Future shock

A Sheffield University research associate has been recognised as one of Britain's most promising young entrepreneurs after developing an innovative new type of shock absorber for mountain bikes.

Dr David Batterbee, from Sheffield University's Department of Mechanical Engineering, has received the Royal Academy of Engineering's ERA Foundation Entrepreneurs Award, for developing an innovative device that can uniquely detect differences in the terrain a mountain bike is travelling on.

Batterbee will be awarded the £40,000 prize at the Royal Academy of Engineering Awards Ceremony in June 2009.

The award has been established to identify entrepreneurial researchers working in UK universities in the field of electrotechnology who are at an early stage in their career and who demonstrate both considerable entrepreneurial promise and the potential to benefit the UK's future prosperity.

Most mountain bikes have a shock-absorber system in place to absorb the impact of bumps and keep the rider in control. However, these devices often compromise performance and the rider has to manually adapt the shock absorber to suit different terrains, by turning a switch.