Stuyvesant High School has a woodshop class on the 10th floor and for our final project, we’re allowed to build anything we want. Usually students would build shelves, chairs, desks, or other small furniture—but I wanted to have a little fun.

We were given a couple months to do our final projects actually, but I spent the entire time building tools, projects I really wanted to make, and projects I sold to others.

So on one night on a coffee table in my living room at home, I built a wooden bike from complete scratch.

The large 20” diameter front wheel and two smaller back wheels were bought for around only $30 at a bike shop. The bike seat was taken from an unused exercise bike, and all the wood is completely scrap wood. In other words, building this bike costed less than $40.

I didn’t have the materials for a pedaling system, so in order to move you simply kick onto the ground like how you would ride a scooter. You also were able to ride it downhill like a gravity trike.

It was so light that it was able to be easily carried up and down staircases, so I rode this trike in school and outside to get around. People would ask to take a photo of it or even have a go riding it too!

I ended up doing really well on the final project grade. One of these days, I’ll come back with an electric wooden one.

Tech: Woodworking