Seat Safety

Scott.D.Lang

Scott.D.Lang

Member
this is something I dought anyone thinks of much but I learned the hard way today. make sure your seat is safe Thanks to Olblues 61 year old seat I wiped out messed up my new wheel ( I hope I can fix it ) and bent the fork along with 7 stitches and a nice dent in my helmet.

one of the seat springs collapsed and started a chain of events that ended up with me on the payment about 15 foot from my bike very distorted and almost not able to get up. its a good thing I was only going about 15 mph and had my helmet on if I had not had my helmet it would have been much worse.

now for the time being Ill be with out my bike for at least 1 month most likely longer, money is to tight for me to get another fork of any kind and to see if the wheel can be fixed. All that said if for any reason you dont think you can trust your seat get or put another one on like I should done a few days ago when I first noticed that my springs were twisting on there frame and the bad thing is I almost did switch the seat with one off of my sons bike. dont learn the hard way like I just did.
 
Wow Scott, glad you didn't get hurt worse!

Great advise. At the end of the day, they are still 2 (and 3) wheeled vehicles and does not take much for things to go bad.
 
Man, Scott. That is terrible news. I hope you heal fast and everything works out okay.

It might be beneficial if you'd detail exactly what happened; what the "chain of events" were that caused the crash. The forensics of the accident might prevent the same thing from happenening to someone else. Photos would help too.

I like to build my own seats and the last two have had springs. Your story makes me wary, especially after my fender failure crash last June.

Tom
 
The chain of events from the begging going back a couple weeks are as goes.
I noticed the back of my seat was falling did not realize that my springs were twisting on the seat frame. So I just adjusted the seat angle. about a week later I had to adjust again and that is when I first noticed the strings were not straight up and down but bending in the middle when I got the bike I remember thinking that for a seat that might be 61 years old that the springs were in good shape. yesterday I went for a ride and met up with Pluto while I was at his place we noticed that my seat post was a little bent so we took the seat off and the post off Pluto cut a little off the post and tried to straighten it so we could get my seat to set lower. while the seat was off I noticed that on the top of the springs where they hook to the seat that the pieces that the springs to looked twisted. on the frame of the seat at the bottom of the spring instead of the springs sitting flat on the frame they were riveted to the side of the frame. witch was allowing the springs to bow backwards on the frame.

when I got about 3 blocks from the house the spring on right hand side buckled and caused my weight to slip back when this happened my throttle grip came off and caused me to pull the wheel to the left at that point all I remember is seeing a car drive around me like nothing had just happened and it taking me several mins to get enough balance to get to my feet. once I got my senses together and found my glasses and grip I tried to push my bike and realized that my wheel was bent so bad I could not even push my bike. on closer inspection I noticed the left side of my fork was also bent.

For me the worse part of the whole thing is not my injures but my bike the pain only lets me know Im alive but close to 200 to replace the fork ( with a springer of some kind ) and the wheel if this one can not be fixed will probably take me till January since my money is so tight Oh yea part of that price is if Im going to put a new fork on Ill also be putting a brake on the front of the bike. I also will be replacing the seat post with a layed back one and a new seat.

when I feel well enough to stand up and pull the post and seat Ill take some pics of the way the springs twisted and bowed as well as what the seat frame looks like now.
 
Wow. I can see how that chain of events could play out.. Losing grip of the throttle would lead to road rash for sure. Hey, cheaper springer forks can be found on ebay. Only about 50 bucks I believe. Diesel Dave showed them to me and sure enough they work great in my experience.

Glad you're okay..
 
the cheaper forks are what I have in mind but when you add everything together from forks ,barrens maybe a new stem seat post and seat its still going to be at least 150 and that is money I have no way of coming up with quickly. forgive me for being down just tired of not having money to fix things when I need to and having to wait.
 
Thank you, Scott. That should make everyone sit up and take notice.
We tend to take things like seats and well attached fenders for granted. Your crash demonstrates just how easy it is to get hurt and damage a bike from a simple, unforseen failure.

Real glad you're doing okay and sorry about the bike. Thanks again for the detailed explanation of the events leading up to your accident. Maybe it will be a 'heads up' to everyone who reads this.

Members, take a good look at your bikes and try to imagine what a failure of a main structural member or even an accessory like a seat spring would have on stability and your ability to control the bike if it failed. Use your imagination and a worst case scenario and fix those things that might cause you problems.

Have fun but please, ride and be safe.

Tom
 
I know some will not agree with what Im about to say but always wear a helmet if I had not had mine on my wreak would have been much worse on me. mine dont look that bad till you relize just how tuff it is and to put the dent in it I did with out hitting anything cept payment took a hard hit.
 
It sure doesn't take much to cause a crash does it?

Btw, some years back HD reportedly had an issue with weak foot peg bracket bolts on certain Sportsters, which evidently caused a number of crashes when said pegs feel off or suddenly drooped enough to throw the rider off-balance.
 
I feel your pain!
One of the worst crashes I ever had was caused by a hand grip coming off the clutch side at full throttle on a open class dirtbike.
Turning hard to one side while giving full throttle seldom leads to good results.
 
Man oh man, Scott. I'm sorry to hear this. Sorry you're hurt and sorry about the bike.

But you've also done us a favor by pointing out a possible weak link in our bikes. Who'da thunk it?

When I'm riding in my own, residential, neighborhood at speeds like slow cruising on a regular pedal bike with no traffic to speak of, then I don't bother with the safety equipment. I'm talking 5 or 6 mph here.

But when I'm commuting to work going higher speeds and dealing with actual traffic, then I wear more than just a helmet. Eye protection. Gloves (even if it's 100 deg out there). Stout boots covering the ankles. Plus knee and elbow pads.

Is it a pain? It can get a bit tiresome. But on these machines we really are fairly likely to hit the ground sooner or later. We'd best be prepared.

Helmets are optional. But anyone who thinks that a helmet (and more) is optional beyond, say, 8 or 9 mph is asking for trouble.

Not that I'm criticizing you. You were wearing your helmet, anyway. And I wouldn't kick a man when he's down even if you hadn't worn it.

I'm just saying that I'm definitely on the side of those who say, "Ya better wear a helmet."

And I'm on the side of those who say, "You'd better inspect your bike often".

I guess I'd better get busy on that.........
 
well a small peice of good news I just took a good look at the wheel and I should be able to get it fixed for 20$. So I feel a little better but still have to fugure out the seat and forks. Anyone want to give me a good fork? JK LOL
 
bluegoatwoods said:
Not that I'm criticizing you. You were wearing your helmet, anyway. And I wouldn't kick a man when he's down even if you hadn't worn it.

I'm just saying that I'm definitely on the side of those who say, "Ya better wear a helmet."

And I'm on the side of those who say, "You'd better inspect your bike often".

I guess I'd better get busy on that.........
Click to expand...

well I will also say this I was wearing a thick jacket but after this Im going to try to find me a nice thick leather jacket like I use to wear when I road street bikes all the time.
 
Scott.D.Lang said:
well a small peice of good news I just took a good look at the wheel and I should be able to get it fixed for 20$. So I feel a little better but still have to fugure out the seat and forks. Anyone want to give me a good fork? JK LOL
Click to expand...

Define "good"
I have a couple of suspension bike forks from the junkpile...
You can have one if you like. I think I have two complete single steerer tube and one motorcycle style that's missing the top tripletree...
I'm seriously broke these days so you will have to pay shipping, but I won't charge you for something I won't use and you need.
PM me if interested and I'll try to get some pictures so you can see if any of my junk will work for you.
 
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