by Colleen Smith Armstrong
Editor/Publisher
One of Jordan Griffin’s greatest wishes is to downhill mountain-bike alongside his best friends. As a paraplegic, that requires a very specialized and expensive piece of equipment.
Driven by the desire to see his friend’s dream become a reality, Spencer Sare has built that bike, detailing the process from start to finish as his college senior project.
“When we started last September, everyone kind of laughed at us and said we couldn’t do it,” said Sare, who was joined by three other Washington State University mechanical engineering students on the endeavor.
From his design on the computer to long hours spent in the WSU machine shop, the bike took three months to complete. Sare says it is one of the most ambitious senior projects that has ever been executed at WSU.
As two sets of identical twins on a tiny island community, Spencer and Sam Sare and Jordan and Josh Griffin have been best friends for more than decade. The four boys bonded over sports and outdoor adventures, but when Jordan became paralyzed from the chest down in a 2008 snowboarding accident, their focus changed. He was still included in their outings – but now as a bystander.
After high school, Jordan studied film and media production at the Art Institute of Seattle. He is currently on medical leave but will be at the University of Washington-Tacoma by this summer. Despite some health setbacks, Jordan has been able to ski, water-ski and go hand-cycling. But mountain-biking was still an unattainable dream, as most bikes go for $12,000.
“When I was looking all the different adaptive sports I could do, I had mentioned it (downhill biking) to Spencer briefly. I didn’t really think he was actually going to build one,” Jordan said.
In his freshman year of college, Spencer created a 3D prototype of a bike that Jordan could use on the mountain. He later revisited the design during his senior year as a possible final project. His advisor told him: if you can raise the money, go for it.
Classmates Andrew Graham, Christopher Ryan and Curtis Zehnder got on board to build the bike, and through personal donations, funding from the Orcas Island Community Church, a grant from WSU and nearly $1,000 from their own pockets, they raised $6,500. Spencer was also able to convince manufacturers to donate some of the parts.
“I am so thankful to the Orcas community – without you the project would never have been completed,” Spencer said.
The design was based off previous models already on the market, but with improvements suggested by professional riders. Spencer and his teammates made the bike lighter, gave it a progressive suspension system, shifted the center of gravity for added stability on jumps and turning, made the front more modular so parts can be easily replaced and added aesthetics to improve its looks. They began the process in the fall and were done by December. They finished the bike on Wednesday, presented it to their advisors on Thursday and then graduated on Saturday. And yes, the guys earned an A on the project.
“It was easy for me to be passionate because he is my best friend, but for my teammates, who were working 8 to 10 hour days, seven days week to make this for Jordan, who they hadn’t even met – they deserve recognition,” Spencer said. “We needed to get the project finished – and have it be rideable and safe.”
Jordan says when he saw the final product, he was in shock.
“It was 10 times better than I expected,” he said.
It was a sentiment shared by others. A representative from the manufacturing company Paccar, which is based of out Bellevue, was part of the senior project panel that judged the bike’s unveiling.
“He was blown away and said he would put it on the manufacturing line today exactly the way it is,” said Spencer, who is now a mechanical design engineer at Boeing.
Jordan plans to test out his brand new mountain bike this summer when the weather is better.
“We want to make sure the terrain is perfect,” said Spencer. “We’re going to go to Whistler and test it out on easy trails. For him to ride, it’s one of those things that he dreams about. Just having the bike is in his life has been really good.”
