XS1100RH Seat wanted

[melbxs]

Here's an original RH seat:

[bluedayt]

Hi Errol,

I'll send you a couple of photo's as soon as i work out how to load them on here.

Cheers

[Eveready1100]

Hi John.
         Any chance of you posting some pics of your seat? It'd help to see if it follows the contours of the sidecovers then sweeps up to the rear, or if it's basically straight along its lower edges. Mainly curious about this cos I've got an RH seat on my '79 Special and it fits like it was built for it. (Ithought it was how Specials were when i bought it as I hadn't seen another to compare it to)
                                   Errol

[bluedayt]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for telling me about my bike not being a Special. Mine's definitely an RH (5N5) but i thought they were also known as a Special. Your advice will stop me looking silly, and looking for the wrong parts,so really appreciate it.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I got the seat and, apart from a small gap at the tank (which I was expecting) the seat fits perfectly. The seller told me that it was removed from the bike while still in the dealer's showroom but seeing it was from eBay I was pretty sceptical. He wasn't telling porkies though, it looks like it's never been mounted! There's not a mark on it & the vinyl is perfect, as is the rear badge. I'm pretty sure its an original seat for the 80 standard XS from the states (the box has a coupl of numbers & RG after them??). Pretty happy. I'd really prefer an exact original but this will do until one turns up (I'd swap this one if need be)

All I need now is rear indicators and I can then put it on the road (well, when I have the spare money that it is....). But this leads me to another question. I think the tail light assy on my bike isn't original. On my bike there's no mounts for the indicators, there should be posts on each side for the indicators to mount, right? Well mine doesn't have them. Would you know where to hunt the right one down?

Cheers, John

[bluedayt]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for that, I know my bike is an RH, but thought they were the Specials. Still learning a lot about this bike, I appreciate your help......Yes, the seat isn't exactly right, but I really want it just so I can get the bike on the road. I've been searching everywhere for an RH seat but it appears that I'll have more luck finding rocking horse poo. The seat will turn up in the next couple of days, so it won't be long until I find out whether it will fit.  From what I saw in the photos (there were quite a lot) it look like it will fit. It cost $150 approx to get it here and if it doesn't fit I'll offer it up on this site for what I paid for it. When I was at Shepparton wreckers the other week he had both an RH and a standard hidden away there. He had both seats for these but were in terrible condition but I did a bit of comparison with the two. From what I can see the difference between the RH and the rest are the rebate for the CDI, which is directly under the passenger on the RH but further back on the standard. The seat I have coming has the rebate in the same location as the RH, so fingers are crossed at the moment. 

By the way, if anyone esle is reading this, about the Shepparton Wrecker: He's got a '79 Standard which is about 70% complete, a couple of fuel tanks and a Ventura gear rack. All of it is in quite poor condition though. The one that looks like an RH has a kick starter on it, not sure if the bike's a mock up because of that. It's been ratted and there's basically only a motor, frame, wheels & instrument cluster left on it. As for prices hes after, he wants $450 for the instrument cluster. After my 3 hour 1 way drive there on the promise that the RH seat he had was in good condition, only to find it was only good for throwing at my ex-wife, I was in no mood to give him any money whatsoever.

[Brian]

Hi John, hope I'm wrong about this but I'm worried you may have some confusion with your seat...

You call your bike an '81 Special but it's an RH model and we don't normally call that a 'Special'.  The RH is basically the same model as the UK 5K7 'Sport'.

The States never had the RH (or the 5K7) - they have the Standard (2H7, 20 litre tank flatish bars, no cowling) and the Special (15 litre tank, stepped seat, high bars, no cowling).  I'm concerned that you may have bought a seat for an '81 Special and that won't fit your RH.

The UK 5K7 and the RH seats are the only ones that will fit your RH (without modifying).

Click for pic of an  '81 Special

[steptoe]

I hope it,s in a good condition as you expect

[bluedayt]

Hi Steptoe,

Thanks for your reply but yeah, I've been down that path. My base is quite bad. Someone has already tried to repair it with fibreglass and all it's really done is made a nice holding area for water to sit and rusted it right out.  I got a quote from a fibre glasser to repair the base so he could  make a mould out of it. He wasn't going to charge me for the mould, but it was still going to be around the $350.00 mark for him to make a fibreglass base for me. I've found a seat on eBay in the US and am just waiting for it to turn up now.

Cheers

[steptoe]

one option open to you still, is taking it a fibre glasser and have them use whats left to reform the base,,

you might have to bring the metal to a very clean dry condition  for them to use it but it's an option

[bluedayt]

Hi, does anyone have a seat (or know where I could get one) for an  81 Special? Mine is cactus & its just about the last thing i need before I get iton the road.

Cheers,

John