I knew before I bought my Bullet that I wanted it to have a solo seat. I bought my solo seat second-hand and although it came with rear mounting brackets there was none for the front. I know some solo seats are fixed in the front with a bolt directly through the mount that's welded to the tube frame. I considered doing this but felt that it would make the front of the seat too low and too close to the tank. I temporarily fixed the seat in this position and installed the original rear brackets to see how this arrangement would feel. I'm 6' 3" and, while I generally love the ergonomics of the Bullet, the solo seat position just felt to close to the tank.
I decided to make custom brackets for the front and rear. Two 3" parallel brackets, angled roughly 40 degrees rearward, combined with rear brackets 1" longer (2 1/2" center to center) than the original brackets which were angled and approximately 1 1/2" center to center. The new front brackets allow for some adjustability fore and aft but I positioned the seat to keep the springs as vertical as possible.
Here are the specifications of the brackets:
(2) FRONT Brackets 3" x 1 1/4" x 1/8" (made from 24" x 1 1/4" x 1/8" steel bar from Home Depot) each with two 5/16" holes, one in each end, 1/2" from each end (2" center to center). Painted black.
(2) REAR Brackets 3 1/2" x 1" x 1/4" (made from 24" x 1" x 1/4" steel bar from Home Depot) each with two 5/16" holes, one in each end, 1/2" from each end (2 1/2" center to center). Painted black.
The front brackets are mounted by placing a piece of 5/16" all-thread rod through the holes (in this case, pre-existing) in the front of the seat frame, and secured with nuts and lockwasher on the inside and nylon locknuts on the outside. The all-thread should be just long enough to allow for the locknut on each end. No excess all-thread rod should protrude from the locknuts or this will cause a bulge in the seat cover. A 5/16" bolt, cut to suit could also be used instead of the all-thread. The pic below shows the view looking at the all-thread rod, nuts, washers and the very ends of the brackets::
This pic shows one of the custom rear brackets (left) and one of the original rear brackets (right). Note that the original rear brackets were bent at an angle but the one in this pic has been pounded flat (I had been experimenting with them
):
This pic shows the left-side rear bracket as installed. Initially, I was concerned that the brackets might bend over time due to their being longer than the originals. These are thicker and, as it turns out, happen to rest directly on top of the fender carrier mounting, providing more stability! :
This pic shows the seat orientation in relation to the tank:
Now the seat position feels great!
Let me know what you think about this mod. or if you have any questions!
Al
Topic: Seat Brackets Mod. (Old-Fashioned Style Solo Seat) for Tall Riders. (Read 4931 times)