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[Gonz]

I have done very few mods to my '08 Springer, in fact the only thing I've done was relocate the license plate to a side mount.  The one thing I've been wanting to do since day one however is get a solo spring seat, but everywhere I looked I was told, "It can't be done".  The funny thing is, no one has ever been able to give me a strait answer as to why it can't be done, they just mumble something about the frame being wider, or because of the size of the rear tire, or simply because, "the Harley site says the mounting kit doesn't fit".  I've posted here about it, I've searched everywhere, and I've seen others asking about it as well, but never able to get a final answer on the solo spring seat.  Apparently there are regular solo seats out there for the bike, but that's not what I've wanted.

So, I've decided to go ahead and order the parts for the mounting kit, and I'm going to make it work.  

It should be here in a couple days, I'll update this thread with my results (and pictures) when I get it figured out.

[Gonz]

The seat mounting kit arrived and has been successfully installed on the bike!

The kit I ordered is the "Spring Seat Install Kit" number 54375-10.  My dealer was having a Hog roast last weekend and had 15% off all parts so I went ahead and ordered it.  I have not ordered the seat yet just in case I couldn't make this install kit work, because they said I would have to pay a restocking fee on a special order part if I failed.  But now that I know the mounting kit works, I'm 99% sure the seat should fit as well, so I'm ordering it tomorrow.

Below are a couple pics of my install.  I am more than happy to answer questions about it and provide other pictures.  Honestly it was really easy.  Total time = 1 beer and 1 cigar.

[Air-Cooled]

What's up with that big whack mark in your fender?

[Gonz]

What's up with that big whack mark in your fender?

It's just some sticky residue that must have come off of the stock seat, it comes off easily with some goo gone and a cloth.

[dlaws01]

Gonz, where are the follow up photos?  I'd love to see how it turned out.

[Gonz]

Gonz, where are the follow up photos?  I'd love to see how it turned out.

I'm waiting for the actual seat to arrive.  I couldn't get my local dealer to waive the restocking fee if I couldn't get this all to work, so I waited to order the actual seat until I knew that the mounting hardware would fit.  20% restocking fee on just the mounting kit didn't seem as painful as on the entire $500+ setup!  Hopefully it will be here today or tomorrow.

[Gonz]

It's done!  And the worst part of it all was the two hours it took me to clean the sticky residue left over from the protective film that was under the old seat which I removed.  All in all it was a super easy installation and took very little time.  I didn't really have to do anything special or bizarre to make it all work.

As for comfort, it's not as cushy and nice on longer rides as my old seat.  I took it out a couple days ago for about 250 miles and my rear was a bit sore.  I'm hoping it needs a bit of break-in perhaps, but obviously looking at it, it's a thin seat without much padding.  I'm not too concerned really.

Again, I'm happy to entertain any questions or help out anyone else that's interested in this!

[swat1]

Great looking seat

[Wild Card]

Great color for that bike!

[Fired00d]

Seat looks great and color works well w/your bike... good job!!

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[SneakyPete]

Great idea, ever since the Crossbones came out I wondered what that spring mounted seat would look like.  As for comfort did you think of the stock Crossbones seat?  I was surprised how comfortable they are and they are wider with a bit more padding than the seat you have there.  I do like the look! 

[Chains]

Super looking seat good job

[XBUNCEX]

  That looks awesome! I have the same bike and I think I'm going with this same set up. I've also wanted to do the side plate gig but I was worried about what the back would look like without the plate under the fender. Any chance you could post a pic of the back view?

[VRODDAVE]

sweet!

[dite]

What seat did you get and can you post a part #???