Disadvantage of flat seats with the Q Series?

[veloc_h]

It seems to me, that the Q Series is designed for the (default) steep seat (more weight at the front). For flat seats the for should be more flat (like the geometry of the S40). I'd like to hear the experiences of owners, who swapped the built in seat to a Thor or other flat seat.
I pesonally feel much more confident if I sit up straight (on my flat wooden seat), but it might be a feeling only ...

 

[2whluge]

I’ll jump in here with my experience. As you’ll see in my member photo, I had installed a Bacchetta mesh seat on my Q45. I liked it, but the step over height was a real problem for me so I went back to the stock seat. I don’t like that either.

I rode a Volae carbon for 12 years. Overall, it was great. But the Volae had very simple angle adjustments so I could fine tune it during a long day, or a long tour. The CB by contrast, is a pain. Literally.

I may try and adapt my Volae carbon to the Q, or go back to the mesh seat. I’m tempted to try the Thor, but it’s not a plug and play upgrade. You have to work out the brackets.

Seat angles, IMHO, are not a one size fits all proposition. Especially on a Q, there should be more range of adjustment available.

After all this, why am I sticking with the CB? Lower BB, shorter drivetrain, and lighter overall.

 

[woodguy]

I switched the stock seat on my Q45 to a Thor mainly to reduce recumbutt for long trips. The angle. Of my Thor is about 35 degrees, which puts most of my weight on the back of the seat rather than on my butt. This has been a very successful move for me, maybe because I’m over 200lb.

In regard to being more confident sitting more upright, I haven’t had a problem with the reclined position. If I need to see better at an intersection, I can lift myself up temporarily. In practice, that happens very seldom.

 

[veloc_h]

I may try and adapt my Volae carbon to the Q, or go back to the mesh seat. I’m tempted to try the Thor

Novosport seats are an alternative to the Volae and Thor seats may be.

Novoshops - Novoshops - Proceda GmbH

Novoshops - Onlineshop fÌr LiegerÀder und Zubehör

www.novoshops.de

The novosport cover is supposed to be more comfortable than the Ventisit (similar principle).
Novosport sells their own brackets:

Novoshops - Novoshops - Proceda GmbH

Novoshops - Onlineshop fÌr LiegefahrrÀder und Zubehör

www.novoshops.de

 

[bhave]

I switched the stock seat on my Q45 to a Thor mainly to reduce recumbutt for long trips. The angle. Of my Thor is about 35 degrees, which puts most of my weight on the back of the seat rather than on my butt. This has been a very successful move for me, maybe because I’m over 200lb.

In regard to being more confident sitting more upright, I haven’t had a problem with the reclined position. If I need to see better at an intersection, I can lift myself up temporarily. In practice, that happens very seldom.

Could you post some pictures of your Thor seat attached to your bike please? I ordered an easy seat from Thor. I'm also over 200lbs. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mathew Fy]

Could you post some pictures of your Thor seat attached to your bike please? I ordered an easy seat from Thor. I'm also over 200lbs. Thanks in advance!

Previously posted here:

Thor Seat Mounting Bracket for Q45

I just bought a Thor Easy GS seat to put on my 2019 Q45. On the Thor website they have pictures of Cruzbike owners and how they have mounted the seat. These three pictures show what looks like a mounting bracket. Where does that come from? Anyone else seen that before? Where might I get that?

forum.cruzbike.com

 

[bhave]

I saw that. I wasn't sure if the Thor seat design had changed to accommodate the Q45 brackets. It looks like I'll have to track down a qx100 bracket.

 

[ratz]

Looks really similar to the T50 seat brackets. If you can find somoeone that upgraded to a carbon seat on a T50 they might have what you need.

 

[cpml123]

I saw that. I wasn't sure if the Thor seat design had changed to accommodate the Q45 brackets. It looks like I'll have to track down a qx100 bracket.

I posted this thread of my build for 2021 Q45 with Thor seat. I used the existing bracket that came with Q45.

Introduce Q40-45ish

I spent past several months to upgrade my 2021 Q45. The weather finally got decent, so I took it for a quick ride. everything seems to work, at least around the neighborhood. We will see if everything stays together when I ride to and from work later this week. Major updates... Thor GS large...

forum.cruzbike.com

 

[woodguy]

Thanks Mathew for attaching the previous post of how I installed the Thor. I agree that the bracket that came with the bike should work, but unless Thor widened out the ribs on the seat, you will need an adaptor of rubber or wood or something. using the adaptor didn’t prevent me from getting a nice recline of about 35 degrees. Here’s a picture of the finished product:

 

[pherreshoff]

I went for the thor seat because the more erect seat on the Q45 was giving me quite a bit of pain in my posterior - a problem that I didn't have on my quest. The change in the seat post angle and dimensions made it impossible to reverse the seat post as was done in the picture above this post. (the seat post in that position would not clear the rear tire) What I did was to raise the seat about 1.5" using wood (1" poplar square dowels attached to the underseat brackets and overlaid with a 3'8" piece of plywood to which I bolted the Thor seat (with and intermediary of several layers of inner tube. The seat is bolted to the plywood about an inch in front of the front bracket. I didn't use the bracket that came with the bike for the seat back. Instead I drilled some holes in a couple of pieces of aluminum channel which I fit over both ends of the crossmember of the seat post (to which those brackets are normally secured by a quick release thing), bolted a 2" by .25" by slightly less than 4" piece of oak to the aluminum channel and bolted the piece of oak to the thor seat (with several layers of old bicycle inner tube as an intermediary. I found a standard metric length (10cm) of threaded stainless steel rod that barely fit between the two ribs and secured it by some nuts to hold the aluminum channel to the seat post.
The result is a much more comfortable ride for me - but probably not the most efficient. Also getting on and off the bike takes some effort. (I'm 6' tall with relatively short legs for my height and not the greatest flexibility)

 

[woodguy]

I went for the thor seat because the more erect seat on the Q45 was giving me quite a bit of pain in my posterior - a problem that I didn't have on my quest. The change in the seat post angle and dimensions made it impossible to reverse the seat post as was done in the picture above this post. (the seat post in that position would not clear the rear tire) What I did was to raise the seat about 1.5" using wood (1" poplar square dowels attached to the underseat brackets and overlaid with a 3'8" piece of plywood to which I bolted the Thor seat (with and intermediary of several layers of inner tube. The seat is bolted to the plywood about an inch in front of the front bracket. I didn't use the bracket that came with the bike for the seat back. Instead I drilled some holes in a couple of pieces of aluminum channel which I fit over both ends of the crossmember of the seat post (to which those brackets are normally secured by a quick release thing), bolted a 2" by .25" by slightly less than 4" piece of oak to the aluminum channel and bolted the piece of oak to the thor seat (with several layers of old bicycle inner tube as an intermediary. I found a standard metric length (10cm) of threaded stainless steel rod that barely fit between the two ribs and secured it by some nuts to hold the aluminum channel to the seat post.
The result is a much more comfortable ride for me - but probably not the most efficient. Also getting on and off the bike takes some effort. (I'm 6' tall with relatively short legs for my height and not the greatest flexibility)

Can you load a picture of the bike? Mine is the 2018 model, and I don’t have trouble with the post hitting the tire. The end result for both of us is the same - more comfort.

 

[pherreshoff]

Here are a couple of pictures. The front of the thor seat is about 30" above the ground with the ventsit pad adding an additional inch or more. I put the little lip at the end of the plywood the the seat bottom is bolted to with the intention of putting the power source for my front light on it, but so far I have simply kept the power source in the yellow and green bag that is attached to the seat post above the trader joes panniers. I may in the future adapt a water bottle carrier to hold the power source to the back of there seat.

I slit some 1/4" air hose that I happened to have lying around and wrapped it around the edge of the Thor seat for some added protection (both for the seat and for me)-then put some blue painters tape over most of it to hold it in place.

The underseat panniers are trader joes insulated bags with the inside front parts of the nylon webbing handles sewn together and draped over the frame in front of the seat and the back part of the handle of each bag sewn into a loop that slides over some white pvc pipe which I inserted through a bicycle stem attached to the seat post (with some used bicycle inner tube taking up the slack between the pvc pipe and the stem). In retrospect, the front of the pannier should have been raised a bit higher. The panniers are easily removable (by me) but not obviously so by someone else happening on the bike while it is unattended. These panniers are water tight except at the zipper, so if it rains, water will collect in them. I have made a cover for them that goes over the zipper, but don't use it unless I expect rain.

The rear panniers are 7.5 gallon trash cans bought from target, held on by some zip ties (with some rope under the rim of the trash cans to distribute the pressure from the zip ties). I repurposed a plastic bag that originally held 30(?) rolls of toilet paper that stretches over the top of the "panniers" when needed.

 

[pherreshoff]

Here are a couple of pictures. The front of the thor seat is about 30" above the ground with the vents sit pad adding an additional inch or more. I slit some 1/4" air hose that I happened to have lying around and wrapped it around the edge of there Thor seat for some added protection-then put some blue painters tape over most of it to hole=d it in place. The underseat panniers are trader joes insulated bags with the inside front parts of the nylon webbing handles sewn together and draped over the frame in front of the seat and the back part of the handle of each bag sewn into a loop that slides over some white pvc pipe which in turn is held in place by a