Hey guys….I'm a regular on the touring forum but my wife rides a FatBob and I'm looking to do some work on it to make it more comfortable for her. She has a tailbone injury so I'm looking to help make her riding as comfortable as possible. I have a few questions that I would appreciate some help on.


1. What is the best/cost effective way to lower the bike an inch or two without sacrificing ride comfort.

2. Are the adjustable floorboards the J&P cycle sells compatible with the FatBob? She thinks the extra foot positions available with the floorboards will help.

3. Is there a rider backrest available that will work with the stock seat? She finds the seat comfortable but for longer rides a backrest would help.

4. Whats an easy way to get the bars to pull back a little? Just a different riser? Don't want them raised but just a little more pull back.


Thanks to all who read and offer assistance. I have tried looking at the stickies at the top of this forum but most of the links are broken.

 

Others can and will chime in - but here is my 2¢

1) Shorter shocks - stock I think are 11" or 11.5" - will lower the ride - talk to Howard from Motorcycle Metal, he's a sponsor here with the best advice. Or a new seat may also lower the foot height & also solve Items #3 & 4 on your list
2) Not sure which ones you are looking at but shoot J&P an email and ask them - or go with mini-floorboards
3) Not that I know of as there is no bracket support built in the saddle - you could find someone but by the time you did that & built a back rest - it would be cheaper to get a new seat like Corbin, Mustang to name a few.
4) A new seat that pushes her forward would also solve the reach issue.

 

Check out www.meancitycycles.com. They will take the stock seat and replace the stock padding with memory foam and/or gel packs. They will also carve a tunnel for her tail bone so their is NO pressure. They can raise, lower or move forward or back her seating position. All for an unbelievably low price. I speak from experience. Worth a look...
Good luck!!

 

If she has a tailbone injury then you need to transfer her weight off the tailbone. Forward controls forces most of the rider`s weight on to the tailbone and you did not say if her Bob has forwards. If so, mid controls should help a lot.

 

I am still a new rider so I don't have a lot of answers but I just wanna say I have kuryakyn mini floorboards and I find them very comfy. No tailbone injury here though. Hope she feels better soon.

 

best and cost effective dont really mix here. a nice set of shorter shocks will both lower the bike and improve ride quality. but they arent cheap. the stock size is 12".

would need to see which boards your talking about to see if they'd fit.

you can also utilize the other peg mount position. so if your on forwards get some mid peg mounts and some miniboards and that's a good deal of foot positions.

if your on mids some miniboards there and some highway pegs.

i know ive seen something that bolts to the saddlebag mount points. cant remember where i saw it.

others have suggested a new seat. and i'd agree that a new seat might solve more than one thing you're looking to fix here. if you go that route do it before making other adjustments

some curved risers will move them back a little. something in the 5" range to keep the bar height approximately the same.
you can also swap bars to something with a little curve rather than the drag bars on the fatbob. look at the wide glide for an example.

you might have her testride a lowrider. not suggesting you buy one but the shorter shocks, and adjustable bars/seat might give you some idea if the changes your looking at are going to help.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. These are the floorboards I was looking at.

http://www.jpcycles.com/product/5500110

The seat mod may be the best way to tackle all the other issues too, lower it, channel it, and push forward a little.

Her FBob has forward controls and thats what she likes. She tried mid controls but with long legs, she feels too cramped with mids.

 

i dont see why those wouldnt fit. a non stock exhaust might cause issues. and it'll cut lean angles down some if she's a peg scraper.

 

She's not a peg dragger but does have V&H big radius 2-2....gonna have to pull the cover off it and see if it'll work

 

I have a pair of Street Glide air shocks in the garage doing nothing. I could send them to you for $150 plus the cost of shipping. If she doesn't like em I'll buy em back from ya.