Child Seat for an Adult Trike!

Here is our third and final finished huge summer project! I have a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos, it has weakened my neck in such a way that there is pressure on my brain-stem and I am no longer able to balance on a regular bicycle. For someone who lived to bike this was a devastating blow. 

So we bought a trike that does most of the balancing for me. The problem is, there are no good child seats or trailers for a trike. So we built one. This is how my trike looked before we added the bike seat. Words can't express how happy I am to be riding again. My inspiration for this project come from Green-Trust.Org

We used an old plywood shelf that was just taking up space in the garage for the box. The dimensions were taken from the pre-existing basket. They vary slightly from trike to trike. 

We used L-brackets to assemble the box.

 

Then we painted and built a simple frame for a sunshade out of 1"X2". The seat was the most perplexing part. My sister-in-law gave us an old child bike cart and the problem was solved. We already owned and only had use for one (for Bear to take Panda out), so we took the seat out of the second cart and used it. This allows Panda to be in more of a sling type of seat that absorbs impact and makes for a smoother ride. There are also two seat belts so we can continue to use this rickshaw-trike should we have another child later on.

Now to decorate. This is the cloth and fringe we used for the sunroof. It works perfectly. The height of the roof was determined by where my back is when I'm riding. We needed it to sit higher than my back so it would not bump, but low enough to still provide shade. This was trial and error measurements that will be different for everybody. 

 

The Rickshaw was attached using the same parts from the preexisting basket, but we did have to buy slightly longer bolts. When Panda grows we can raise the seat by moving up the screws and the bar in the back as needed.

A view from the back. We made sure to add plenty of reflectors.

So here we are back out on the road again. We attached the basket from the back to the front with some brackets and supports. This basket can hold up to four paper bags (three is a bit better), or a picnic basket and blanket quite nicely. It is great for outings, trips to the store, the local band-shell, the library, picnics, the park.. Really anything. We LOVE this bike!

Thanks for visiting.

Shine on!