Fuji Bikes to Manufacture Design Contest Winner

Oregon Manifest and Levi's announced "The Bike Design Project"  - a pioneering bike design competition which partners five high-level design firms with American bicycle craftsmen to create the Ultimate Urban Utility Bike.

The competition advances a new era of urban mobility through the creation of five future-facing, road-tested bike prototypes with brilliantly crafted, radically useful design features. The end result: one winning design making its national debut on manufacturing partner Fuji Bikes' retail floors, and reinventing the way in which cyclists triumph over their metropoles.

"The Bike Design Project is an innovation platform challenging design leaders and bike craftsmen across the nation to collaboratively develop meaningful design solutions for the everyday rider," said Shannon Holt, Oregon Manifest co-founder. "Our goal is to not only spark new thinking around the urban bicycling experience, but to redefine the category itself."

"The Bike Design Project" teams originate from five cycle-centric cities:

• Chicago: MINIMAL x Method Bicycle
• New York City: Pensa x Horse Cycles
• Portland: INDUSTRY x Ti Cycles
• San Francisco: Huge Design x 4130 Cycle Works
• Seattle: TEAGUE x Sizemore Bicycles

Starting in March, and each subsequent month through July, "The Bike Design Project" teams' process diaries will be featured on Fast Company's online sites Co.Design and Co.Exist. Each of the diaries will give readers an inside look at the design process for each team, and provide a lens into each city's unique cycling culture.

"The Levi's brand is excited to partner with Oregon Manifest's 'The Bike Design Project' and to foster relationships with the talented teams who share our common core values, " said Levi's Senior Designer, JeWon Yu. "It's a great fit. The Levi's Commuter Collection was designed and constructed specifically for people to get around urban centers on bike, and the Bike Design Project will create some of the most innovative solutions to commuting. I think the goal in the end is the same, get more people on bikes!"

The five bike designs will be publicly revealed at a celebration event in each of the participating cities on July 25th. Each team's working prototype bike design will be presented at the reveal event in their respective cities, along with images and videos of the other four bikes.

Online voting for "The Bike Design Project" begins on July 28th and concludes on August 2, 2014. The winning design will be announced on August 4th and then move into production with the competition's Manufacturing Partner, Fuji Bikes, for its retail debut in 2015.

"This is the first time that a bike building contest has moved beyond the prototype stage into mass production; we're thrilled that we can be the company to facilitate that next step," said Fuji President and CEO Pat Cunnane. "Our goal is to harness the potential of these forward-thinking collaborations by providing the winning team access to manufacturing resources and turning the winning concept into something consumers can buy and ride."

Oregon Manifest exists to celebrate and amplify bike craft, design and innovation. They provide an independent innovation platform for designers, engineers, craftsmen and makers to collaboratively develop bike designs that can expand transportation options for the everyday citizen. They are a nonprofit organization that values the process of making, the spirit of ingenuity, and the passion of brave undertakings. For more information about the "The Bike Design Project" or Oregon Manifest,

please visit www.oregonmanifest.com.

By press release