Need a different seat/position

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Sep 21, 2013 | 10:42 AM

franchy

Thread Starter

Stage III

Joined: Sep 2013

Posts: 3

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From: Richmond

Need a different seat/position

I just bought a softail slim. Unfortunately, I had only taken a short test drive before the purchase. I'm 6'1" & I need to come up & back off the seat to be comfortable. I really like the bike, but after just 50 miles it
is really uncomfortable. Any useful suggestions to seat height & placement?

Sep 21, 2013 | 11:23 AM

08Nighttrain

Road Master

Joined: Dec 2011

Posts: 1,122

Likes: 4

From: Florida

What in particular is uncomfortable? Is it bar position or leg room? Our both? You can get forward control extensions that will give up to 3 more inches of leg room and you can change bar set up or risers to help there. A new seat might give you an inch or two at best but I don't think that will solve your problem. I put on 3" forward control extensions and it made a ton of difference.

Sep 21, 2013 | 11:39 AM

franchy

Thread Starter

Stage III

Joined: Sep 2013

Posts: 3

Likes: 0

From: Richmond

Mainly leg room ( acute angle ). I like the bar reach. I thought about
the forward controls, but I actually like to ride with my feet on the footboards. Thanks.

Sep 21, 2013 | 12:10 PM

Ragnar

Road Master

Joined: Jul 2013

Posts: 862

Likes: 2

From: WI

Quote:

Originally Posted by franchy

Mainly leg room ( acute angle ). I like the bar reach. I thought about the forward controls, but I actually like to ride with my feet on the footboards. Thanks.

Yup. Exactly the same boat here. Love the look of the seat, but it just sucks for anything over about 250-300 miles.

I, too, like the footboards and didn't want to lose them. I went with CycleVision's go-forward kit. Here's a brief write-up:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/softa...lim-bingo.html

I did, however, have to go with a custom brake line as well. Easy to do - ordered a tee, 24" and 34" line, and a straight and a 45 banjo fitting, though I would go with a 90 instead of the 45 if I were to do it again.

I found the go-forward kit from Dennis Kirk for $92ish (MSRP $130). They still have one in stock right now, according to their page here:

https://www.denniskirk.com/go-forwar...prd/H57183.sku

It SAYS it won't fit the Slim, but it does perfectly.

Did it FIX my issues with comfort on the Slim? No, but it did make a huge difference. I'm still looking at putting 16" apes on, and will be modifying a stock seat myself or will wind up with a Mustang or Corbin seat on it if all of that fails.

The stock seat just has a funny feel to it. You probably are wanting to sit up on the back rim, and can feel the ECM cover just hammering your tailbone after a while. The Fat Boy Lo's seat is bitchin'. No idea why they couldn't have made a better seat for this bike... I REALLY wanted to put the bobber seat on it, but it appears as though it will make the issue significantly worse, by pushing the rider forward a couple of inches, and up an inch or so.

Anyway, hopefully that was at least of some help.

Jul 11, 2014 | 11:10 AM

Ballantime

2nd Gear

Joined: Jul 2014

Posts: 6

Likes: 0

From: Schaumburg

This seems to be the exact thing I was looking for but I have the mustache bar from HD mounted on my '13 FLS. Will any of those kits work with the mustache engine guard 49440-10?

Any help highly appreciated.

Jul 11, 2014 | 02:08 PM

yzergod

Road Warrior

Joined: Aug 2012

Posts: 1,553

Likes: 36

From: Four Corners

Quote:

Originally Posted by franchy

I just bought a softail slim. Unfortunately, I had only taken a short test drive before the purchase. I'm 6'1" & I need to come up & back off the seat to be comfortable. I really like the bike, but after just 50 miles it is really uncomfortable. Any useful suggestions to seat height & placement?

Had the same problem with my '08 Deluxe. Swapped out the stock seat for one off a Fat Boy. That dropped me down a couple inches and back at least 1 1/2" and completely changed the riding position. I then added some 16" Wild1 Chubbys and that made it so comfortable I was able to go 9 hours straight on a trip. You can pick up a Fat Boy take off for cheap and it was comfortable enough for an all day ride for me. I paid around $50 for mine through the classifieds here. Hope that helps!