Banana Seat on a Mountain bike.

[Hazmatt]

Does anyone have any thoughts/ experience putting a banana seat on a mountain bike?
I know it sounds odd, but I really want to try it. Any ideas, pictures, or thought?

[Tim_B_172]

Funny you should mention it, I put one on my Schwinn searcher just the other day. It's not exactly a run of the mill mountain bike, but it should give you some idea. I like the way the seat sits, I can site much farther back and a little lower, which is much more comfortable for me. My only complaints are that it could be about an inch wider and it needs a LOT more padding. My project for this week is to locate some upholstery type vinyl (black of course) and some nice thick padding. If I do the padding right, it should take care of the width issue too.

[Hazmatt]

Tim, that's awesome.
Thanks for the picture.
I'm trying to make my bike look like one I had as kid, only much larger. The missing link is just the seat.
What size sissy bar did you use?

[Deadend]

Tim B - thats some big pimping - nice work man

[Kevlarr]

If you look at some of the lowrider bike vendors you can get a suspension sissy bar.

[Tim_B_172]

Originally Posted by Kevlarr

If you look at some of the lowrider bike vendors you can get a suspension sissy bar.

Seriously?! I just ordered a set of cheap rear shocks and I was planning on making a suspension sissy bar if I could make it work. I figured no such thing existed so I didn't bother looking for it on the net. Now I will! Thanks for the info Kevlarr.

And thanks for the compliments everyone.

[Tim_B_172]

Oh almost forgot:

Hazmat, I used the sissy bar on the bottom of this page: Bike Accessories : Sissy Bars and Bags - Choppers U.S., LLC

It was cheap and it says "universal fit" plus I was already ordering my seat from this site.

[wheelbender6]

Some of the 20" Schwinn Krates had little shock absorbers in the sissy bar.
You could fab something with elastomers, springs or both for your sissy bar.
The lower legs of a suspension fork might be added to the ends of the sissy bar.

I have never sat on a comfortable banana seat. Maybe one of the fabric covered bananas like the lowriders use may help.

[Tim_B_172]

Well, I went ahead and ordered a suspension sissy bar. Thing is it is 42 inches long, I may have to cut and weld to shorten it. Not sure yet, I'll have to see it on the bike.

Wheelbender mentioned the Schwinn krates. You can get reproductions of those same sissy bars, but I read a review on an amazon vendor site that said that the springs aren't stiff enough. The writer seemed to think that it was meant for the weight of a kid not an adult. He changed out the springs, but personally, I would rather not have to do that, so I ordered the 42 inch one that is sold at a lot of different sites. I also started padding and re-covering my seat. I had a minor accident with a drill bit breaking and needed some stitches in my thumb, but I will get back on it tomorrow. After that I'm done for the day.

[godfatherofbikes]

actualy im sorry about that random outburst if this is your first build you are doing great my bad about that last post