STILLWATER, Minn. (AP) - A Stillwater inventor is dead after apparently crashing his homemade electric bicycle.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy discovered 63-year-old Rory Artig’s body underneath his bike off a trail in Stillwater Township early on the morning of Aug. 14. Investigators believe his bike left the path and he fell off and died as a result of injuries suffered in the fall.
Artig graduated in 1985 from Montana State University in Bozeman with a degree in mechanical engineering. His family told the newspaper that Artig hopped trains as a teenager, sailed alone and built his own kayaks. He also built his own house and invented and patented a collapsible fireplace.
His daughter, Rachel Artig, said he built her two zip lines, a balance beam and a two-story tree house. She said his electric bike could reach speeds of 40 mph.
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