Engineering students design a device which ensures firm support to pillion riders while on the move.
If your back hurts due to long rides on the bike, then you are going to like this ‘innovation’ by mechanical engineering students of the city. The students have designed a backrest specially for bikes which provides firm support to the riders in the back while on the move. The backrest also acts as a ‘support’ to which a pillion can hold on to.
The students of SV Polytechnic College were guided in this effort by senior lecturer MK Jain, who himself is credited with developing several ingenious contraptions.
“It has been noticed that bike manufacturers make efforts to modify the cosmetics but concentrate less on safety measures of a rider and pillion. The students took up the activity as a practical extension to classroom teaching,” said Jain.
“Medical practitioners were consulted and their report on ergonomics of the bike considered. Usually the weight of the rider is passed down on to the spine, and not shared with legs and arms. This, coupled with a fairly large saddle cupping the backside which restricts movement, results in spinal strain, ” he added.
The students Vijay Baraskar, Atrish Ahirwar, Bane Singh and Nitin Parmar spent three months in giving practical shape to this contraption.
The backrest is basically an adjustable seat position attached on a rail. The pushback seat becomes something like a backrest in a four-wheeler, providing support up to shoulder height. It also acts as a support to pillion rider. And the icing on the cake: the contraption costs approximately just Rs200.
Another group of students, Ravi Sharma, RP Gupta, Manje Chauhan and Nilesh Pacchlod, came up with one more modification in the bike — extension bar hooked on to gear arm that locks the gear shift paddle.
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