Bicycle seat rail and method of making same
AssigneeDynamet Holdings, Inc.
InventorsClifford M. Bugle, Robin L. Pesa, Jill R. McGibbney
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A seat rail for a bicycle seat and a method of fabricating same are disclosed. The seat rail comprises a rod having one or more flutes formed along the length of the rod. The seat rail provides support for a bicycle seat and provides means for securing the seat to the frame of a bicycle. The flutes in the rod reduce the effective cross-sectional area of the rod which results in a significant decrease in the weight of the seat rail, but without a significant loss of rigidity and strength. The fabrication method comprises providing an elongated rod-shaped feedstock, forming at least one flute along the length of the rod-shaped feedstock, and then bending the fluted feedstock to form the seat rail.
Claims21
A seat rail for supporting a bicycle seat, comprising a solid rod having at least one flute formed therein, rod having two ends and an arcuate middle portion disposed between the two ends, the flute disposed at an orientation along the rod so that deflection of the rod under loading in a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane containing the arcuate middle portion is minimized.
A seat rail for supporting a bicycle seat, comprising a generally circular, single solid rod having only two flutes formed therein disposed on substantially diametrically opposing sides of the rod, the rod comprising two ends and a curved front portion configured to support the seat at each of the two ends and the curved front portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.