So you will recall that one of my desires with this solo seat/2-up seat back and forth swap out thing was for the actual removal and installation from one to the other to be accomplished fairly quickly and easily. The 2-up seat combo now screws at the front, hooks under the big bolt underneath the seat in the middle and screws to the rear fender screw at the back. That goes on and off in about 30 seconds. I wanted the same fairly quick detachableness for the new solo seat, which means as few bolts/screws as possible. The way the new solo seat fits on the frame the two rear studs on the seat sit right on a couple of flat spots above the battery box and oil tank respectively. I'm not running springs because this isn't a hardtail. But bolting them to the frame would require a lot more work to change out than I wanted. And with a nice solid front seat mount, I don't think it is necessary to bolt the rear of the seat. Instead, I bought four rubber boots, the kind that fit over the ends of furniture legs to protect hardwood floors. I actually bought about ten in various sizes but only used two pair for the solution.


First I used two 25mm boots, drilling a small hole in the bottom and attaching them to the rear seat studs. The nut and washer fit almost perfectly in the bottom of the boot.


Then I simply inserted the smaller (I think they were 17mm) boots into the larger boots upside down to completely cover the studs. It's a nice snug fit, with the bottom of the smaller boots even with the top of the larger ones. When done, they look and feel like one solid piece of rubber.

Bolted the seat on and we're done. Once that front bracket is snugged down the seat is solid as a rock. Hopefully it will be a bit softer than that, but it sure ain't going anywhere.




The last major project for yesterday was the rest of the tank mounting system. With the rear mount bolted to the frame, the front mounts are simply two small tabs attached to the frame and two similar sized tabs welded inside the tunnel. When in place, the tank tabs, which are drilled and tapped, sit directly on top of the frame tabs which are just drilled to accomodate a screw. Two screws thread from below and secure the two tabs together on either side of the frame.






That was followed by welding the bungs in the handlebars.



And at that point, with the tank, seat and handlebars done, the sun was shinning and it was about 40 degrees so we had to push it outside for some pics. We spent about ten minutes quickly mocking up a crude mount for the headlight, just to have that one there for some perspective, and by that time the sun had almost disappeared. But here it is, wires and oil lines hanging, nothing painted and lots of things missing, so just keep that in mind.





The headlight will be lower when we do the final mount, but overall I am really pleased with the way it's coming along.

 

Thanks GW! I really appreciate the kind words.

 

****. Looks way badass w/o the tank ears. Is that about original height?

 

Very nice. I am sure it is going to be first class when done

 

I think it's slightly lower than stock, but I didn't measure it. Hard to tell exactly with frame chopped and the tank ears and original frame mounts gone. The tunnel is sitting almost right on the frame, about 1/8" gap. Pretty much as low as it will go without a rework of the tunnel.

 

Thanks ND. I hope you're right.

 

Wow, looking forward to seeing the final product!

 

Thanks man. Me too!

 

I'll tell ya, I can't wait till you get the ride her. Great build that keeps me comin back.

 

Thanks SportE. I'm kinda itching to ride it myself. But that's a long ways off yet. So much to do...