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Bike Seat Blog

Companion Cargo Rack

11/23/2014

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I met a gentleman at Interbike this year who was interested in our bike seat more for the load-bearing capacity than the ability to provide an extra seat for a passenger. He stored the batteries for his ebike in a Topeak bag on an MTX bike rack; the problem was the weight of the batteries would bend the rack after only two or three rides, so he was going through bike racks almost once per month! I knew that our bike seat frame was more than strong enough to support the load of the batteries, but I needed to make some modifications to make it work for him as a cargo rack.
Companion Cargo Rack prototype
First, I needed to remove the seat cushion and the stash-box from the top of the bike seat frame. Once those were removed, I used a rivet tool to affix the lock directly to the frame (since it feeds through the stash-box for our bike seats). 
Companion Cargo Rack securely fastened to cargo bag
Next steps were to figure out a way to securely mount his existing Topeak bag to the top of the bike seat frame (aka. Companion Cargo Rack). I decided to make a custom base-plate for the bag that would fasten to the cargo rack, locking in place using the existing lock. After putting together some design sketches, I picked up some supplies at the local hardware store and voila! I had a base plate that locked in place using the existing lock, and was more than strong enough to carry the load of the frame.
custom cargo bag base plate for Companion Cargo Rack
Companion Cargo Rack base plate design sketches

He ultimately ordered four Companion Cargo Racks and wanted a second cargo back base plate made since he has two ebikes that were both having the same problems with the Topeak racks. So I made the modifications to a couple more bike seats and his cargo racks were just about ready. The final step - installing the rack onto his ebike.
first companion cargo rack order fulfilled
I had to come up with a modified seat-post mount, since his seat had two seat posts rather than one. But taking advantage of most of the existing components, I was able to come up with a solution that worked great!
companion cargo rack installed on an ebike
companion cargo rack installed on an ebike




All in all it was a really fun project. I got to take apart our bike seats and become intimately familiar with the assembly of the bike seats (which I probably should have done years ago).
And the best part is, we have the makings of a new product line for Companion Bike Seats now: the Companion Cargo Rack! Being that our frames were load-tested at over 4,000 lbs, this is the beefiest bike rack on the market! Stay tuned for more on when we release our new cargo racks!
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Bike Seat Backrest Renderings

11/22/2014

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bike seat backrest overlooking san francisco
Artist renderings of our new bike seat backrest, installed onto a bike seat.

Got to admit, it's looking pretty good. We're still working out some of the details, largely associated with manufacturing, and we should begin prototyping before the end of the year!
closeup of Companion Bike Seat backrest
bike seat backrest rendering
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Companion Bike Seat Backrest Launch on Indiegogo

11/17/2014

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We launched an Indiegogo campaign today to help cover the cost of prototyping and product development of a new backrest for our bike seats! We're aiming to raise $2000 to go towards backrest development, including the cost to start manufacturing with our factory. In addition to offering our bike seats and pre-orders for the backrests, the Indiegogo campaign also introduces several new Companion Bike Seat branded swag, including t-shirts and cycling hats, which we'll make available on our website once the campaign on Indiegogo is complete. The designs for the backrest are predominantly complete at this point, and we'll start engaging with our factory on design refinement for manufacturing with our factory while the campaign is running. The Indiegogo campaign is a 60-day campaign, so we hope to have a tentative delivery date for the backrests by the time the campaign wraps up. Stay tuned for more updates!
Companion Bike Seat backrest indiegogo campaign
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Backrest Design Refinements

11/15/2014

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After building a model of the initial backrest design into SolidWorks, we realized that the backrest frame needed some modifications in order to provide reasonable support without putting undue stress onto the frame.
bike seat backrest solidworks model
We added an additional support bar, and now the backrest provides twice the amount of back-support as the first design. Next steps are to put together specs and assembly instructions for manufacturing and start talking to our factory about prototyping!
bike seat backrest cushion
bike seat backrest cushion assembly
Here are some computer renderings of the backrest cushion, using the same waterproof vinyl as our bike seat cushions. We're considering adding a Companion Bike Seat logo to the backrest mounting plate on the back, but need to talk to our factory first to see what is possible.

We should have more updates within the next couple of weeks once we've started the conversation with our factory and have their initial feedback!
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