A former East Norfolk Sixth Form College student is attracting worldwide interest and investment for his invention of what’s claimed to be ‘the world’s smallest bike rack’.

James Mallion (pictured), 28, whose parents live in Lowestoft Road, Gorleston moved to Canada a year ago and joined Hurdler Design Studios in the centre of Vancouver. He and his two colleagues are keen cyclists – but found storing the bikes in their office was getting in their way. They decided to find an answer.

James, Hurdler’s industrial design manager, came up with the tidy solution in the form of an unobtrusive wall mounted plastic clip, the Clug, which enables bikes to be stored or hung up.

He used the latest 3D technology both in the design and also for manufacture, since the Clug can be produced on a 3D printer.

The design also includes packaging and fixing instructions which are part of the container. Customers will be able to buy the clip, or download the designs to manufacture them on their own 3D printers.

The Clug was launched last month using Kickstarter to raise the finance. This method of ‘crowd funding’ allows people to invest small amounts or pre-order the product.

To meet the Kickstarter target a minimum of $30,000 was required with a deadline of a month, but the amount was reached in the first week and rose to $108,000 with interest spreading all over the world.

James said it was exciting to see the way the backing grew from the minute they launched.

He said they could now move on to large scale manufacture and had already expanded the range. Visit www.getclug.com for more details.