B31 rigid frame sprung saddle help

[sidewaysid]

Hi
Today I started thinking of fitting the Lycett sprung seat, I already knew that I didn't have a front mount, so I made one from some plate steel, looking at photo's I could place the seat just about right, but something I suspected was that 2 chrome springs, when bolted to the frame lugs, do not meet up anywhere near the set of holes at the rear part of the seat ?? and I have seen some fitted on some strange angles. I want mine to be upright, but they seem to end up 3 inches further under the seat, which is nowhere near the series of 3 holes, question is should I make 2 small flat bars with hole centres of 3 inches to move the spring back at the frame mount, it just all looks a bit odd. Can anyone who has encountered this give me some hints, much appreciated Lads.

Phil

[MALCOLM.JOHNSON]

I know exactly what you mean and have encountered this on a couple of bikes. Firstly 3 inches offline is quite a lot and I suspect the seat/frame is probably a bit big, however make sure you gain as much as you can by having the seat as far forward in relation to the front pivot as possible, even with the seat nose into the recess at the back of the tank. It may well still be that the spring centres are still out of line, but having achieved that you can then make spring brackets to fit under the seat attached to the seat frame, to move the spring centre forwards. I think that those hidden brackets do not detract from the looks of the bike, rather than extending the bike frame mounting points backwards, by an exposed plate at the base of the spring. It is a bit more difficult to do, but does but look nicer. Use steel about 4 - 5 mm thick and put some thought into leverage if you cannot reduce the 3 inches quoted, by additional support at the spring end. Problems with leverage could be overcome by say moving centres under the seat forwards 1 1/2inches and at the frame 1 1/2 inches back, or any combination to achieve the same result.

[sidewaysid]

Thanks Malcolm
I was thinking on the same lines, I'm glad to hear that someone else has come across this problem, I will try to move the seat 1" forward, and then do like you suggest.

Thanks

[berniej]

I had exactly the same problem when fitting a new Wassell seat to my M21 rigid.

To solve this I bought a piece of 30mm wide steel strapping from B&Q, cut to length and bent the ends over to fit around the seat frame.
Drilled and bolted across the frame it allows the springs to be kept vertical (image attached).

Cheers,
Bernie