I continue the saga of installing the Vintage Kit from nFieldGear.com - the new seats!
The next items to install from the nFieldGear Vintage Kit on my Royal Enfield Bullet C5 Classic were the seats. The Vintage Kit came with a new solo seat and a pillion pad for the rear fender. I felt some trepidation about the installing the pillion seat - you have to drill two holes in the rear fender to install the seat! Did I really want to "ruin" my new fender by drilling holes in it?
First, the solo seat...
Here is the original seat that came with the bike - truth be told, it's a really nice seat, with stitching around the edges and a nice leather or leather-like (?) material:
You can see from the photo above that the original factory seat sits somewhat level with just a slight up-tilt at the rear.
I was a bit disappointed when I unwrapped the new "Deluxe Solo Seat" from the nFieldGear kit - it seemed to be the same width as the factory seat (it was advertised as being a bit wider), and it had none of the stitching of the original. But, I decided to install it anyway, just to see if the comfort or ride was any better.
Once again, as was the case the bar-end mirrors, there was going to be a little bit of drilling to do on the new seat so that the factory "plynth" (the bracket located under the front of the seat) could be installed on the new seat pan.
Step 1: To remove the factory seat, you simply unbolt the springs from the bike's frame and save the bolts, spacers, washer and nuts. Take note of how the spacers and washers were installed on the original - they will go back on exactly the same way!
Step 2: Remove the bolt from the front of seat, where the "plynth" attaches to the frame. The bolt is threaded into a blind hole on the frame - there is no nut.
Step 3: Remove the springs from the bottom of the seat pan. This is a bit tricky unless you have a deep-socket wrench with an extension on it. I did not have the right tool, so I used a open-ended wrench which I had to force through the bottom spring coils to get to the nut on the inside of the spring coil.
For the next few steps, I am going to borrow the instructions available from nFieldGear.com at this link: http://www.nfieldgear.com/content/deluxesoloseatinstall.pdf
By the way, many thanks to nFieldGear for putting these instructions online - nicely done!
I had to provide two of my own stainless steel bolts and nuts from my garage stock - they were not provided with the new seat.
Now, it's just a matter of installing the new seat back on the bike the same way the factory seat was installed. NOTE: The instructions say that the seat springs will install on the outside of the frame spring brackets, but that was not the case with mine. It installed exactly the same way as the factory seat.
Here's the new seat on my bike after installation:
Notice from the side view above how the springs arch forward a bit? Also notice that the front of the seat is in contact with the gas tank. You can also see that the new seat sits about 1 1/2" higher off the frame than the factory seat. I wasn't very pleased with any of this, but I decided to give it a chance. I rode the bike 3 times (about 60 miles total) to test out the seat. I found that the seat would rock forward a bit on the "plynth" bracket when coming to a stop - it felt like something was loose. I also noticed that the seat tilt angle tended to force my crotch "downhill" into the gas tank.
After about a week, I removed the new "deluxe" seat, and reinstalled the factory seat. I am much happier with the factory seat! Anybody want to buy the "deluxe" seat for cheap??
On to the pillion pad!
The most important thing about installing the pillion pad is "measure twice, cut once!" It's pretty scary drilling holes into your beautiful new bike, so you don't want to screw this up.nFieldGear provided a very handy method to ensure that you get it right. Basically, you wrap two pieces of masking tape cross-ways across the rear fender (mud guard if you are Indian or from Europe). Make sure the pieces of tape extend past the bottom edges of the fender. Mark the edges of the fender on the tape on both sides, then remove the tape pieces. Lay them flat and measure the distance between your marks on both pieces. Find the exact halfway point between your marks, and mark those points. These are your center-marks. Place the tape pieces back on the fender, aligning the bottom edge marks with the bottom of the fender on both sides.
Take a longer piece of masking tape and lay it longitudinally on the fender, aligning the edges of the tape with your two center marks. This is your center-line for the fender. All of these steps are presented in pictorial views at nFieldGear.com here: http://www.nfieldgear.com/content/deluxepillioninstall.pdf. I've also created a little 3D illustration below...
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| Here's an illustration of how I marked the fender (mudguard) for drilling using masking tape |
The threaded mounting bolts on the pillion pad are spaced at 6 1/4" apart. To be sure, I used yet another piece of masking tape, and layed it along the underside of the pillion pad and marked the locations of the mounting bolts. I found that the bolts were spaced closer to 6 3/8" on mine, so I recommend that you double-check this for yourself. I marked the bolt locations on the masking and tape and then transferred it to my fender.
Then, it's just a matter of using a center-punch at the hole locations on your fender, and drilling the holes! If you don't remove your fender prior to drilling, be sure to protect your rear tire with some sort of protective material (I used wooden blocks) to that you don't accidentally drill into the tire!
I was able to install my pillion seat without removing or loosening my rear fender, but I'm sure it is easier in the long wrong if you loosen the rear of the fender and raise it up prior to installing the seat.
Tip: Don't install the pillion pad too close to the rear of your solo seat - you may want to leave some room for other accessories, or for a larger seat!
My seat went on perfectly, and I was happy with the result. Now if I could convince my wife to go for a ride...
