I think the trike seat is actually bad for me when I'm trying to ride at a reasonable power. Fundamentally, the backrest is a shelf, so it's only about 6 inches wide, and I think that if I push back into the seat then I end up sort of flexing my back and pulling wher emy ribs join my sternum. Combined with breathing a bit more, that hurts.
So, I have a new seat design. I downloaded the plans from a user called Atom on the bentrider forum, and made the form, around which a seat can be produced. It ended up being re-inforced in a few places as just having these bits was a bit wobbly, but I don't have a good photo of that!
2020-04-18_03-57-36 by
duncancmartin, on Flickr
Unfortunately, I couldn't find anywhere that would deliver the required 3mm plywood in these strange times, so I thought I'd have a go of making it out of 1.2mm zintec steel (I happen to have some of that lying around, plus some really handy tools for cutting it). And I can always weld it to stuff too. I was even wonder about panel beating those little wings that are supposed to hold you in place, thought I may end up just cutting it a bit and then welding them on. I made it 35mm wide, because I figured I could always trim it down - while welding extras on is fine, adding a few mm down the entire length is beyond my skills!
2020-04-18_03-57-56 by
duncancmartin, on Flickr
Hopefully when I release my ratchet straps it doesn't just spring back! I'll probably lose a little bit of the shape, but that's not too big a deal - I can always use the ratchet strap to basically turn it into a circle and then straighten out the middle bit again. The only minor annoyance is that I've actually managed to strap it to the Workmate! This is probably good for the rigidity of the structure, but it doesn't help me get it into the garage! So it might just have to be released this evening.
Once I'm happy with the shape I need to work out how I'm going to attach it to the trike. Bracketry is fairly simple to make though, so hopefully that won't be a problem. Maybe I can even make it adjustable? First things first - get it to a shape I can sit on!