Thor Seat Mounting Bracket for Q45

[GregB]

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?

 

[RojoRacing]

@Greg do you have any idea where these brackets come from?

 

[GregB]

No, I don’t know where those brackets come from. That’s the question I am asking. I’d like to get one to mount my new Thor seat.

 

[RojoRacing]

No, I don’t know where those brackets come from. That’s the question I am asking. I’d like to get one to mount my new Thor seat.

If you click on the orange Greg tag in my comment you'll notice I was asking another Greg, more specifically the Greg over at Thor who makes the seats

 

[benphyr]

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?

@GregB,
It looks from the pictures you posted that it might be the original seat bracket, possibly mounted backwards. Greg (Thor) 's pictures may be from an earlier version Q45. These are the ones in the current Q45 manual:

Even more likely as I look further - I think it is a seat mounting bracket from a Cruzbike T50. See below pictures from the T50 manual pages 10-11:

Let us know the true answer if you have that information @Greg.

 

[woodguy]

GregB - I put a Thor Easy seat on my 2018 Q45, and I think the pictures shown on the Thor site are from that year's model. benphyr's images of the 2019 Q45 brackets looked different, so I went to the 2019 assembly instructions for the Q45 elsewhere on this site. I think that the 2019 Q45 has two individual smaller brackets to attach to the seat pan instead of the bigger bracket on the 2018. Actually, I think that might make it easier to mount the Thor because one problem I had was using all 4 mounting bolts. The curve of the mounting bracket didn't match the curve of the Thor. I ended up using just 2 bolts. That didn't cause a problem in the end & I did manage to ride my Q45 from San Diego, CA to St Augustine, FL this spring with only 2 bolts in the bracket. Here is a picture of what mine looks like connected to the Thor.


One challenge you might run into is the spacing between the Thor ribs. They might be too close together to fit the brackets all the way down. I say this because I ran into that problem mounting the upper bracket on the Thor. Since I'm the woodguy, I got a small piece of Basswood and carved it to fit between the ribs as a spacer & got some longer screws to connect it to the bracket. Here is what that looks like.



I was a little concerned about getting the Thor at the most comfortable angle, but I liked the fit on the first try. You could adjust the angle by using bigger or smaller spacer pieces.
You don't indicate whether you got the headrest, but I did & needed another triangle shaped spacer to get that mounted at the right angle. I have read some others who say they don't like the headrest, but I really do like it. Here is the headrest detail.



And here is the whole seat installed on my Q45.



Hope this helps answer your question. Enjoy the Q45. It is a great bike.

 

[GregB]

Thanks @Doug Burton @Mathew Fy @benphyr @super slim for the feedback.
It looks like do have the newer individual mount brackets for the Q45 seat that are bolted underneath the stock seat pan. When you try to attach those to the Thor Easy Seat GS, you do have to jack them up with a block of wood like @woodguy did or with some hard rubber like I did, and to make those brackets fit between the "rails" on the underside of the Thor seat. When i do that it just lifts the seat that much higher. I want to get the Thor seat to sit lower, closer to the bike frame.
@Robert Holler do you have some of those brackets shown in the pictures in this thread that mount to the underside of the seat. It appears those may have been used in an earlier version of the Q45. I'd like to buy four of those from you if you have them. My wife is going to want a Thor seat for her Q45 and I'd like to see how that would work in the top back section of the Thor seat also. If you don't have them can you point me to who might or who made them? Thanks.

 

[jond]

GregB - I put a Thor Easy seat on my 2018 Q45, and I think the pictures shown on the Thor site are from that year's model. benphyr's images of the 2019 Q45 brackets looked different, so I went to the 2019 assembly instructions for the Q45 elsewhere on this site. I think that the 2019 Q45 has two individual smaller brackets to attach to the seat pan instead of the bigger bracket on the 2018. Actually, I think that might make it easier to mount the Thor because one problem I had was using all 4 mounting bolts. The curve of the mounting bracket didn't match the curve of the Thor. I ended up using just 2 bolts. That didn't cause a problem in the end & I did manage to ride my Q45 from San Diego, CA to St Augustine, FL this spring with only 2 bolts in the bracket. Here is a picture of what mine looks like connected to the Thor.
View attachment 8309

One challenge you might run into is the spacing between the Thor ribs. They might be too close together to fit the brackets all the way down. I say this because I ran into that problem mounting the upper bracket on the Thor. Since I'm the woodguy, I got a small piece of Basswood and carved it to fit between the ribs as a spacer & got some longer screws to connect it to the bracket. Here is what that looks like.

View attachment 8310

I was a little concerned about getting the Thor at the most comfortable angle, but I liked the fit on the first try. You could adjust the angle by using bigger or smaller spacer pieces.
You don't indicate whether you got the headrest, but I did & needed another triangle shaped spacer to get that mounted at the right angle. I have read some others who say they don't like the headrest, but I really do like it. Here is the headrest detail.

View attachment 8311

And here is the whole seat installed on my Q45.

View attachment 8312

Hope this helps answer your question. Enjoy the Q45. It is a great bike.

I believe I saw on the Thor website that using a heat gun on the neckrest was a way to achieve required adjustments as opposed to shimming.

Looks awesome by the way and well done.

 

[artchris0002@yahoo.com]

I just received my Thor seat. I am starting to design how to mount the Thor seat to my 2019 Q45. My question, given the structure of the seat and the stiffness provided by the Thor ribs, Is it really necessary to mount both bottom brackets if the top seat bracket is used? (I have the two separate front brackets) I was thinking of using a single front bracket with some nylon washers on the bottom to take up the space of the curve of the bottom of the seat. The goal would be to have the bracket solidly mounted to the seat. I found some, what appear to be nylon skin washers about 1" in diameter. This should add enough area to relieve the mounting stress on the two holes. Was thinking just now of adding a center hole and bolt in the front bracket would insure a solid seat mounting point. Also adding a larger diameter washer on the top side of each hole would spread the mounting stress.
The physical act of peddling seems to be putting a lot of straight line pressure on the top bracket while the front bracket is almost in a shear pressure.
The front bracket included with the bike is really heavy duty. I am sure the design change from the single 2018 style bracket to the double bracket was a cost saving measure.
It's just attaching to the bracket to the seat that concerns me. I just don't have any way of fabricating a new bracket. Once you add the second bracket the adjustable seat angle become more problematic. The Second or rear front bracket acts as a pivot point defining the angle by the configuration of the front bracket. The top can be installed where ever needed to configure the desired seat angle. Damn, having a 2018 seat bracket sure would seem to make life a little easier.

Anyone have experience with this seat installation on a 2019 Q45? How did you solve the problem? Or what problems did you run into?

Current plan is to set seat at 40 degrees so keeping it mounted as close to the frame as possible would be better.

 

[woodguy]

I think you could get away with just a single bracket because that is essentially what I have on my 2018 Q45 since I only used 2 bolts when mounting to the Thor. See the picture in my post above. On the other hand, you could probably make up some spacers out of wood or rubber & mount both lower brackets. You could control the angle by how thick the spacers are. That is kind of what I did with the upper bracket that connects to the seat post. Might take some experimenting to get the right thicknesses for the angle you want & will definitely require some longer screws.

 

[Rampa]

I think most manufacturers use 2 bolts for the seat pan. Put wide washers top and bottom. The aluminum Cruzbike seat needs the extra bolts because it is 2 parts. Using only two bolts would make for a very floppy seat because of the flexible bolting in the middle.

Fiber seats are a single solid piece, and so not an issue.

 

[artchris0002@yahoo.com]

Thanks to all who commented. I will try with one bracket. Also will post photos when finished.

 

[Norton]

You ever get your seat installed?

 

[Doug Burton]

Woodguy, I ran into the same rib spacing problem on my development bike, and solved it the same way, but with an aluminum piece... I am using the old Sofrider wire mount for the upper support.

 

[DelbertM]

I believe I saw on the Thor website that using a heat gun on the neckrest was a way to achieve required adjustments as opposed to shimming.

Looks awesome by the way and well done.

I'm working on that same project now for my Q45. Your pictures were a big help to me.