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I have been trolling this forum and found only a couple of posts mentioning the fitment of narrow wheel TC Softail seat on an FLS. For those FLS owners who have looked and found that the FLS shares its seat with only 1 model, the Blackline (FXS I think). This makes for a very small range of seats aftermarket and very little on the secondhand market that is more comfortable than a block of timber.
My last Harley was a 2014 Deluxe FLSTN, loved the bike however I needed to sell as I got into financial trouble. 2 years later I bought an FLS and thought when I test rode it, "the seat is like a rock, doesn't matter, I'll find something similar to the Deluxe". Man was I wrong. $AUD700 for a Mustang wide tripper, OUCH. So I started looking at custom made seats and other options.
I found a second hand OEM FLSTN seat on EBay and thought, how much different could they be? Unless an FLSTN and an FLS were sitting next to each other you couldn't pick the difference in the rear fender area, even the ECM is mounted the same. I've attached below a few pics of the fitment. I'll list a few points, some of the mods to the seat aren't pictured.
The bike is not modified, only the FLSTN seat. I wanted to be able to put it back to standard
Everything was done in a basic garage workshop, 4 inch grinder, Dremel, vice and hand tools are all you need
The FLSTN seat can also be put back to standard, the mounting point is available as a spare part from HD
I used some random 12mm rubber mount spacers I found in the garage (mazda 323 A/C hoses or A/C condenser) they have a steel tube through the rubber bush to prevent crushing the rubber, you could probably use 1/2' nuts if you couldn't find anything else
These spacers lift the seat 12mm (I'm short), but are actually there to allow more room for the ECM mounted to the rear fender and the tail-light wiring plugs that pass under the seat
The FLSTN seat mount bolts are plenty long enough to allow for the 12mm spacer
The seat that I bought was damaged, I bought it online and couldn't see the damage, it's in the pics, cracks next to the chrome rail mounts
This damage may affect the way it was fitted, I think the FLSTN seat came from an impact damaged bike and has been bent (hard to say without seeing an un-damaged seat)
I trimmed the tongue that sticks out the front of the FLSTN seat by 5mm, it fouls on the captive nut that the fuel tank bolts to
The tank bib is un-modified, its now hidden under the seat. I was going to remove it, however there's a weld up the middle of the fuel tank
The FLSTN seat rubs on the fuel tank, if it starts to chafe the paint, I'll put some clear vinyl or change the tank bib to something wider
The FLSTN seat bracket has been re-shaped to follow the line of the rear fender, the FLSTN and FLS must be a different shape/angle
I re-shaped the curve of the bracket with a vice and 12' shifter. It would be neater if you heated the metal, it only needed to move about 10-12mm. I didn't bother, you can't really tell once painted
How I cut it up The spacers to lift the seat slightly (12mm) to allow room for ECM Finished bracket The finished fitment, yes I'm wearing pants The gap is probably due to the different rear fenders of the 2 bikes
Last edited by Ian Hoots; Apr 8, 2023 at 06:15 PM.
Nice job
Have you found it has moved the seating position forward?
The reason I ask is when I got my 2016 Slim, my wife still had here 2013 Deluxe and essentially the same bike, but with different fenders, she found riding the Slim she was stretch out and further back and I found the Deluxe pushed me forward . We then noticed, fairly obviously that there is a gap from the base of the tank on the Slim seat where as the Deluxe seat goes up to the tank!
Nice job
Have you found it has moved the seating position forward?
The reason I ask is when I got my 2016 Slim, my wife still had here 2013 Deluxe and essentially the same bike, but with different fenders, she found riding the Slim she was stretch out and further back and I found the Deluxe pushed me forward . We then noticed, fairly obviously that there is a gap from the base of the tank on the Slim seat where as the Deluxe seat goes up to the tank!
Yes, with the Deluxe seat I am positioned a lot higher and a little forward. I have short legs so that is an improvement for me, the toe shifter is within easy reach now. With the original seat, I needed to shuffle forward slightly to get my toe under the shifter. The heel shifter was missing when I bought the bike, I will order one today. I have a 30 inch inseam in Levi's for reference.
I have not taken the bike for a long ride yet, so I can't yet tell you about the all day comfort. I do expect that to be good though, as my previous Deluxe I had travelled 1,000klms in a day without discomfort.
Probably something I didn't mention earlier and isn't obvious unless the 2 seats are compared, the Deluxe seat is noticeably wider. This places your legs wider apart, its particularly noticeable when both feet on the ground at a traffic light. It's not really a problem even with my short legs, just an observation.
Last edited by Ian Hoots; Apr 10, 2023 at 04:18 PM.
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FLSTN seat on FLS
