Hi guys, hope you can help me with this:
I'm 6.4", riding a fatboy lo stock. I feel a little cramped on my bike, and I was wondering what seat could bring me further back so I could spread my legs a little.
Would it be better a slim seat like le pera barebones or a spring bobber seat?
I like the way a spring seat looks on the bike, but I'm not sure if it can help me with my problem.
Any ideas?

 

Floorboard extenders made a big difference for myself.

 

I would definitely say a spring seat is better. I'm the same height.

 

Fatboys are "short" which is why I didn't get one, but extending them floor boards will do way more than a seat. I'm 6'7" on a Deuce with 3" extensions on my forward controls and a Corbin Solo seat. There's still no way possible that I'd ever be able to have straight legs when I ride, but I'm comfortable. The world isn't made for tall people, and that makes sense, ya just gotta do what you can.

on a different note. My wife is 5'4 ..... our house is weird :-)

 

I put a barebones on my Slim, which let me slide back a little bit - not much. Spring seat would have pushed me forward, but also higher.

As a couple of guys have mentioned, there are multiple options out there for moving controls forward by a couple of inches or more. I went forward 2 inches, and it made a huge difference. I'm 6'2".

Here's one example of such a kit - this one is by Arlen Ness and is +3 inches:

http://www.arlenness.com/prodcat/Controls1.asp

 

Thanks everyone for the quick replies!

I know that I'll have to do some serious modifications on the floorboards, but I also wanna try a different seat as well.

I believe that a seat like lepera barebones could move me lower, but I'm not sure how far back, since the lower you get on a fatboy, the frame also moves you forward a bit.

With the spring saddle, you probably gets higher, and it doesn't seem to move you back. Actually it seems to move you forward a bit. Or am I wrong?

Anyway, has anyone tried both type of seats?

Sorry for beeing repetitive, but here in Brazil a single seat is about 1.000 USD!!
Can't afford to make a mistake.

 

Three of us mentioned moving the controls forward 'cause that's going to have a much larger impact on leg room. Glad you're considering that as well. Honestly, I'd recommend making that change first, and see if you still need to look at seats once you've been able to run that for a little while.

I have a Slim, which is basically the same in regards to the seat positioning. The Lepera Barebones I put on set me back about about 0.5 inches, while still lowering me a little bit. The Barebones for the Fat Boy is probably going to do the same, but I can't say for certain - can't try it, because the mounting is different between the bikes to the fender, but the frame is the same. I got verification that the spring saddle does what you said, higher, and a little forward. I was never able to get my hands on one to try, since nobody around here has one. They mount up the same on either bike, with a different cover for the ECM, so I believe this is still accurate for the FB.

Holy *****! $1k is insane money - 2-4 times what they cost here. I didn't try the spring seat due to the cost in case I was wrong... about $500 here.

Wish I could give you a more definitive answer.

The Barebones has proven to be a decent seat for a number of us on here. It's pretty hard at first, but over the course of a few thousand miles, it's gotten to be pretty comfortable now that it's broken in. Not much cushion in the spring seat, either, but the springs do have some give to them. The stock Lo seat is pretty cushy compared to either.

 

I'm 6' with a 34" inseam and I ride an 03 Fatboy. I felt kinda cramped on it so I went with a barebones seat which moved me back and lower than the factory seat. Then I swapped the foot boards for forward pegs with stirrups and that helped a lot but I wanted more leg room so I added the Arlen Ness 3" extension kit and with the combination of all three, I'm very comfortable now.

 

That's life in the third world, Ragnar. Most manufactored goods are expensive as hell.
I guess I'll try the barebones, even though the spring seat looks amazing.

Nivek, do you know if its possible to replace the floorboards to forward pegs on a fatboy LO?
I ask that because, for some reason, the HD catalog shows no forward control parts that fits the fatboy lo, only the regular fatboy.

 

I know it can be done because I've seen pics of fatboy lo's with them though I'm not sure which ones to use. I thought the frames were the same between the fatboy and fatboy lo. I just used the factory brackets from an 05 Softail Standard that I found on eBay. I'm sure more knowledgable people on here can let you know which brackets will work.