Triumphrat

jstark47

I just discovered, the hard way, that the tabs through which the Bonneville seat retaining screws run are made of cheap BREAKABLE plastic!! (same as the seat pan.) Don't ask me how I know this! Grrrrrrr.....

I was planning to replace the seat anyway, but not at just this moment. Now I gotta jury rig something to keep the seat down and secure. Whatta PITA!

Jonathan

WANG

Okay, I'll bite: How did they break?

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Psyched Out and Furious

jstark47

My fault. Had the seat off & on the garage floor, turned around and tripped over it. Can't believe, though, that they chose to make these tabs part of the molded plastic seat pan. People weren't kidding when they said the Bonnie's built to a price point.

Diego

> Can't believe, though, that they chose to make these tabs part of the molded plastic seat pan.

If they'd made them out of metal, the same situation would've had one of two other outcomes instead. You'd either be complaining about how brittle it must have been to break so easily, or else how it should've been brittle enough to snap off rather than gouge a hole in your foot, ankle or leg.

> People weren't kidding when they said the Bonnie's built to a price point.

Show me something that isn't, and I'll show you something most of us couldn't think of buying in the first place.

No one should ever use "price point" in a pejorative sense who's ever spent money in a Wal-Mart.

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John

jstark47

I'd rather have the hole in my foot. It'd pay me out for being clumsy, and I'd still have a functional motorcycle seat.


I try to avoid Wal-Mart like the plague, tho I gotta admit, the purity of my ideals occasionally slips in favor of convenience!

Seriously, the point I'm trying to make is that IMO a critical stress point like that tab shouldn't be part of the extruded plastic structure. It's not thick enough for that use, and once it breaks, the whole seat is compromised.

Jonathan

rodburner

A couple "L" shaped brackets bent from 1/8"x3/4" aluminum,with a couple short,fat screws into the plastic seat pan and a hole drilled for the seat bolts will hold the seat in place until you get a new one. Then use the brackets for your rear signal relocation project. 3 bucks and a half hour. If you want something permanent and tool free,drill a hole [good sized] through the fender and the seat pan. Cut a small access hole in the pan kinda near the drilled hole with an x-acto knife.Stick in a bolt with a star washer on each side of the pan and a lock washer and nut on the bottom of the pan.Then with the seat in place,the bolt will stick through the fender ,secured with another lock washer and a wingnut.Tool free,on and off in seconds,no new seat.

[ This message was edited by: rodburner on 2006-01-16 17:20 ]

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Ruining a perfectly good Bonnie since 2004.

Diego

> Seriously, the point I'm trying to make is that IMO a critical stress point like that tab shouldn't be part of the extruded plastic structure.

Ultimately, the crucial point is that it's not a "critical stress point" in normal use. Only when being tripped over while on the floor.
;-)

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John

thruxtonone

Pop rivet an angle bracket to the seat pan.-T1

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have fun-ride often!

fuzzdevil

in the future when u take the seat off, lean it on a wall far away from your beer.

No-Frills

Wow, pejorative is one of those fifty-cent words. It is amazing how much you can learn on this site. However, this sentence is somewhat confusing. Do you mean someone who shops at Wal-Mart shouldn't use price-point pejoratively?

Actually, I agree with you! I'm glad our beloved Bonneville's are made at a certain price-point. I can't think of a better-made bike for under $8000.00 bucks.

Concerning Wal-Mart, you would be a fool not to take advantage of their low-prices on certain household goods.