis reports compiled by the students at Messiah College.

The intention was to provide us with a feel, both practically and theoretically for how strong the design was, and to help identify any weaknesses in the design. Unfortunately, we ran out of weight for the test as we approached 900 pounds. We really did not expect to get that far.

Our future tests will involve actually overloading the trike to see what parts do fail first.

As well as providing valuable theoretical analysis of the trike design, the students at Messiah College were able to identify the likelihood that most of our trike frame would still be strong enough even if we used a slightly smaller diameter of tubing. Thanks again to the students and staff at Messiah College for their work and suggestions.

 

Making a Difference

  By AT | June 14, 2013 - 5:39 pm |
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Today the Outreach Community Center’s case worker brought two young men by to get bikes. Thanks to a government grant these students will work 25 hours/week this summer for pay. Both of these young men have been in the OCC summer at risk program. They have now graduated from High School in the Class of 2013 and plan to go on to College of DuPage in the fall. One hopes to pursue his dream of architecture.

We had the privilege of providing these young men with bikes so they could get to their summer maintenance jobs. They are putting away money so they can one day trade in their two wheels for a reliable four wheeled vehicle. But for now they were so glad to have a reliable set of wheels that will help them pedal towards their dreams.

Tuesday June 18, 2013 Come Explore

  By AT | June 14, 2013 - 12:47 am | , ,
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All of us have a creative side! The Maker’s Space is a community creative group that explores the arts. By exploring the creativity God has placed in us, we have another avenue to get to know Him. This group meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, 6:30pm in the atrium of the Glen Ellyn Evangelical Covenant Church. All are welcome. For directions click on the link http://www.gecovenant.org.

On, Tuesday, June 18th, 6:30-8:45, the group will explore, “Is there a book in me?” with Alice Teisan, author and founder of His Wheels International, along with authors in the congregation and the Church’s writing pastors. (more…)