New seat...for an old bike?

[Fellenz]

So, the time has finally come that I want to "upgrade" the seat on my '84 vt700. I'm lookin at doing this for two reasons. One, after taking my beloved mother for a ride, her only gripe, besides my "stopping tactics" was that the seat was a bit narrow and small for her. And she's not a big woman either, 5' 2", medium athletic build. The second reason is that I have just don't dig the integrated sissy had into the seat that the early shadows posses. I'm much more into a sportster style seat, and if I need a sissy bar, i can get a detachable one. I would still like to have the ability to 2up the bike, but like the seat style the newer shadows, Harley sportsters etc have. Knowing I won't really find an aftermarket seat for my bike, I was thinking of watching craigslist for a seat that came off something likes sportster..... What are your thoughts on this? How hard would it be to make it fit?

On another note, my mom also mentioned it would be nicer if her pegs were a little more forward; any ideas on how to tackle that?

Thanks, thoughts and input appreciated.


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[Bean]

I have an 85 vt700 and am looking to do the same thing. I was told that the one piece vtx seats will fit with " some modification". Not sure what is involved.

My thought was to go to a bike junkyard and see what may fit.

[ChrisMan]

I'm not sure how it compares to a sportster seat, but I used a vtx1300 seat that i found on ebay for about $40. It wasn't hard to make it fit, but I changed out the rear fender for a sportster fender at the same time. I'll post a newer pic when i get a chance, but the pic in my sig is how the bike looked when i first did the swap.

ETA: the seat pan on that seat is plastic, and i had to make two cuts in it at the wider part of the seat so that the seat would fit down on the frame rails. Its bolted to the fender at the rear using the threaded holes built into the seat.

[Fellenz]

Originally Posted by ChrisMan

I'm not sure how it compares to a sportster seat, but I used a vtx1300 seat that i found on ebay for about $40. It wasn't hard to make it fit, but I changed out the rear fender for a sportster fender at the same time. I'll post a newer pic when i get a chance, but the pic in my sig is how the bike looked when i first did the swap.

ETA: the seat pan on that seat is plastic, and i had to make two cuts in it at the wider part of the seat so that the seat would fit down on the frame rails. Its bolted to the fender at the rear using the threaded holes built into the seat.

I would love to see this. I was considering a different "full bodied" fender also. (the older shadows have a flat spot on their fenders if left uncovered)



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