Banana Seat on a Mountain bike.

Hazmatt

Hazmatt

New Member
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?
 
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.
 

Attachments

  • mobikebanseat.jpg
    mobikebanseat.jpg
    206.3 KB · Views: 9,716
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?
 
Kevlarr said:
If you look at some of the lowrider bike vendors you can get a suspension sissy bar.
Click to expand...

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. ;)
 
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.
 
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.
 
I have thought about puting a banana on my mountain bike as well. I'm 300lbs and I have a large a**, so I am concerned with the width of most bananas I have seen. Am thinking I could cut the seat down the center leangth wise and add a strip of metal as wide as I need it. My G/F's mother is a seamtsress so she could cover it for me in any fabric I choose.

I have also thought about an old tracter seat, like the ones shaped for your butt. But cut down to scale for an M/B.
 
BIGBEN77 , bad idea widening the banana seat , ( if you intend to pedal )

your better off to find a big wide cruiser seat , or go with your tractor seat idea

a ( widened ) long banana seat will most likely cause your legs and lower back to get sore , if the insides of your legs end up rubbing on the sides of the seat
 
Hi all, I noticed that this thread is still active, so I thought I would give a little update.

Mainly I just want to recommend the suspension sissy bar to anyone who wants to get a banana seat. It made a world of difference, it's almost like having a full suspension bike. I bought mine from this site, but their service was kind of slow, you can find this same sissy bar on other sites if you look for it. The only problem is that it's 42 inches in length. It looked absolutely ridiculous on my bike, but luckily I have access to a welder and a band saw so I was able to shorten it.

The re-padding and covering of my seat went well, and it's nice and comfortable now. It feels more like a motorcycle seat than a bicycle.

I would have posted pics but it's raining and dark here, and I can't seem to get a good pic in the basement/shop area where I keep my bike. Not much room down there.

P.S. My thumb has healed nicely and now I have a cool scar. ;)
 
my buddie added alot more padding to his banana seat and like a fur cover, and to tell you the truth I was glad to get back on my bike, my ass and back were killing me.
 
mine is borderline because it is just wide enough but after 12+ miles straight riding you start feeling it.

most of them come apart to add padding if it is too hard for ya..

i had to mod my sissy bar a little to get it to set lower and follow the rear of the seat as i wanted but over all i'm happy with it.

 
Hi all, This is way to funny.....But I'm building my first build as we speak and it’s a 60's style chopper. 20" X 3" tires and disk-brakes with 34" forks and to make it look really smoking I just ordered a banana seat and a 42" sissy bar and back pad...sissy bar got 4" of travel..springs in the sissy bar can standed a 250+ man... it's going to make my stretched hard-tail into almost like having a full suspension bike...good luck in your find...Biker Dalton
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top