6/15/2026 Taylor Parks
Written by Taylor Parks
During his time as a student in mechanical engineering, recent graduate Joshua Anderson (BSME 2026) had a dream: to develop an affordable, adaptive mountain bicycle that could make outdoor experiences more accessible to people with disabilities.
“[The] mission is to get more disabled people outside,” he said. “That’s a mission that I’ve been dreaming of and striving for my entire life.”
For Anderson, who uses a wheelchair himself, the dream came from the heart.
“[The startup began] as a passion project during the summer of 2024,” said Anderson, who was living in Salt Lake City at the time. “Utah is stunning during the summer, but as a wheelchair user, getting outside without the equipment to access it is nigh impossible without good friends and a healthy dose of humility. The equipment to access the outdoors for disabled people is expensive and had never fit my unique physical needs. I decided to change that.”
Anderson spent that summer designing a new type of adaptive mountain bike to fit his needs, which included developing a fundraising campaign and fabrication workshop that allowed him to create an initial prototype. He then sought to recruit fellow MechSE students to collaborate on the project through the University of Illinois chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Mechanical engineering junior Ivy Yoon first started working on the iterated design through ASME during her freshman year.
“I was looking for projects to get involved with, and when I saw his, I thought I would be able to learn a lot,” Yoon recalled, noting that she had no experience with engineering projects prior to coming to college. “Working on this project has taught me how to solder and weld as well as use CAD. I’ve really gained a lot of experience.”
Yoon developed the bike’s footplate and data logger as well as worked on product testing, while Anderson designed the bike’s body frame and wheel configuration.
Anderson later approached Yoon and other team members with the idea to transition the project into the startup Koine Adaptive. Koine gets its name from the Koine Greek dialect, which was considered the common dialect and served as a unifying language for several centuries. The aptly named consumer-focused startup aims to close the accessibility gap for individuals with mobility impairments.
“I wanted to join [the startup] because I’m passionate about the mission to make nature more accessible to people with disabilities,” Yoon said.
The team developed an all-electric adaptive bike that has a maximum range of 80 miles and weighs just 64 pounds. Where new adaptive mountain designs can easily cost $15‒20k, Koine’s bike is slated for an initial retail cost of $8k, with a company goal of lowering the cost to $5k within the next three years. The bike features several adjustment points to customize the fit for a wide variety of riders’ needs and can be broken down to fit in the trunk of a car.
The team participated in the 2026 Cozad New Venture Challenge, where they won a residency prize from the Research Park incubator EnterpriseWorks for this coming fall. Alongside Anderson, who serves as founder and CEO, and Yoon, who serves as the engineering consultant, startup members include co-founder and COO Adam Syed, co-founder and fabricator/engineer Jake Erickson, and financial consultant Thatcher Beauchamp. Syed graduated this past May from the College of Applied Health Sciences with a dual degree in human nutrition and community health.
Yoon is interning at Littelfuse this summer and plans to continue working with the startup during the upcoming academic year.
“I was really lucky to get this opportunity, and I want to emphasize that anyone can do this,” she said of being a core member of the startup. “I came in with no prior experience, wanting to learn more and be an active contributor. Getting to try out different things has helped me start narrowing down my career interests, and I want to encourage other students to do the same.”
Anderson will be stress testing the current prototype and designing its next generation from his summer missionary post at Yellowstone National Park.
“I want Koine to build products that enable more people like me to enjoy the fullness of life, regardless of their ability,” he said, noting that he’ll be taking the next year to focus on getting Koine off the ground as a business. “Our first step is to create the most accessible, affordable, and performance-focused adaptive mountain bike available. After that, [we will focus on] expanding into other sports like climbing and racquet sports.”