The people behind Loud Bicycle

We have previously posted about the generous backers who jumpstarted our project. This post is going to be about the people behind the scenes who are turning the wheels and making everything happen.

Product Development / Engineering

How do you go from a good idea - to a great product? Having 600 customers with a stake in the outcome to give suggestions is a great way to start. But there are still things you need some experts for.

Randall R. Jacobs has been advising me on Loud Bicycle since it was just a bare car horn mounted with pipe fittings. A Mandarin-speaking former professional mountain biker (see badass photo) with a wealth of start-up, product development and commercialization experience, Randall recently accepted a position at Specialized Bicycles.



John Prata is a mechanical engineer with experience designing for injection molded parts. Working together with Randall and I, John has helped productize the horn design. You’ll see his work in the custom ergonomic pushbutton to trigger the horn. If we are lucky, he might even appear in some future Loud Bicycle demonstration videos.



Andrew Lansey is the mechanical engineer who really got us started. He designed and built several versions of the housing completely from scratch. When we settled on a general design he tweaked each curve until it looked just right. He continues to support the project with a sharp engineering eye to both detail and the big picture. You’ve probably heard his voice in the Kickstarter video, it’s the voice that sounds awesome. He’s not biking in this picture, but he is sending a balloon to the edge of space.

Industrial Design

The aesthetics of the housing are extremely important so we are glad to have Chris Owens dedicated to the job. He is a fantastic industrial designer from Austin TX and his expertise is giving the Loud Bicycle horn a much more professional look. He is also reshaping the housing in order to fit all the production components. He had a role in our Kickstarter video too: producing the animated rendering of the spinning horn.

Graphic/Web Design

Look around the page: this website, our stickers and the T-Shirt were all made by our amazing graphic designer Allison Johnston. She puts a lot of creative energy into her work and it shows. You are going to see the fuzzy fruits of her talents next on the packaging materials of the horn. Allison works fulltime as a freelance designer and artist from her current home in Houston, TX.

Beta testers

We have 4 wonderful Beta testers from New York City, Chicago and Massachusetts. They are testing each iteration of the horns in turn as they come out and giving great feedback at each critical stage. You might see some blog posts by them in the coming months as they review their experiences.

Thanks!

We are really grateful for all the people who are helping make the Loud Bicycle horn the absolute best bike horn out there.