Three PSU students aim to pedal to glory today on a bike crafted mostly of paper pulp as an engineering feat

Saturday April 10, 1999

By Romel Hernandez of The Oregonian staff

A trio of student engineers slowly rolled their strange invention into the gloomy underground parking garage for its first and only test run.

At first sight, their contraption looked too surreal for a group of practically minded engineers: a bicycle, built almost entirely of paper.

Made of notebook-paper pulp and painted in alma mater colors -- Portland State University's green and white -- they dubbed their steed Paperback Rider. It looked, depending on the angle, as though it just might work. Or not.

If this bike could ride, the team stands a good chance of winning today at the Intercollegiate Human Powered Paper Vehicle Competition at Eastern Washington University near Spokane. If it failed in the test earlier this week, if the wheels cracked or came spinning off, they wouldn't have enough time to rebuild it for the competition.

Devin Bailly, the analytical one with the pointy beard and curled-up mustache, glanced nervously at Gregg Jacobsen, the stern and silent team leader. Hieu Trinh, confident and smiling, held a camera ready to capture the moment of truth.

Jacobsen climbed aboard. "Are we ready to roll?"

The engineering world has an array of oddball competitions. There are contests for cars powered by the sun, batteries made of fruit and canoes of concrete.

"You put students in a box and make them work their way out of it," said Gerald Recktenwald, a mechanical engineering professor at PSU.

These competitions reward feats of industry and ingenuity, but, perhaps more importantly, they serve as testaments to teamwork. The bike -- a senior project -- marked the first time Bailly, Jacobsen and Trinh had worked closely together.

They make for an unlikely team. Bailly, 25, partied his way out of Willamette University and worked in a factory before returning to college. Jacobsen, 35, studied art and worked as a restaurant cook and manager for 10 years before turning to engineering. Trinh, 28, immigrated to the United States from Vietnam just six years ago.

They estimate that they worked a combined 500 hours on the bike: designing, building, testing, rebuilding and debating the merits of different approaches.

"We finished the thing, and we're all still friends," Bailly said.

The contest rules require that the bike be 90 percent paper, that it weigh no more than 75 pounds ("Paperback Rider" is 55) and that all three members ride it for 200 meters through an obstacle course. No group had even entered a two-wheeled vehicle into the Eastern Washington competition, now in its third year, until the PSU team.

"It's not so much about winning, but building something bold," Jacobsen said.

Recktenwald was "floored by the group's creativity," he said. "I think they have a chance. Then again, it might just fall apart on them."

Back in the garage, Jacobsen took off with Bailly behind him in case he fell.

He wobbled slightly at first, and then he started to pick up a little speed. He pedaled the length of the garage, maybe 50 yards, and then turned again. A smile crossed his face for the first time all evening. Trinh started snapping photos.

"It's beautiful!" whooped Bailly. "Yoo-hah!"