Seat Mod

[Rick Youngblood]

If Ratz can...have a winter project! I call this project, Rick's Seat Mod 2!

I've been wanted to test out the seats from THOR. We discussed these seats on other threads here, and on BROL.

Well last week I ordered the G Sport seat in a medium. It has a recommended recline range from 17 degrees all the way up to 40.

They are made in Poland. The carbon fiber seat is $170 and the fiberglass is $65, with shipping $35. They come in S - M - L - XL. They are very similar to the seat that came with my ex-Metabike. The price is quite affordable, when compared to Hostel Shoppe @ $300, and Bacchetta @ $450. They have a wider upper back area than the Hostel Shoppe seat, which I'm hoping will help support my neck a little better.

I should note that this project relates to a vendetta or Silvio seat mod.

Anyway here are the shots of my seat sent from Grzegorz Antonowitch:

 

[Emeljay]

Looks similar to the shape of seat on my Q with lumbar support under ventisit. But the G sport
seat you ordered looks more supporting and stable than my lumbar support which needs re-shifting during rides to keep it in the same spot on my back. I've thought of a future project of taking a mold of my back to make a custom seat. I'm going to watch your project and wait for a pic of you sitting in your new seat.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

I've thought of a future project of taking a mold of my back to make a custom seat.

What you may want to try first is: ask the little lady of the house if she has an old towel you can have. Take the towel and fold it into a a nice wedge, place on your existing seat in the location you like. get a hold of some duct (or better yet, Larry's pretty yellow duck tap, maybe you can find orange) then nice and neatly duct tape it to the back. It will stay in place and give you more firmer support.

 

[LarryOz]

Larry's pretty yellow duck tap

I resemble that remark!
Can't wait to see when it is done Rick!

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Hey there he is! Wondering what you've been up to.

 

[BentAero]

Rick,
How well does your Ventisit pad fit the G-spot seat?

Emeljay,
Use a piece of adhesive-backed Velcro on the seat pan, the other half on your lumbar pad. Holds in place perfect, and easily readjusted.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Gary , I ordered the correct size for this seat.

 

[twhbent]

Hello Rick,
Per your recommendation, I just recently completed switching seats. I happened to run across the Thor G Sport Med seat in fiberglass on BROL so I jumped on it. It is very much the same as my Metaphysics seat which fits me really well and was no longer available. I then ordered the matching Ventisit pad along with the head rest pad (to use with my ADEM head rest). I received the pads in 4 days from overseas(amazing).

I had dry fitted my Meta seat and it fit extremely well. I then tried to acquire the Meta seat and no longer available and was told they had a new supplier. Not for sure but I have a feeling it is probably the Thor seat from a conversation I had with the people at RBR. So that is why I went with the Thor seat.

I then placed/fitted the seat on the V frame. Using the shank end of a drill bit (that would just slide through the threaded holes for mounting the seat) I placed some white fingernail polish on the end of the bit to mark the location on the underneath side of the seat for drilling. I did this for the front and back sets of holes. I didn't use the middle set of holes for attaching the seat.

I tried using some Sorbathane(isolate it) I had between the seat and frame but it didn't keep its shape well at all so I replaced it with rubber grommets that just fit over the mounting bolts.
I might try using some 1/4" belting material(to give a larger area of support) in place of the grommets if they don't hold up.

Once I had the holes mark on the seat I drilled the four holes and attached the seat.

I then marked the seat profile on a piece of HDPE I had and made a wedge piece to slide between the end of the frame and seat for more support for when you applied pressure to the back of the seat. After placing the wedge into position I drill 2(small) pilot holes through the seat into the wedge. I then removed the wedge and redrilled and tapped the holes for attaching the wedge to the seat.

As can be seen, I also incorporated Mr. Eric Winns proto type seat bag bracket device. I cut and heated/bent a piece of polycarbonate for added support for the bottom of the bag. The poly also acts as a deflector keeping some of the road debris off the bottom of the bag.

The seat in position/attached to the V White wedge attached to the seat Rear of V showing bag bracket device with polycarbonate shield

Seat,pad and piece of HDPE used
I used a black marker to color the sides and end of the piece of HDPE. Not sure if it can be seen in the 3 rd picture above at the frame/seat intersection.

Hope this in some way helps.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Nice job! You must have got a great deal on the seat from BROL.

I'm thinking the Thor seats are very similar, if not the same seats Metabikes use, which I think follows the same pattern as the original Velokraft seats.

Do you have a full bike image you can post?

I think as far as mounts go, any type of dense rubber should work. Joseph said he replaced the Sorbathane with the dense rubber due to too much side to side movement. Seems like the Sorbathane is not rigid enough.

 

[twhbent]

Since I have the seat off, I'm going to use the rubber belting material and will need to purchase a bit longer bolts since the belting isn't forgiving as much as the sorbathane.

I will try and post more pictures tomorrow afternoon once I reattach the seat. Have a morning/early afternoon commitment before I can pick up different bolts.

Got the seat for 60. Saved the cost of shipping. The seat didn't fit the seller and Mr. Antonowitch shipped him another(small) at no cost. The seller was forwarding the proceeds to Mr. Antonowithch for the second seat. Have heard nothing but kudos dealing with Thor(Antonowitch satisfying the customer)

 

[telephd]

Im assuming that you drilled between the ribs on the back of the seat to mount and that the ribs lie on either side of the frame? You mentioned drilling 4 holes, are the other 2 for the mounting clamps on the headrest tubes? When youre taking pics please include one from underneath if you could. Im 5'10" and via the fitting measurements should be on a large seat but am right on the line between medium and large. How tall are you guys?

 

[DuncanWatson]

Get the large. Always go bigger

 

[twhbent]

Yes Telephd, you are correct about drilling between the ribs. Two holes each for the front and back mounting holes. I didn't use the headrest tubes. The angular profile of the tubes didn't fit well at

all on the Thor seat. I adapted my Eric Winn's seat bag bracket to fit the seat and the brackets I made to accomplish this also fit between the ribs. I didn't drill into any on the rib area.

I'm 5' 10" ish and went with the medium because that was the size of seat on my Meta and I really liked how it fit me. I didn't even consider the large.

My V doesn't have the wing type for attaching the seat as I believe Rick's does. I have a picture of my frame without the seat. Rick I hope this is what you're waiting for.

Frame without the seat showing the front (middle didn't use )and rear attachment area.

Seat attached without the ventisit pad Seat with pad,headrest pad(using the ADEM headrest with ventisit pad) and bag attached. Underneath the seat. Hope these help. If more is needed let me know.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Thanks for the pics. Ahh, this is a V 1.5? This is the first conversion I've seen for version under 2.0. Bike looks great, good job.

 

[mzweili]

Nice seat. The lower bend of the seat is quit a bit curbed upward, doesn't this cut into the back of your thighs? I'm questioning this because I'm looking to get this seat for my Silvio.

 

[twhbent]

Thanks Rick.

Folks I apologize for miss speaking about the seat. With MZWEILI questioning the seat angle I revisited the Thor web sight again and I realized I actually have the GS(EASY) model and not the G(SPORT) as Rick shows.

MZWEILI, I have not experienced any discomfort what so ever regarding the upward curve front of the seat. It actually helps prevent the rider from sliding forward/down the seat.
I personally would not hesitate to use this same seat again. It just fits me like a glove.

I 'm also using the Comfort Ventisit pad recommended for this seat. http://www.ventisit.nl/en/component...UB-Challenge-Toxy/p/28861948/category=6765099

I also ordered this pad to use with my ADEM headrest.
http://www.ventisit.nl/en/products-2#!/15x10x4-cm/p/28856148/category=6765099

I placed my order on a Thursday, received notification the same day that the items shipped and received them on Monday( all the way from the Netherlands), amazing.

 

[bladderhead]

Looks similar to the Grasshopper seat, on which I never notice the upward curve

 

[telephd]

nice job! thanks for the explanation and photos twh.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Received the new Carbon Fiber seat from Thor. It weighs about 1 full pound less than the Hostel Shoppe Comfort seat.

I used 2 points of attachment with 2 screws at each point.

I was able to utilize my existing front rubber piece I made for the Hostel Shoppe seat. Previously I drilled two holes in the frames existing seat mounting tabs to avoid drilling through the new seat ribs (which are hollow and has zero structure). The drilled holes are about 2.5" on center. The front rubber block is about 1" x 0.75" x 3.5" and is sanded a little to conform to the seat. The rubber material is easy to work with.

For the back mount, I bolted the rubber block to the seat and frame. I drilled two small holes through the frame, and inserted the screws from the seats top through the rubber and into the frame, which gives a very secure and solid attachment. The two existing holes in at the end of the frame made this possible, because it allowed access to the nuts with a wrench.

The difference with the Thor seat and the Hostel Shoppe seat are. The Thor seats shoulder area is noticeably wider (for me, that's good, because I need the support). The rear upward curve is a little more reclined that for the Thor. The Thor has a little more lumbar support.

What is notable about the seat mod is the seat has two attachment points (2 points that are receiving feed back from the frame), one in the front and one in the back. Between these two points the seat is fully suspended. These attachments points are rubber which helps dampen road buzz.

Well, that was my Winter project which took a couple of hours. Most of the time spent on this project was looking for tools !

But stay tuned...Next winter project is coming up in about 3 weeks. It includes dusting off the Silvio and mounting the Thor Carrier seat to it. The Silvio will become my Winter pit and trail bike. Also looking forward to the new Cruzbike-Trike accessory next year for the Silvio.











Build closeup shots ~

 

[LarryOz]

Very nice Rick - It is pretty nice to actually get done with your winter project before winter even starts! You are speedy.