JogAlong Update, April 2018
Image by JogAlong Stroller
This month I dug into the testing archive to find this picture of Anna (running) and Kolby (professionally handing out business cards) at a Wichita, Kansas 5k from a few years back. I wanted to share this in the spirit of celebrating the company moving along in our process.
In current news, let’s start with a JogAlong update. The second prototype of the fabric child pod, the “softgoods,” is complete. The team made significant improvements from the first version. The front window is much larger than it was before and we eliminated some sagging we had on earlier versions. These changes will improve the child’s visibility and also make it easier to maneuver your child in and out of the stroller. And it looks great! There are a few things I want to improve, but they are minor compared to the obstacles this last version cleared.
On the hardgoods side, which covers everything else on the stroller besides the fabric, we are working through a few items raised by the manufacturing team. I just finished an update to the design of the suspension system. For those interested in the details, we were concerned about the life of, or fatigue life in engineering speak, to a couple of the joints in the suspension system. We have not had any issues on our current prototype, which has seen some years of service, but the certification test we need to pass is quite strenuous since we will also be using the stroller as a bicycle trailer. All the little bumps you see on your running or biking path add up, and the certification test is designed to accelerate the real life bumps and stress of those conditions. It was time well spent. With some good suggestions from the manufacturing team, I believe we now have a more robust and simpler design to manufacture.
The survey has been tabulated and there is good news to report. Interest is strong for the JogAlong, and with your help we are now able to quantify many of the assumptions that our business model is built on. That will help us tremendously as we move into the financing part of the project. Thank you again for your participation and continued support.
