ABS vs. Fiberglass, Seat Mounting Issues and Suggestions!?

[mrhonhon]

Hey all, first time poster here... i tried searching and found a thread that was asking my question, but the thread got so side tracked, no one ever answered the question...

so like the title says, im wondering how ABS seats do against Fiberglass seats...

i bought the bugeye seat from DCC, and before i knew that Lendgendary makes the seat in fiberglass, and resides 20mins from my house, i had the ABS seat in my hands...

so whats the input on this? i have a CM200T, its my first bike and it was beat to begin with, im planning on aquriring an 80's nighthawk in the future as well as maybe a naked goldwing ( i like the vintage hond stuff )

anyways, i got the seat mounting kit also, which seems basically like a thicker cutting board type material. i mounted it to my frame using conduit holders with some rubber spacers to get the seat high enough so i could slide it foward enough to cover the rear tank mounting bolt.

i was messing with the bike last night, mounting my turn signals and i made some S type brackets to bolt to the rear frame, drilled some holes in the seat pan so it wouldnt rattle against the taillights... but i noticed when i was sitting on it, the rear of the seat would bend slightly and it actually bent my brackets i made. i drilled a hole in the rear of the cutting board bracket and mounted some rubber spacers and it seemed to still bend slightly..

so i took everything completely off the bike to start from scratch... i put the board directly on the frame and noticed that the frame tubes are slightly lower than the rear cross brace

heres a picture of a bare frame. not as bad as mine, but mine was pretty bad... kid that had it before didnt take care of it all.... poor little guy...

http://cyclenetparts.com/images/P1210782.JPG


so ive thought of doing the through bolt ive seen where people drilled holes through the frame and if i were to do that, i would just have to add some washers under the front of the board to allow the board to sit nice and tight against the frame... but if i were to do that, the seat would have to move rearwards exposing the rear fuel tank bolt.

im wondering if instead of rubber spacers for the rear of the board for my original idea if i should use the plastic or steele spacers ive seen at ace hardware and/or lowes....

sucks i thought i had the seat figured out and it seems almost im at square one still....

i was wondering if i should ditch the ABS seat and order a fiberglass one? i've seen some people where they litterally just mount the seat without anything under it, and no one seems to complain of issues, and im actually trying to use a reinforcement and it seems im having issues????

if anyone can give me some input and/or some ideas to bounce around im game... thank you very much in advance... im not giving up on the CM... its a rare bike in its odd fashion and mine seems to be developing its own personality with consistantly giving me problems.

also ive thought of the idea of the 5$ mounting, but it would leave me with the same issue wheres the rear of the bracket would bend...

 

[thekeezler]

I've got the same seat as you - painted it looks nice.

Did you buy the mounting kit that includes the seat pan and the mounting blocks / bolts etc? If your using the mounting blocks, I think you just trim the blocks down until you get the desired height.

 

[jkilla71]

This is how I mounted my seat it should work for most bike. No drilling the frame and easy on and off.

Seat mounting: I bought ( 8 ) - #11 rubber stoppers(scientific) and I used the 2 white plastic cutting boards from Walmart as a base(2.99 a piece). I drilled four holes in the corners of the seat pan so the bolts could still go through the center of the rubber stoppers under the seat pan, underneath the rubber stoppers is the white plastic cutting board as a base, you will need to drill the holes to line up with the stoppers and the holes in the seat pan. Now I needed room to put my battery under the cafe hump so i put another layer of stoppers and a plastic cutting board to raise up the seat, that depends on the seat pan. I used hinged pipe hanger clamps(home depot) that bolt to the plastic cutting board then you close the hinge around the frame and screw it closed. I used some silicone hose I cut up to protect the frame from the metal clamps. The white plastic cutting boards are tough, easy to cut with a jigsaw and don't rot or corrode. I used one to mount my battery and computer to the frame underneath the cafe hump.


Seat pad: I used a foam sleeping bag mat and cut it in the shape on the seat surface, I used 3 or 4 layers because it was only 3/8inch foam. I used 3M contact cement between the layers of foam. Then I cut a piece of fake leather I bought and used the 3m contact cement to "wrap" the foam so it took shape of the pad, and the pad was done, I then attached the pad to the seat pan with the 3M contact cement.


#11 stoppers are the big ones but you could use smaller

Walmart small cutting board

pipe hangers for mounts, these aren't hinged but they are the same design

 

[gk45011]

That looks awsome. so the bolt through the seat, then the cutting board for support, then through the bushing for vibration damper and into the thread of the pipe mount to secure it? Is that correct?

What does the head of the bolt look like? is it smooth? if so how tight can you tighten it? or do you tighten it then compress and lock the pipe mount so it is slightly compressed and tight?

Gary

 

[jkilla71]

Actually I put a piece of dense foam under the seat pan first(forgot before, it came from a sleeping bag mat 3/8th")then the rubber stoppers which are about 2 3/4" wide on the big side(so it covers a lot of area under the pan, depending on the size of your pan you may want to go with a smaller stopper than#11(amazon.com)), then the polyethylene cutting board as a base. The bolts I bought (4)- 3 1/2" 7/16th bolts from home depot big washers.

So the bolt goes through the washer/seatpan/foam/stoppers/cutting board/lockwasher/nut.

Then I put the pipe hangers on the frame and locked them in place, then I placed the seat on the pipe hangers, get the seat straight and even on both sides then with a pen mark the cuttingboard for your holes to mount the pipe hangers. Take the pipe hangers off the frame and unbolt the cuttingboard from the seat so you can attach the pipe hangers to the cutting board. Bolt the cutting board back on to the seat and then clamp the pipehanger on the frame. just tighten until good and snug.

don't forget to protect the frame with some hose or tape or something

 

[mnraider]

This is how I mounted my seat it should work for most bike. No drilling the frame and easy on and off.

Seat mounting: I bought ( 8 ) - #11 rubber stoppers(scientific) and I used the 2 white plastic cutting boards from Walmart as a base(2.99 a piece). I drilled four holes in the corners of the seat pan so the bolts could still go through the center of the rubber stoppers under the seat pan, underneath the rubber stoppers is the white plastic cutting board as a base, you will need to drill the holes to line up with the stoppers and the holes in the seat pan. Now I needed room to put my battery under the cafe hump so i put another layer of stoppers and a plastic cutting board to raise up the seat, that depends on the seat pan. I used hinged pipe hanger clamps(home depot) that bolt to the plastic cutting board then you close the hinge around the frame and screw it closed. I used some silicone hose I cut up to protect the frame from the metal clamps. The white plastic cutting boards are tough, easy to cut with a jigsaw and don't rot or corrode. I used one to mount my battery and computer to the frame underneath the cafe hump.


Seat pad: I used a foam sleeping bag mat and cut it in the shape on the seat surface, I used 3 or 4 layers because it was only 3/8inch foam. I used 3M contact cement between the layers of foam. Then I cut a piece of fake leather I bought and used the 3m contact cement to "wrap" the foam so it took shape of the pad, and the pad was done, I then attached the pad to the seat pan with the 3M contact cement.


#11 stoppers are the big ones but you could use smaller

Walmart small cutting board

pipe hangers for mounts, these aren't hinged but they are the same design

Very cool idea. I like that there is no mod to the frame.

 

[mnraider]

Great info in this post. I am going to use that pipe hanger idea on another project that I am working on. Thanks!

 

[AgentX]

Sorry for the necrothread but was looking at a Legendary seat as well and it's exclusively made in ABS.

Any other input on fiberglass vs ABS? Any input on how the legendary seat's been working out for you?

For my application, there aren't frame rails (Royal Enfield bullet) and I need to fabricate supports. Hard to get support along the full length of the seat. Would ABS or fiberglass better support rider weight on its own?