Development of Ergonomic Design Procedures for Cycle Manufacturer

Bicycles have evolved significantly over the past decades in pace with technological advancement. However the comfort of cyclists has not much attempted in many designs. Although ample research has been reported on comfort for other means of transportation, cyclists perception of comfort has received scant attention in the scientific literature. This project discusses the ergonomic improvements that can be incorporated in the design of a cycle, a bike of rural people. The first step is to determine which factors contribute to comfort when riding a bicycle which results in awkward postures and Human performance. It has been found out by means of a survey with enthusiast cyclists that comfort is influenced by factors related to the cyclist (position, adjustments, body parts). Respondents indicated that comfort is a concern when riding a bicycle in most situations and they believed that comfort is compatible with performance. A specific design has been modeled in 3D software on the actual dimensions. The posture analysis tool was used, which shows there are deviations from the permissible value of head flexion, upper arm flexion, wrist ulnar deviation, trunk and knee angles causing fatigue and discomfort. The general solutions for this problems are 1) Introduction of a back rest 2) Design of foot pedal 3) lateral movement of seat 4) Reclining posture. Incorporating all these, this work proposes a solution for design of cycle. Several design solutions varying in design parameters were attempted with the commercial software for posture analysis. It was found that introducing an additional roller support and within a narrow deviation of dimensions in the head flexion, wrist ulnar and trunk deviation, normally seen in upright are within the acceptable standards.