I just finished another small winter project, so I thought I’d share …

I replaced the stock seat on my Fat Boy with a Sundowner Deep Bucket Seat. While the stock seat is fine for general riding, I found after a couple hours of solid riding, my butt was getting numb and my back was aching to get off the bike. Based on what I read and from talking to a few folks who have these, this seat supposedly helps out in both areas.

Now you’d think swapping seats would be a 5-minute project … well, not quite. First, the passenger grab strap has to bolt to the bike. The strap has multiple holes and the ones they tell you to use make it way too tight, so I had to re-do that. Then (with or without the strap), the front seat tongue just did NOT want to go into the frame channel right behind the gas tank – add the limitations of movement from the strap and it was a real bear to get hooked in there – but I finally won. I think once the (brand new) seat padding settles into the bike frame some, hooking the tongue should go a little easier.

I started to mount it without the strap, as no one rides on the back and it would make mounting the seat a bit easier. But I found the mounted seat was a bit wobbly side-to-side without the strap, so off it came (again) and I put the strap back on. That firmed it up better.

From what I can tell so far, this seat is comfortable !! Just sitting on the bike, I can feel the seat support against my lower back – that’s going to be a huge help. This one seems to sit a hair lower than the stock seat, but I’ll be able to tell better once I get it out on the street.

I’ve posted a couple before and after shots – the first two are the stock 2-piece seat, the last 2 are the new one-piece seat. You can easily see the difference in the seat contour for the back support. You can also tell from the pictures that I opted for the seat that has the trim to match the factory Fat Boy trim. The price difference between the smooth one (no trim) and the trimmed one was $30, so I decided it was worth it.

Speaking of price, that worked out well too. I actually bought the seat from a Harley dealer who sells on eBay. Given their eBay sale price plus shipping, I saved $87 over buying it locally (at full retail) and paying sales tax. Bought it Monday evening and UPS delivered it to me on Friday, so it worked out good.

Only bad part now is I can’t get it out on the street to give it a test ride !!! Thursday was in the low 60’s, but today is in the mid-20s with a winter storm blowing through. So far, we’ve got about 4-5 inches of the white stuff … so the test ride will have to wait awhile, but at least it’s on there !!!

 

Looks good. I like it. Been wanting to get the Sundowner for my Deluxe.

 

I had the same problem with my old fatboy seat, back started to hurt, back of my right leg would go numb. Found a new sundowner seat and can ride all day. WAY more back support. I have rode hundreds of miles with the new seat the old seat is collecting dust.

 

Looks fantastic

 

Looks good. I want this seat for mine but I never here anyone talk about it....it be nice to hear some feed back from riders

 

I had the same problem getting my seat to fit into the front channel too. I didn't get a sundowner seat, I got the Saddlemen Explorer seat but it took alot of finessing and cussing before I got that seat to fit in that forward channel. Anybody else had that problem? I hate having to take the damn seat off to work on the bike because it is such a pain to put back on.

 

The Saddlemen Explorer is a well kept secret I have had 2 of them on bikes. I have the Sundowner on a 2006 FXST and it is ok but I now have the Harley Signature series on my FLST and like it the best of all. It has a deeper bucket and back support and an optional backrest. It is the most comfortable I have found. #51985-08, 51998-08 or 51922-09.

 

Thanks for the positive responses. I really like the seat and am looking forward to getting some serious ride time with it.

Flynhigh56 - It’s good to hear I’m not the only one who needed to put some serious elbow grease into getting the front of the seat locked into the channel… I’m hoping this one settles in over time, but it sounds like your seat is still wanting to argue with you… BTW – nice color on your Fat Boy too !!!!

Sportyguy69 - I’m really glad to hear you’ve been happy with yours. As we all know, it’s a crap-shoot a lot of times on these accessories. We all read the marketing advertising on these parts and know it’s just that – marketing. Most times it works out just the way we’d hoped for, but sometimes it ends up a waste of hard-earned money. On this purchase, I’d also heard from some other folks who said they were happy with this Sundowner seat, so I felt better about the purchase ahead of time. Thanks again for confirming your pleasure with it.

Tslonige – yea, I like that Signature seat too !!! I’d actually first considered keeping the stock seat and just adding a back rest to it (like the Kuryakyn), but in the end, I figured the seat was the better investment. But that signature seat combines the best of both – very nice !!

Now I just need a serious winter thaw to happen to melt all this white stuff we got over the past couple of days, so me and the Fat One can put a few miles on this new seat !!!

 

I have a Sundowner, that I use when my wife rides with me. She wont ride on the narrow, uncomfortable, pillion that goes with my SE seat.
The Sundowner is comfortable.

There were numerous recommendations for it on the forums, or I would never have considered getting an HD seat.
One of the pluses of it is you can go to the dealership and they will probably let you put one on your bike so you can see how it feels before buying it.

Tom

 

There is a couple of things I did notice about the Sundowner seat is that it put me a little farther forward than the stock Fatboy seat. Also with the seat being a deep bucket style, I noticed a lot of lower back support, and made me sit up straight in the saddle. Helping me keep good posture. Probally why my back doesnt bother me anymore. Ohh and when let the little ole lady on the back she just loves the way the seat, sits her up high and the cushion is nice a wide. Makes her butt look smaller than it is...lol.