Hi Dave and Everyone,
Dave, thanks for sharing your experience and impressions here on TBN. It looks like the forks must be a big help cleaning up after the recent storm and your 3320 sure makes them look nice!
With regard to a backrest on the forks, I fully understand these preferences. When these forks were conceived, the original intent was for use on a 2305 subcompact machine with little lifting capability. Every ounce of weight mattered (matters). The 18" of frame height was considered enough backrest protection. Still, for those who wanted to add something higher, the frame was offered in an unpainted state for folks to add further additions as desired. It has always been a plan to design and offer a backrest when time allowed.
As of now, we have prototyped a backrest and it is in use however it has since been redesigned for improved mounting, lighter weight, and higher capacity (1000 lb vertical load @ 23-25 lbs). At present, we are working diligently on optimizing the cost of the backrest and trying to get it offered asap.
This backrest is targetting the following novel characteristics, 1- It will be field installable, 2- It will be removable, and 3-It will be shipping friendly. The field installability is so that those who have already bought their set of forks can later add the backrest, if so desired. The removability is so that when you don't need the extra protection, you can store the frame aside and retain the lower weight and better visibility.
As for shipping, we are currently able to ship by less expensive and much more convenient ground parcel services over freight or truck shipping. By having the backrest be a separate component, we can continue to stay within the ground services constraints. If it were joined as one piece, this would no longer be possible.
For anyone interested, there is a section on the "coming soon" page of the Artillian website which discusses the progress of the backrest.
Thanks again for everyone's observations! They are greatly appreciated. And again, thanks to Dave.