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Bike Seat Blog

Backrest Prototype Received today

2/21/2015

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We received the first prototype bike seat backrest today from our factory in China and overall we're very pleased. The backrest installed easily, was very sturdy and comfortable, and panniers were easy to hang onto the side rails of the backrest frame. There are some elements of the prototype to clean up, but overall it met all of our requirements and is very close to being ready to start manufacturing! 

The factory did a great job packaging the prototype, almost too good in fact. It was triple-wrapped in bubble-wrap, then completely taped up. It took me almost twenty minutes to cut away all of the bubble-wrap!
backrest prototype installed on a bike seat out on Mission St
bike seat backrest prototype wrapped in bubble wrap
first bike seat backrest prototype front view
first bike seat backrest prototype side view
We did some home-grown load testing to make sure that the backrest could support reasonable weight against it and it held up without a problem. We also filled a pannier with over 25 pounds of water and hung it on the side rail and there were no issues at all. It's very sturdy, and we have just a couple aesthetic elements to clean up to be ready for production.
Companion Bike Seat with Backrest and panniers hanging on the side
As soon as the Chinese New Year holiday is finished the factory will start making a second prototype, accounting for all of our change-requests based on this prototype. Hopefully manufacturing won't be too far around the corner from there!
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Pannier Hook Designs are Complete

2/14/2015

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Earlier this week Blake finished up the designs for our bike seat pannier hooks! We spent a couple of weeks trying to figure out a way to make the pannier hooks compatible with the backrest. Then we decided no need ... we'll just make the backrest capable of hanging panniers onto the side rails of the backrest, and avoid the compatibility issue altogether!
pannier hook geometry force test
Blake explored a couple different designs for the pannier hooks, focusing on maximizing the amount of weight that the hooks would be able to support. We ultimately settled on this geometry, though without the additional lip on the end of the hook, which only increases manufacturing cost and adds nothing in terms of additional load capacity.
We haven't yet started talking to the factory about the pannier hooks. We want them to stay focused on finishing up the backrest prototype and begin manufacturing the backrests first. As soon as production of the backrests has begun, we'll start exploring the pannier hooks with the factory and get some feedback on the design and how much it will cost to make. We're hopeful that manufacturing for the backrests will begin sometime mid-March. If there aren't too many changes to the pannier hooks design specs, it's possible that we'll be able to start manufacturing the pannier hooks sometime in April or May!
Picture
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Modified backrest prototype is complete

2/12/2015

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After reviewing some video footage from the factory of our first bike seat prototype, we realized we had to make some design modifications to make the backrest more sturdy when installed onto the bike seat. We added a second hook at the end of the backrest frame arms to hang over the side of the stash-box to make the backrest sturdy and secure whether or not there's a passenger on-board. Here are some pictures of this modified prototype:
bike seat backrest prototype
bike seat backrest prototype
bike seat backrest prototype
The factory is shipping this prototype out to us as we speak and we expect to receive it sometime next week. We'll provide an update as soon as we have this new prototype in hand. If all looks good, we'll start manufacturing right after Chinese New Year!
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