Seats – Gel Filled & Mesh Back
At the time the first TE clone was being
built I was browsing through my LBS and spotted this oversized Axion gel pad seat. While looking at the bottom of the seat
a flash of inspiration hit me and knew instantly what would make it work. I
bought the seat and headed for the nearest DIY depot.
The seat struts were just as easy. They came from an
old bike frame picked up from alongside the road. It had perfectly round chain
and seat stays, no taper and they were straight as an arrow. The kicker –
the ID of the chain stay was the OD of the seat stay and the dropout had enough
material to create ends for attachment to bike. Created pic
to the left, hope this explains it a little better.
Above – Pic of stays now being used as struts on my new LWB. Never needed anything fancy for an adjustment clamp just one of those wormscrew plumbing clamps. TIP – don’t use the smallest one of these as the metal is thin and will easily strip when trying to tighten it. Use a ¾” or 1” dia and cut the excess strap off. Locks down tight and has never slipped.
Notice the
cool little reflector? Before discarding a pair of pedals un-bolt the narrow
little suckers, cut or drill a couple really small holes on each side and use
those itty bitty tie-wraps (the ones you get in an assortment pack but are to
small to use on anything) to strap it to a seat strut, one of the stays or
forks. Double-sided foam tape would probably work as well.
My original two-piece seat has gone
through several modifications, each one making it more comfortable. The first
seat back mesh was gazebo netting, don’t use this stuff. It will stretch
in a heartbeat and no mater how generous a bow you’ve put in the
seat’s cross member you will soon have it jamming into back like that bar
in a sleeper sofa! (- Seinfeld reference) Also notice originally to attach the
material to the seat back a grommet and lace method was used. This was done by
folding over a narrow strip of the material on each side then using a soldering
iron to melt a hole every 1-1/2” or so for each grommet. A soldering iron
is quick and melts the edges of a hole like a seam leaving no frays that start
to unravel.
The second
mesh product worked much better! PhiferTex makes replacement wire screening fabrics for doors
and windows. Their PetScreen
product is touted to be seven times stronger than regular insect screen and
resist damage by pets. Instead of lacing it directly to the frame I cut the
piece wider so that it wrapped around the back of the seat like the fabric from
a BikeE or Vision recumbent seat. The same procedure
was used to add grommets to the fabric edges as before but three separate
lacings for top/middle/bottom of the mesh allowed different tensions or
adjustments for each area.
By raising
the material just to the level of the lower back there was a lot less pressure
on the seat back when climbing or dropping the hammer. (….hmm, do they have NASCAR in
The seat is now on my V2
clone but not before I tried another great mod. I’ve wanted to replace
the heavy conduit seatback frame with something lighter in weight. Got an
aluminum one from a backpack to use but the cross braces had only a slight
curve out from the frame and they dug into your back the moment you eased into
it. I remembered there was a tensioning strap when I tore everything off the
pack and placed it back on the frame at the bottom of the seat mesh.
It sits right above the lower back area
and has a turnbuckle to adjust tension. It is the most comfortable mod yet.
Cross braces are never felt and best of all the seat is now one full pound
lighter!
Seats – Hard Shell
This is the first time I’ve taken a
stab at a hard shell type seat. It’s on a bent that was in the works just
before I had carpel tunnel surgery so it’s going to be a while before I get
back to it. This seat is just a plastic snowboard. I picked up 2 of them for $5
at Goodwill. It took quite a bit of warning to get these bends made and took a
long time to cool also. Afterward it was solid not flexy
like some plastics become after heating.
