does a spring seat make a rigid comfortable?

Here is my buddy on the bike we built for him. He is about 5'7" and 150 lbs. The bike has mid controls mounted where the stock exhaust fastens to the bottom frame rails. And the frame is 4" off the ground with no stretch. Perfect size for someone a little smaller than the 5'10" crowd.

5769434498_9a0de4719f_b.jpg
 
I helped a friend to a leaf sping solo saddle on an rigid cb750. 6 inches total travel looks a little funky with the seat way up in the air when he's not on it but after 24 years of riding it with various rigid seats he likes it. If your seat feels wobbly or squishy side to side you need to rethink your mount just cuz it's easy don't mean it's right. One last thing if you keep your feet far enough back you can stand up on the real rough stuff and save your bod.
 
The bars are perfect. Hes a little guy and we just rode about a hundred miles from San Francisco to Clearlake. No problems with the reach.

Besides its kinda fun to be in a more aggressive stance over something more relaxed. At least until hour 3 or 4 rolls along ...
 
Hour 3 or 4 in a car kills me, lol. My buddies legs fell asleep, bad, over the weekend he told me. He's got a CB750 cafe and got to hour 3, was exiting I-95, and almost fell off his bike when he came to an intersection.
 
When I am finished I will have the above bike as a rigid. Another is planned for a Cafe.

So given a bit of time I will be able to make some nice comparisons.
 
I can answer this question with experience.

I have built two choppers and a bobber. I tried at least 4 different seat designs with different types of foam and two of those seats were built by professionals.
I spent lots of money.


When I tried a solo seat with springs I realized H-D got it right a long time ago.
The spring seat makes riding very comfortable.

But...I must say two things.
The choice of springs is critical and I tried every kind.

I weigh 200 lbs.
SPRINGS:

The straight cylindrical springs were too soft and bottomed out.
The hairpin type spring was so stiff it was like no spring at all.
Then I tried the barrel or bee hive type spring and it worked just right.
It did not bottom out and worked very well. Not too soft either.

The SEAT MUST BE LEVEL!

A seat tilted down in the rear is going to make you tired trying to stay on.
It also will force your rear end towards the fender which will hurt.

You need to get the seat level and if you have to raise up the mounts.
The hinge has to be tight and precision as possible or the seat can wobble from side to side. That does not feel good at all.

A 5 inch tall spring is going to want to wobble from side to side.
All of that side to side force will fall onto the hinge and bushings (if any).

The seat pan must be right or all of the springs,seat hinge.levelness of the seat will not help.

The most comfortable seat pan is like a tractor seat.
Matter of fact I make my seats from a ford 9N flip over style seat pan.
I get them from a farm supply.

The seat will need to have the sides cut down near the front.
The tractor type seat offers great lower back support.

Remember when you hit bumps on a motorcycle with a rigid frame with a poor seat and no springs it is pounding the discs (cushions) in your back. If they split apart and push on a nerve you can be paralyzed for life.

Of course you may not know until you are 40 then it is too late.

BTW...If you have to reach to grab the handlebars it is going to kill your back.
You should be able to sit up and just raise your forearms up and the grips should fall right into your hands. No reaching.
 
The reason this works is because the seat is about 20 inches above the foot rests.

Got to have 20 inches
Otherwise the height of a 5 gallon plastic bucket above the pegs.
That is for a bike with mid controls.
 
I have learned a lot about seats after building 5 custom rigid bikes.
I started working on bikes at age 16 and I am 66 now.
Still riding . (A rigid too!)

First thing to get straight is that if all you care about is how the seat looks on the bike
you may not ever be happy with the comfort.
Just like if you play guitar and you want the strings very low on the fret board.
You just will not get good results. The strings need room to vibrate.

A seat (any seat) must be level so that you are comfortable.
When you sit on the bike you should be able to just raise up your arms and the grips should be right there. You should not have to reach out to grab them.
It does not matter if you have forward controls or mid controls.

If the seat is tilted way up in front to "follow" the frame it will not be comfortable.

Any kind of non spring seat on a rigid is not going to be as comfortable as a spring seat.
No high tech foam combo will fix that. I tried. I spent hundreds.
The foam will help protect your spine from some of the damage though.
But the foam gets compressed over time.

SPRINGS-

The hairpin style springs are so stiff that they do not help much at all.
The cylindrical springs are very soft. For very light weight people.
IF you are around 200 lbs. the best springs are the behive style springs.
The 3 inch behive style springs are good for most people around 160-200 lbs.
Some of the 5 inch springs are good IF(very important) if they are heavy duty 5 inch springs. No wobble .

The springs no matter what height must not wobble from side to side.
The seat shocks seem like a good idea but should you have one or two of them? Seems like there is not much info available. I have not tried them so I cannot say.

The springs on the motorcycle seat are taking the place of the springs on your shocks IF YOU HAD THEM.

If you had the space for two regular rear shocks in your frame to attach to the seat they might be a good idea.
I have not seen it done.

The seat must be large enough to support you.
A 9 inch seat for a full grown person is not going to be very comfortable for very long at all.

A seat 10"-16 inches wide, and 13"-16 inches long will be comfortable.

I have found that a tractor seat metal seat pan is the best. It must be modified for motorcycle use. Narrower in the front.

Some of the tractor seat pans are better than others.
Some are very shallow and some are deeper.
If you need lower back support then the deeper dish seat is best.
The seat pans you se advertised on the web which is a flat plate bent up in the rear are
not going to be that comfortable.
Your body is not FLAT on the bottom.
It is a compound curve.
zwwy3a.jpg

A modified tractor seat on a Rigid frame with 3 inch behive style springs.
Very comfortable even with out any padding.
The hinge of the spring solo seat must be as tight and precise as possible to eliminate any side to side play.
 
You are welcome.:)

BTW...The little hump on the tractor style seat in the front is valuable because it keeps you from sliding forward.
Those "potato chip" seat pans for sale online do not have that hump.
 
emzdogz said:
I only rode my project bike once so far. Rigid with 5 inch spring solo seat. I wish I could try it with unsprung seat. Spring seat makes it feel "vague". Have ordered 3 inch springs to see if it'll tame that wallowing feeling.
Click to expand...

Hi Auntie Em,
I'd say it ain't so much the seat's 5" spring as the arc it moves through that gives the vague feeling.
Sure, swapping in 3" springs will lessen the seat movement but that alone will most likely be just a partial fix.
Check on how much wobble there is on the seat's pivot bolt.
If the seat squirms sideways under your girlish stern that too will give a vague feel.
 
mg4201 said:
- - - will a spring seat make a rigid rideable? - - -
Click to expand...

Hi mg,
well, of course it will. That's more rideable than without one, of course.
As will the bike's riding stance.
Riding with your feet forward and leaning back like an extra in a cheap biker movie bends your spine in a compressed backward arc, puts all your weight on your tailbone and makes it eff nigh impossible to stand on the pegs on the bumpy bits.
That position is a threefer to send you to a chiropractor.
Riding with your feet under your arse and leaning forward with your thighs and arms at 90º to your spine in the classic Vincent riding position puts your spine in a tensioned forward arc and makes it easy to stand on the pegs on the bumpy bits.
That position is the ergonomic optimum.
You should build your bike that way.
As for looking cool, ask yourself who looks cooler after a 500 mile ride; the guy who leaps off his bike or the guy who has to be lifted off by the EMTs?
 
The 3 inch springs will be better but the seat must be level front to back.
The five inch springs are only good if they are the HEAVY DUTY ones.
You have to really look to find them. They do not wobble.
The front hinge on the seat MUST have no play in it. That is very important.
 
yes - rode a 51 pan for 20 yrs with a bates solo seat on short barrel springs. i could go across 3/4 states and back with no back pain.:thumbsup:
 
Ill jump in a bit too... my kz750 was set up with clip ons and a flat seat ... just commuting to work and back made my back hurt...

Riding my rigid shovelhead with a sprung seat was way more comfortable...
 

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