Sojourn Cyclery Selected as Luxury Brand Showcased in the Publication Strive for Perfection: Celebrating 110 Years of the Spirit of Ecstasy
CEDARVILLE, Ohio, Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cedarville University professor Jay Kinsinger's custom wooden-bicycles brand, Sojourn Cyclery, was selected to be featured in Strive for Perfection: Celebrating 110 Years of the Spirit of Ecstasy – an official publication for the International Club for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Enthusiasts.
The yearbook, which celebrates the 110th anniversary of Rolls-Royce's iconic Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament, features a selection of luxury lifestyle brand and highlights some of the finest craftsmanship in the world, including a two-page feature on Kinsinger's company.
According to Kinsinger, his bikes have been described as the "stradivarius of bicycles."
His love for biking and woodworking started in his childhood.
"My dad was a shop teacher, so I always had access to woodworking tools and a knack for building things, and I've been into bicycles my whole life," Kinsinger shared.
In 1981, when Kinsinger was 20, he took his first hand-built steel frame on a cross country trip with his 16-year-old brother, pedaling coast to coast. "I learned a lot from that — I was self-dependent on the trip," he said. "But knowing I was riding something I had built made the experience even more organic."
After years of building bikes for personal enjoyment and family, Kinsinger's passions for woodworking and bicycles collided in 2010.
"One of the technicians at Cedarville University showed me a picture of a wooden bike on the internet, and I knew I wanted to make my own," he added. "I built my first wooden bike based on those web pictures. It took about 400 hours and was made completely with hand tools."
From this initial wooden bike, Kinsinger's project developed into a capstone course for Cedarville's mechanical engineering senior students, which provided an avenue for testing the bikes, streamlining the manufacturing and creating a business model.
"We also partnered with the school of business' Beyond Entrepreneurship program and the innovative and industrial design program," Kinsinger noted. "I took student representatives from the schools of engineering, business and industrial design to the North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show where we showcased a custom electric wooden bicycle."
"I'm never happier than I am when I'm working with my head, my hands and my heart," he shared. "Putting those things together with creative design to physically produce something, I'm just so thankful I've been able to combine it all and run — or cycle — with it."
SOURCE Cedarville University
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