Monday, September 1, 2008

Interested in a snapdeck kids seat?


Between our trip, our blog, and general day to day riding around our neck of the woods, we always get asked if we've thought about selling our seat setup or if they can buy something like it. Frankly we hadn't, since the business aspect of it sounds horrible. But of late we've been giving it more thought as we love working with our hands, love facilitating folks getting out on their bikes, and generally feel for folks that want something like this but aren't in a place to make it themselves.

Consequently, we sat down and ran some numbers on parts and labor that would go into producing these seats and making it worth our while to do so. At this point we're thinking for a double seat setup like we presently use with some design improvements and better finish, would come in somewhere around $350. This would include the wooden seat structure, pads, harnesses and mounting hardware but would not include the sunshades which can be purchased easily by the end user as they are an accessory for Deuter kid comfort packs, but does .

We're trying to gauge serious interest from casual interest, so if this is something you would buy if we would make, please email us so we can make that call.


Edit:

A thought that came up is regarding materials and cost.

This price is with utilizing very high quality (read: expensive) marine plywood. What this really buys you is being able to leave this thing parked outside year round without too much concern for the wood delaminating.

Now I personally don't leave ours parked outside except when on errands and we throw our rain cover on if the weather looks bad.

Honestly between the urethane coating used and decent treatment of the seat setup its probably not all that necessary, the benefit of using a standard high quality veneered plywood would be that it would bring the cost down by around 30-40 dollars.

If this of interest to folks let me know.

25 comments:

Alvin said...

i would totally be interested. would this only mount to an xtracycle wooden deck or are there other mounting options? and what happens if an interested buyer needs only one, what's the estimated price breakdown then?

p.s. by chance will y'all be at the tour de fat?

greg said...

I'd be interested in a single seat. My boy still fits in a WeeRide, and I just got my FR this week, so it would be a while, but yeah, your snapdeck seat is already on my mind.

The said...

Its a one piece setup including the base, and comes off all as one item. So you basically take your snapdeck off and mount this instead. Its partially for ergonomics reasons and partially for structural reasons.

As for a single seat, sure, no skin off my back. I'd have to work through the details, but initial guess is that parts and labor for that would be right around $270

If you're just carrying one kid and dont mind the higher center of gravity, a peapod would do the trick as well. The strengths I see to this are lower center of gravity, and more seamless integration into the xtracycle setup.

Two kids is where it really pays off with younger kids as a bobike maxi and mini would keep their weight much heigher, affect steering more and be more age restrictive. Originally thats what we were considering, and for those reasons and weather protection decided to build this setup.

C said...

I would buy one for my xtracycle. Is it permanently mounted to a snapdeck? Could you do short backs? Would that price include shipping?

The Stouts said...

No snapdecks are harmed in the construction of these kid seats ;)

Its all made of the same piece of marine plywood, so if you want to take it off and pop your snapdeck back on, you're welcome to.

As for seatback height, I'd rather standardize for production simplicity. I did that design, partially to accommodate a larger age range with the sliding straps, and to provide some head support for sleeping kiddos.

The Stouts said...

As for shipping, that would be a separate charge. These are about 19" tall by 29" long and 12" wide and weigh around 14lbs for a dual seat setup. I haven't calculated shipping yet since I'm still trying to get an initial sense of feasibility of this undertaking.

patrick said...

the extra $30 or so for marine plywood would be well worth it for us.

we'd also love a rain cover or even just the pattern for one (in a single-seat size).

For our purposes, the sun/rain protection is the real benefit of this setup, over something like a Bobike. Keeping the kid protected from the elements while being on something as versatile and fast as an Xtracycle would make life a lot simpler. More bike camping, more farm visits.

I really hope you guys can make this worth your while. Maybe Xtracycle will buy a bunch, or lend support in some way?

patrick

The Stouts said...

Patrick, would you guys be doing a single or double seat setup?

The Stouts said...

I just posted this over on roots radicals, but thought it worthwhile to put up here.


The particular marine plywood I'm using is Okoume good two sides which sells for roughly $140 a 4'x8'x1/2" sheet not including shipping, and will make two seats.

The reasons this is my first choice are:

1)its strength to weight ratio is very good, allowing the setup to not only withstand a lot of stress, but also keep the weight down. This
setup with rain cover weighs HALF what our two kid trailer does.

2)Its designed to survive very harsh envrionments over extended
periods of time.

3)Its a good medium for tooling available to most people with basic
tooling.

4)Its gorgeous stuff.

So here's another curiosity question. I'm hardly in this for the profit/business side of this. I know this is hardly likely to ever
bring in much money, and I'm intentionally keeping the costs as low as I can and not begrudge doing it. I simply want to fascilitate folks having the benefits of a setup like this even if they aren't able to do it themselves or dont have the tooling.

This does bring up a question though, which has been talked about a bit here and there. Of those who have voiced interest via email, blog and here, how many of you would be willing and able to finish this setup if I sent out a kit per se. When I say kit I mean, cut out
pieces of wood, sanded and routed, with fabricated seat cushions, and
plans for hardware placement and strap details?

The litigious aspect of our society is the one other thing that makes
me hesitant to consider this, and I'll look into the avenue you mentioned (Dave). But regardless I'll definitely have some kind of
disclaimer/waiver since I like my family and don't want some uninformed sue-happy person to ruin my family's livelihood.

reuben said...

i do not yet have an xtracycle, but am looking into buying one.

the possibility of purchasing a seat set-up like this would be a key factor in my decision to buy the bike, and your price sound very reasonable. i would be equally interested in a kit or pre-built seat (what kind of price difference would there be?). the rain cover is also of high interest.

C said...

I'd buy a kit version.

Charlotte said...

Hi, I'm not yet a parent so I won't be buying one for a while, but I'm thrilled that these are even a possibility!

My only addition to the conversation is that I think even being able to buy a pattern/plans would be beneficial - I have a relative who could build it from a plan or a kit, if that were offered.

Also, are you aware of Etsy? It's an online forum for handmade items, a bit like eBay but cheaper to list and more geared towards projects like this one. It is a possible additional market for your wares. You could make a liability waiver a condition of purchase.

Vanessa said...

I've been trying to figure out a two seat setup for a while. I'm not h andy and my handy other half doesn't feel comfortable making something of this nature and having it not be safe.

so count me in

Erwan said...

hi, i am quite interested by your kids seat. I have buid simplified ones for my mundo bike which is a bit like a xtraycle build in a bike.
Other french people are interested so i posted a link on your blog in this french forum in a thread where we discuss child transportation.
http://www.velotaf.com/index.php?showtopic=672&st=400#entry96899
thanks
Erwan

Jessica said...

I just discovered the xtracycle today, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen! I commute to work, and have twin boys (just turning 2) and would LOVE your kids seat. I'll take it fully assembled, as a kit, or even just the instructions and I'll build it myself.

Derrick said...

Yes! Yes! Yes! I'd love it. We've got young kids and that would be perfect!

mieke said...

I can't tell you how excited I am to have been been directed to this page. Thanks Anthony (Longleaf Bicycles). I have twin 19 month olds who do not enjoy the trailer and if you start building these I'm absolutely buying a set-up. This has made my weekend!
thanks so much

Carrie said...

I just found your page via the Bicycle Design page on carrying kids. I'm looking into options for carrying myself and my two kiddos around next summer and love how this looks! I'm not planning on making any purchases until the summer and have yet to totally decide what to go with, but the Xtracycle with two seats sounds like the best idea I've run across so far!

Cycledad said...

I'm UK based and keep a very close eye on how to carry 2 kids on a bike. I see the same ideas over and over again. Your set up is the best i;ve ever seen ..... by a very long way!

If we have another nipper i'm getting an Xtracycle and calling you.

PS I frequently get asked about how to carry two kids and i always point people to you and say this is the best.

Anonymous said...

We have a 17 month energetic kid that spends his time mostly at the park down our block. As wonderful as that is I'd like to expand our family's horizon on the bike and get my wife more involved with bicycling. I have a xtracycle setup, but my wife doesn't like any of the kid carries to date. Your design wins over all others and we would be riding more often as a family. Please make these and I'd be happy to help with the marketing in SoCal I live in Santa Monica and access to trendsetters to help this thing take off.

Anonymous said...

We have a 17 month energetic kid that spends his time mostly at the park down our block. As wonderful as that is I'd like to expand our family's horizon on the bike and get my wife more involved with bicycling. I have a xtracycle setup, but my wife doesn't like any of the kid carries to date. Your design wins over all others and we would be riding more often as a family. Please make these and I'd be happy to help with the marketing in SoCal I live in Santa Monica and access to trendsetters to help this thing take off.

Brooke said...

I would buy one. I also think most people would be willing to pay the extra money for high quality materials. The price you mentioned is in the right range for such set ups. Bike trailers start at $300, a bike like the Madsen is $1,200, a German front basket bike is close to $5,000 after shipping and everything. A xtracycle conversion kit is almost $500, the set up you are suggesting would be another $350 plus shipping, so this is a comparable option. Plus the design really looks good, which is rare for these types of products that are usually made from plastic.

David Gray said...

i'm VERY interested. our kids our still young and close together in age, but getting too big for the trailer. in the process of building up an xtracycle--this would be GREAT.

Josette said...

HI, I commented on a another post of yours, but thought I would weigh in here, too, since you directly ask if people are interested. I would certainly buy one of these kid seats once I get an xtracycle. Your design is awesome and the idea of rain shields for the kids is fantastic. Josette

Laura said...

I am very interested in your bike seat design. I have two children, ages 2 and 6, and would really like a simple solution, such as yours, that gets us all out and about together.

Have you started to sell them yet? If so, what is the total cost with shipping??

Many thanks - Laura