A slightly damp and overcast Monday on a stretch of windswept tarmac may not sound like the ideal way to start your week, but for one group of bikers it was a dream come true that many may have thought impossible. The Bike Experience is a charity that teaches and advises motorcyclists who have been disabled how they can ride again. Founded by Talan Skeels-Piggins in 2011 the charity is unique in its goals of assisting disabled bikers back onto two wheels.
Students from the Innovation Design Engineering course (a double masters course run in partnership between Imperial College and the RCA) were in attendance yesterday to demonstrate the Rio Tinto Sports Innovation Challenge project, the Bruise suit. This innovative system uses a film developed for the assessment of industrial machinery to assist paraplegic sports men and women to be able to determine the potential damage to their body following a knock or crash. The system was developed following discussions with Talan about his life as an alpine sit-skier as part of Team GB in the 2010 Winter Paralympics. The team went up to Silverstone yesterday to present Talan with a prototype suit and to take part in interviews for the BBC.
