I spent four quarters at UC Davis following high school in the EE major track, quit as my grades were falling. Went to community college for the next 2 yrs studying machine tech primarily. Got a job through one of my instructors at a R&D startup which was setting up an in-house machine shop, have been working there full time for the last year. I've learned a lot and saved some money, but the most important result of working has been realizing that I need to go back and finish university- for myself, not for anyone else.
If you can't make yourself do the work required to pass every class, right now, you should be best off quitting, getting a job to learn about how life works and come back to it when you've found a reason to be there.
Nothing is more important than passing your classes while you're in school. Your ebike, your extra-curricular activities, TV, the ES forum... Very few people really like studying. Most of the people who finish school on time right out of HS have found some reasons- whether it be because they are convinced its the only way to achieve what they want in life, or because they are simply good at being a student. Just because you don't naturally tend to be a good student- that you see yourself doing other things- doesn't mean that you are "too good for school" or will flourish without finishing it. 99.9999999% of people are not the next Steve Jobs.
Getting a degree is a bit about gaining skills, and a lot about gaining a common background- the ability to prove to anyone you might want to work for or with that you've been able to persevere through the tough classes. Without the degree you will have an immensely hard time convincing anyone in a position to hire you to even look at you. Getting the degree proves to them that you're able to be disciplined about putting aside flights of fancy in favor of someone else's agenda, and working hard to make it happen. Since 99.99% of us don't get to set our own adgendas in life that's a pretty important thing to be able to prove. To yourself, too.
You can build your dream career from the ground up- teach yourself everything you need to know to build and sell amazing ebike parts or whatever- but be aware that it will likely take you decades to get there. Working for someone you must follow their agenda, but you will have the invaluable resources of tools, parts, smart co-workers to learn from- things that will allow you to achieve so much more in so much less time. Insurance, housing, transportation doesn't pay for itself- once you get out into the world you will realize just how much of your life goes simply to living. Unless you put yourself in a position where you can do something close to what you want to for a living there's a good chance you will not be able to do it at all.
So stop hanging around ES, thinking about cycle-analyst clones, or whatever else seems more important than your schoolwork. If you go study the classes won't be so hard. It's not your predisposition, it's the choices you make. No one's going to hand you the opportunity you're dreaming of. It's your job to prove that you're worthy, and then go show the right people. Luke once called you "one of the least engineering minded and folks we've had on this forum" here on ES. So, I think you maybe you might need to step up your study-game a little? Get the degree, do the senior project, write the thesis, get the engineering job then come back and see how your attitudes and presence might shift. (
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32050#p463984)