MSC Southeast's Bicycle Design and Fabrication program will showcase student projects in Red Wing on May 9 

Bicycle Program Showcase

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 from 5 to 6:30 pm
Bicycle Design and Fabrication Lab
Minnesota State College Southeast, Red Wing Campus
308 Pioneer Road, Red Wing, MN
Free and open to the public; light refreshments will be served 
Download a poster (pdf)

With a name that sounds like "Rider," it's not surprising that Reider Litzenberger has a passion for bicycles. 

Reider, who came to Red Wing from Asheville, North Carolina, is graduating this spring with an Associate of Applied Science in Bicycle Design and Fabrication. He has completed two bike frames, and one of them has already been powder coated and fully built out. 

You can see this bike and several other newly designed and built frames on May 9, when the Bicycle Design and Fabrication program hosts an open house to showcase the work completed in the program by students this year. 

Second-year students will have a number of complete bicycle frames on display, which they have custom designed and fabricated. First year students will also have projects on display. 

"I personally designed and built this frame," Reider said, rolling his 26" dirt jumper out the lab door and riding it up and down the college hallway. "The great thing is, I took ideas in my head from other dirt jumper bikes that I've ridden in the past and then I modified the geometry to fit my body, my arm length, my inseam, my legs. This bike fits me perfectly." 

A dirt jumper is specifically designed for riding on tracks with a variety of steep jumps designed for maximum airtime.

Reider explained, "The geometry is very aggressive and low, and the seat is pushed very far down, so that you can move your body weight around when you're hitting big jumps."  

Throughout the year Reider ordered components to complete the project. "You have to work out an ordering list for all the parts that you're going to put on the bike, and everything has to match perfectly with the frame. Plus you've got to get all the parts at the right time. It's all got to work together."  

There is a lot invested in his bike.  "Custom bikes cost a lot of money and if you're going to build something like this, you want the best components. I saved up to build a bike like this," Reider commented.  

Like many students in Bicycle Design and Fabrication, Reider already owns quite a few bikes, but the chance to design and build his own custom frames in Red Wing drew him to the program. 

After graduation, he intends to go on to a four-year university program in business or entrepreneurship closer to his home state of North Carolina. 

"The Bicycle Program Showcase is also a chance to tour the lab and see all of the new equipment that has been installed this year," said instructor Matt Blanshan. "We are looking forward to welcoming prospective students, members of our advisory committee, and anyone who shares our passion for bicycles to our showcase on May 9." 

May 11 Student Guitar Show showcases string instruments built by students at Minnesota State College Southeast in Red Wing

STUDENT GUITAR SHOW

Minnesota State College Southeast, Red Wing campus
Thursday, May 11, 2023, 1 to 4 pm
308 Pioneer Road, Red Wing, MN
Download a Flyer  

Watch the live stream on YouTube at: https://youtube.com/live/nh73yd5yog8?feature=share (this will not be archived and can only be watched during the event)

The annual Student Guitar Show on May 11 at Minnesota State College Southeast in Red Wing will debut new guitars built by the college's first- and second- year guitar students. 

An array of extraordinary flattop acoustic guitars, archtop guitars, electric guitars, and mandolins will be on display. 

The Student Guitar Show takes place at Minnesota State College Southeast (308 Pioneer Road, Red Wing, MN) on Thursday, May 11, 2023 from 1 to 4 pm. 

The Student Guitar Show is an exhilarating experience for anyone who loves handcrafted musical instruments, but most of all, it will be a thrill for the students will hear the acoustic guitars and mandolins they built played on stage by professional musicians, flatpicker Mike Cramer and fingerstyle guitarist Phil Heywood. 

Lucas Randall (pictured) is a first-year guitar program student from Oconomowoc, WI. He is currently putting the finishing touches on an acoustic and an electric guitar.  

"For me, the most rewarding aspect of the program has come in the last month, when we started putting the necks on our guitars, sanding out the parts, getting them ready to have finish applied -- it really starts looking like a guitar," Lucas said. "All the work we put in learning guitar repair at the beginning of the year has made it possible to build our guitars so quickly this semester."  

Michael Faster is a second-year guitar program student from Appleton, WI. Students in this program design and build a custom instrument of their choice. He is making a resonator guitar along with other instruments.  

"I'll be excited to hear someone play my resonator guitar at the Student Guitar Show, because it's a different instrument and it will be cool to hear it played," Michael said. "It was really gratifying to build a resonator guitar in this program, because I had to figure out so much of how to do it myself and now I have the skills to do that." 

In addition to the guitars, several students in the college's Violin Making program will display instruments they built this year. The finished violins will be played during the Guitar Show intermission. 

Admission to the Student Guitar Show is free and open to the public - please join us! 

About the Musicians

Mike Cramer

Guitarist Mike Cramer is a music major from the University of Northern Iowa. His award-winning flatpicking technique earned him championship titles in the Minnesota State Fair Flatpicking Competition and Wisconsin's Upper-Midwest Flatpicking Contest. A fluid and powerful guitarist, Mike is as comfortable playing jazz standards as he is playing Bill Monroe's bluegrass instrumentals. He plays guitar in The Barley Jacks.

Phil Heywood

Fingerstyle guitarist Phil Heywood has been based in Minneapolis-St. Paul since the mid-1980s, performing locally and regionally while also establishing himself in the greater guitar and acoustic music world. In 1986 he won the National Fingerpicking Championship, and followed up in 1987 by winning the American Fingerstyle Guitar Festival Competition. He plays with a bluesy swing and tone, lyricism, and groove.