On Christmas day of 2015, Alex Feit received a brand new buildable engine from his parents. He had been wanting an engine for the past year, and by the end of Christmas day, he had assembled the engine in its entirety. This gift was a door to many more opportunities for Feit.

Since then, Feit has built two engines for two different bikes completely on his own. “I think it’s good experience for me.” Feit said, “If I can’t get a more prestigious job, I could always fall back on being a mechanic.”

The first engine he built cost $100, and for the bike he uses currently, the engine cost $175. This bike has a better built engine and can go up to 50 mph. The engine weighs 30 pounds.

“It feels different, than like a normal bike, everything is just so heavy, and stuff moves differently” Feit said. He lives in Lexington, a rural town in which one of the perks is being able to go fast and ride most places. But Feit assured me that he has never gotten a ticket while riding.

Feit thinks of it as a hobby and enjoys every second of troubleshooting, building, and riding the final product.

“On the new engine,” Feit said, ”I have made basically everything. My favorite part is just looking back and saying ‘wow I built this.’ I remember sitting everything out on the workbench before I started. I made all the parts, made everything. And now I’m actually riding it. I think about the little stuff I put in to make it work.”

Feit hopes to go to Purdue University and study engineering. He often applies his skills he’s learned in classes at U-High to these projects and vice versa. The main thing that he’s proud of, is being able to have good work ethic and figuring out things on his own.

“I’ve really grown throughout this whole process,” Alex said, “I love building the engines, and I think building them will give me a step ahead towards my future.”