I love it! Nice pictures and explanation. Thank you.

 

Nice Joe! This is the route I'm gonna take on our two bikes, thanks for the pics and write up!



Bag

 

Love it, heck, even a printable shopping list! Off to store i go with second picture printed in hand. Thanks

 

Sweet!

 

You don't get a better write-up than that. Well done.

 

first there was mulenuts... should this be called BandBolts?

 

Just wondering... how close does the tire get at full compression? Any danger of the wingnut ripping into rubber?

 

i'm not going to say it couldn't but i looks like it would hit the back frame first. the left one clears, but to the right side it's about 6 inches, so you'd really have to bottom out, that's max rear travel.

 

I am not sure if yours are any longer than mine. I have lightly rubbed one of mine a few times in the hard wheel stuffs.

Mine are 1/2" slack adjuster pins with a roll pin to twist, Drilled and tapped for the threaded stock.

 

yours are cleaner looking for sure. nicely done.

 

I'm a bad man. I haven't had my seat secured with the nuts for years!

I have no good excuse/reason/lie for not securing the seat, but your work here has me reconsidering the whole "no nuts" thing! Thanks

 

...your work here has me reconsidering the whole "no nuts" thing!

I'll look around, I may have a couple spare slack adjuster pins at the shop?

 

Awesome fab! The seat removal issue wasnt thought out well in the design phase. Off to HDepot manana!
Thanks!
JeffO

 

I took a look at this idea and have yet to appreciate why this mod is really needed. As it is the 10mm bolts are easy to get out (in the shop anyway) and I would be a bit concerned that debris could get thrown up under the seat byn the rear tire so that the extended bolts could be bent or torn loose. Just thinkin...or not !

 

I got tired of grabbing the tools to remove the seat, so I had my wife (she's the hobby welder) weld a washer onto the head of each nut. The washers were used (thus free) and she was already welding on her own project so it was a quick fix. Gives me enough grip to twist the bolts without anything getting in the way or needing tools. She welded a large washer on our kickstands and re-welded her kickstand after I lowered her bike (drilled a new hole below the shock - lowered the forks some - gave my shorty woman an extra needed inch). I do the cutting and follow directions

 

What is it with these little bikes? Or is it this forum? So many ideas; I printed Joeband's nice picture of his Quick Release seat hardware and headed out to the hardware store where I gathered up all my parts a couple days ago. Well, now I can't leave well enough alone. I saw a knob today so I used the same hardware, minus the blolt and wingnut. Okay, maybe I'm weak or just more refined than you guys but this knob is easy for me to turn so I thought I'd give it a try. I understand from reading other posts that I may be setting myself up to catch debri or if I ride aggressivley they may even get broken off by the rear tire. I figure I'll take my chances and give them a try, if others can ride without even bolting their seat down I think I'll be fine.

 

What is it with these little bikes? Or is it this forum? So many ideas; I printed Joeband's nice picture of his Quick Release seat hardware and headed out to the hardware store where I gathered up all my parts a couple days ago. Well, now I can't leave well enough alone. I saw a knob today so I used the same hardware, minus the blolt and wingnut. Okay, maybe I'm weak or just more refined than you guys but this knob is easy for me to turn so I thought I'd give it a try. I understand from reading other posts that I may be setting myself up to catch debri or if I ride aggressivley they may even get broken off by the rear tire. I figure I'll take my chances and give them a try, if others can ride without even bolting their seat down I think I'll be fine. View attachment 3246

nice!...as long as it works for you that's all that matters...i thought about going that way with the knobs but i went with joe band's idea cause i wasn't fond of the idea of having anything plastic down there cause if they catch a rock they may break and metal knobs were hard to find...

 

Wildside, sounds like you have it made with the Weldin' Wife. Lucky guy. Will you let us know if she ever wants to extend swingarms of build 12" trailer wheel setups for ATV tires? Our MrBracket is overloaded with all our wishlists for pumper carbs, stroker motors, etc. Seriously the washer idea is elegant and efficient engineering, congradulations.

 

I've been pondering on this mod for awhile because it is a pain to get tools out to remove seat. I like wildside's idea of welding washers on hex of bolts but can you get your fingers in between frame to twist washer and get bolt out and how hard to get bolts started? It seems like I saw someone here who put studs in seat and had hole thru stud to put a hitch pin on. The battle for me has always been to get the bolts started in seat so stud in seat would make it easy to just pop seat on and put hitch pin on stud. Plus I'm not crazy about having anything stick too far out which could hit tire when suspension bottoms out. Admiral said he hasn't had bolts in his seat for ages and about the only reason I want it secured is so when I take a tumble the seat doesn't come off and fly off a cliff and float down a stream....(which of course if very likely to happen)

 

They didn't have hex bolts so it didn't fit perfectly. Anyway it worked great!

I added loctite thread removable thread glue that I had laying around to keep it in place. Easier than welding. (Sorry for it being out of focus)

And before you say anything, I didn't remove the seat before washing it last. So I missed a bit. But next time no problem! Won't be for awhile though. The snow is here

 

I rigged my seat with Velcro, works very good as well.

 

How often does one need to "futz" with the seat requiring removal?

 

For me at least, often enough that I made a set of mule nuts.

 

Little Tommy, Where did you attach the velcro? I think that is a brilliant idea. I even have the velcro.....I think.....maybe???

Tom in Wichita

 

Glued Velcro on crossmembers and such. You have to just look at it. Makes it a lot easier for valve adjusts and battery checks. It's on there good, and won't come off in a fall. Just a lift from the back and some movement to the rear unhooks it at the front and off it goes; takes all of about 2 seconds.

 

Mule nuts huh. Used to have a pair of those. Not anymore.

 

Thanks LT. I think I will go this route. I like the simplicity of it. I don't ride aggressively anymore, and so a fall/dump is far less likely, though not out of question...so knocking the seat off, having it fall off a cliff and float down a river/stream probably won't happen. Not too many cliffs here in KS, so no problem there. Fact is, I am envious of those who live close to great riding areas.

 

so in the era of rare earth neodymium super magnets I'm thinking a magnetic seat hold down would be pretty simple to fashion and could hold very strongly ??? hmmm.......

These are about 3/8" x 1" (the two super magnets are in the center separated by the nylon washer) and the outer steel dish could be attached to the seat. We use these for the end of pick handles and they are probably too strong for holding a TW seat on but half that thickness should be perfect. You'd still have to give the seat a good tug to get it loose

I'm thinking two aprx 1" diameter by aprx 1/8" thick super magnets stuck right on the frame hoop where the factory seat bolts go through then add a smudge of JB Weld (maybe even silicone) on top and set the seat in place and tie it down while the JB Weld sets. This way the magnets set at the exact proper angle to make flat even contact with the frame hoop. There are also magnets with pre drilled holes that could be flat head screwed into the seat bolt holes

 

My experience is that the magnet to magnet grip is stronger than glue bonds I have tried. Let us know if you are successful with your epoxy.

 

Yes Fred good point and there's no need for epoxy. The steel mounting cups center, retain and protect the magnet and could be screwed to the seat bottom (into the factory seat mount holes) with an appropriate shallow head flathead screw (phillips, allen etc) It wouldn't matter which side the magnet stuck to upon seat removal because the cups would keep the magnet centered and retained

 

That may be cleverest idea yet, but then I am a big fan of strong rare earth magnetics.

 

lol yah the trick here is we need the "weakest" rare earth magnets we can find because they are going to be way overkill either way

I'm envisioning a big brute lifting the seat and the whole TW comes off the ground with it lmao