Young Aussie Designer’s World First

South Australian cyclist James French spent many years working as a mechanic at his local bike shop, Standish Cycles Unley. But along the way he also completed a degree in Industrial Design at Uni SA and spent about four seasons living and racing mountain bike downhill in Canada.

For his graduation product he designed and built an electronic gearbox for downhill mountain bikes, which won several design awards. He received some sponsorship assistance from Race Face, but this has now ended and Uni SA is looking to commercialise the project.

In the meantime James has worked on other projects including a waterproof smartphone case.

James is looking for more design work in the bicycle industry. If you’d like to contact him, then email james.jf.french@gmail.com