Looking for a new seat. I have a factory solo seat on my 87 XL, thinking about going with a low solo spring. My question is to anybody who has done or considered this, did you/ would you ditch the rear shock and go rigid, leave the shocks in place anyway, or go for it and hard tail it?
A lot of riders have both spring seats and keep their suspension. Including me. No shame in the game with having the extra comfort. If I went hard tail, I would be much more selective on roads that I would travel.
I have mine done like that. Pretty comfortable depending on the seat. I need all the spring I can get with my back and it's riding it is pretty bearable. I just replaced the rear shocks and noticed one was seized... Glad I'm alive, but it rides better with a suspension. I have a 90s dyna but it feels like a big sporty to me.
Here's a pic of the seat from the side. I was test fitting the exhaust.
This setup is considered a two degree of freedom spring mass system in the vibration dynamics world.
The bike suspension is one degree of freedom(D O F) & the seat spring is second DOF.
The two DOF can be either in phase or out of phase.
When the two DOF spring masses are in phase both the bike moves upward and the seat moves upward the same time and vise versa.
When the two DOF spring masses are out of phase, the bike moves upward and the seat moves downward at the same time and vise versa.
This condition could be unsafe and the rider could loose control of the bike.
Shocks with a springer seat here. Mines the HD pan seat with next to zero foam on it. It's good for about half to a full hour ride, defiantly not a road tripping seat.
This is very much down to what riding you do. I for one occasionally tour for a few days on all my bikes and no way would I ride any of them without suspension or a modern good quality cushioned seat! Some good posts above.
01-15-2017, 01:18 PM
Solo spring seat on bike with rear suspension?
