A Michigan man has been turning discarded bicycles into prosthetic legs while also teaching others how to make them, all for free.
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man → turn → them
Ben Hogan, a former bike mechanic and prosthetist at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, founded
Project Bike Leg, an initiative that makes prosthetics sourced almost entirely from repurposed bike parts.
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that → found → parts
He hopes his low-cost design can eventually help millions of amputees around the world, according to a report by PEOPLE's Toria Sheffield.
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design → hop → Sheffield
Hogan worked at the Michigan State University Bikes Service Centre as a student 20 years ago, where he learned to repair bikes.
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he → work → bikes
Bike shop general manager Tim Potter trained Hogan.
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Potter → train → Hogan
“When I think about it, you know, I mean, it sometimes will tear you up,” said Potter.
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Potter → think → you
Hogan revealed that it all began with a random encounter.
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it → reveal → encounter
“I had a chance encounter with an amputee that walked into a bike shop I was working at in Los Angeles in 2011,” he said to the outlet.
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he → have → outlet
“He showed me his prosthesis unprompted, and it really informed me of how much a bike and a prosthesis had in common.”
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bike → show → much
“After [later] shadowing some prosthetists at UCLA, I made the connection that it was my calling,” he added.
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he → shadow → connection
Moreover, he shared that his desire to create something both functional and cost-efficient only grew after he learned how many amputees worldwide do not have access to the prosthetics they need.
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they → share → prosthetics
Citing World Health Organisation estimates, Hogan said that a "staggering 85-90% of amputees worldwide lack access to a proper prosthesis."
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% → cite → prosthesis
“As a former bike mechanic turned prosthetist, I was naturally drawn to take a bicycle and turn it into a prosthesis,” he said.
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he → turn → prosthesis
“A bike, after all, is a tool used to enhance human locomotion.
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bike → use → locomotion
The inherent design would allow for an adjustable, lightweight, structurally sound and functional prosthesis.”
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design → allow → prosthesis
After seriously working and experimenting with the designs, Hogan crafted his first below-the-knee prosthesis model within a few weeks in 2013.
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Hogan → work → 2013
However, he said he decided to put the project aside until he had developed his skillset more fully.
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he → say → skillset
“Due to the fact that I had not yet achieved a master's vantage point of the prosthetic arts, I decided to set the bike leg down until I could say that I honestly had the advanced prosthetic skillset to ‘reinvent the wheel’ of prosthetic care,” he explained.
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he → achieve → care
It was in the summer of 2024 that he decided he was finally ready to return to the initiative, at which point he officially founded Project Bike Leg.
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he → decide → Leg
“I had been working at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital for the past 8 years and had a patient who was up for the challenge.
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who → work → challenge
Using all of the rudimentary concepts of prosthetics that I had come to know in the previous decade, I crafted a new design of a BK [below-the-knee] bike leg that had an enhanced level of adjustability and functionality compared to the previous model.”
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that → use → model
Andy Leedom, who lost his leg five years ago in a car accident, is one of Hogan’s bike-leg testers.
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who → lose → testers
Leedom is on his third prosthesis, which cost nearly $70,000.
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which → cost → 70,000
“I call myself the guinea pig,” Leedom said.
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Leedom → call → myself
“Ben’s been to enough places that he knows what is needed.”
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what → know → places
He went on to design an above-the-knee model in 2025 and decided he felt ready to share his designs on a larger scale.
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he → go → scale
The prosthetic is made from over 95% bicycle parts.
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prosthetic → make → parts
The foot is formed from a bike seat, strips of wheel and tyre treads, held together with spokes.
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foot → form → spokes
The seat post and frame add stability.
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post → add → stability
“If you look at the back of the knee, there are two chains,” Hogan said.
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Hogan → look → knee
“These hold the knee stable and there are two of them.”
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knee → hold → them
The cable used to shift gears runs around the bike-leg to hold it together.
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cable → use → it
The socket is made of wicker, which local communities could make out of material they have access to.
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they → make → access
“It’s actually a perfect application for a prosthesis, because it’s already built to take the weight of a human, so all I’ve done is reconfigure it in a different way to be a prosthesis,” Hogan said.
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Hogan → ’ → way
He soon met with a physician in Ghana, where he eventually travelled to personally teach prosthetics students how to recreate his designs.
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he → meet → designs
He shared that by the end of his nine-day trip he and the students had successfully completed their work on building two fully-made prosthetics and given two amputees the ability to walk again.
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he → share → ability
“And now they can train others in the Ghana region on how to make bike legs,” Hogan said.
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Hogan → train → legs
“This was a phenomenal experience that I will never forget, and I cannot wait to see what the local clinicians might do with the bike legs moving forward,” he said of the experience.
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he → forget → experience
Moreover, he is training thousands more across the globe on how to make their own prosthetic legs with the help of his website.
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he → train → website
He shares instructional videos on how to make both above-the-knee and below-the-knee bike leg prosthetics, with pages of pictures and step-by-step instructions.
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He → share → step
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
