Series D Seats

Phil Mahood

VOC Hon. Computer Officer
VOC Member
Can anyone help with some questions on D seats. I’m finishing up a Prince project. The after-market seat supplied was purchased many decades ago. It seems to be all wrong. See the attached photo.
DSC04141.jpg
To start with, it is almost 2” too short. It measures 20 ¼” from the back of the seat pan to the front mounting point for the hinge. When mounted, there is a huge gap from the back of the seat to the rear enclosure hump. Further, the shape of the pan is all wrong. Instead of the original curved pan, the recess is formed by creased folds running the length of the sheet metal. This shape does allow the seat to sit down on the enclosure. It fouls the curved section of the glass formed to clear the rear tyre. Perhaps this seat was for an open model?

Can any enclosed owner out there help me with a measurement of an original seat? Oh, and before I start building one from scratch, does anyone know a reliable source for an entire seat, or just the pan? Alas. VOCSC does not currently list the item.

All help and insight greatly appreciated.
Cheers, Phil Mahood
 

timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I have the original Black Knight prototype and the seat on that is 22" long. The metal base on that is rather crude as they were clearly prototyping and making it up as they went along. I also have a seat which seems to have the same base as yours and that is also 22" long. Additionally I have a special rear frame to convert a 'C' to a 'D' type rear end. The 'D' seat on that has a fiberglass base, possibly courtesy of Phil Primmer, and that is 22.5" long. The one with the metal base which appears to be the same as yours fits over the hump perfectly. All these measurements were taken along the top of the seat.
 

davidd

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Phil,

I have made several of these, but my original pan and all the sheet metal equipment is in storage right now. I made one years ago for Pat Manning and I just measured it along the bottom at 21." I believe I made the length to my original pan which was for an enclosed model. On the enclosed model you have to leave room for the little cupboard latch and I am not sure how the aftermarket pans dealt with this. I am almost certain that other than the latch mechanism the pan was the same item for both. 22" along the top sounds reasonable.

Justin has made a pan of his own and he also has the original for his Prince with the original latch. The pan he fabricated extended back over the rear hump to allow for an extra long seat when riding two up. I am certain he could give you the correct dimensions of all the components.

David
 

Phil Mahood

VOC Hon. Computer Officer
VOC Member
Bruce,
First my sympathies, 6 years on, regarding the Cording stay. Tony's D was in my garage too for while many moons ago! Alas, the memories of that beer sodden encounter are all a bit fuzzy. But, on the issue at hand, there is only one part listed. However, another D expert of mine adds that a longer seat is possible and appreciated by pillion riders. Further, hinges can be fashioned many ways to reposition the seat.
 

Phil Mahood

VOC Hon. Computer Officer
VOC Member
David,
Thanks for the info. It is all becoming slowly more clear. For one thing, I have no latch. I'll ask Justin for a photo of that. He has already been kind enough to send pictires of other obscure areas of his enclosed model, so I hope he'll not mind my going to the well a second time. Cheers.
 

timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I'm not sure that the latches were original equipment. Many owners retro fitted them. The open 'D' had a half round spring clip at each side to locate the seat centrally. The hump over the rear tyre acted as a locator on the enclosed models. My own bike, which was clearly a prototype does not have the catch and that has never proved to be a problem.
 

Deroberson

Active Forum User
VOC Member
To provide some further insight for some D owners, this is a quote from ftgh1300. I realize the original question was for enclosed models but for others searching in the future, perhaps we can get the information under one thread.

Here is some information for open D seats.

It seems most people are generating their own individual solutions for the D seat, unfortunate that it was not more well thought out but it does give room for some individual ideas.

Dave



http://www.vincentownersclub.co.uk/showthread.php?1346-Open-D-question


"The original 'Clip, Saddle' FT304 is listed but not illustrated in the D list. I saw an unused original some time ago, a 5/8" wide, 16 SWG (0.064") strip, with a 17/64" dia. fixing hole, with a swan neck at the end; the concave portion of this matches the radius of the sub-frame tube. It looked like mild steel to me and that apparently was the problem, it was not spring steel; they had to be adjusted to firmly locate things, which took off the enamel in no time and then led to fracturing.
The hinge is not robust and is not up to providing lateral support, it could be dangerous if you rely only on the hinge.
Some ideas: some seat pan mounted Terry clips (spring steel clips used for hanging tools up) could maybe suit a pair each side, or welding a rod to each rear oil tank / tool box brackets and using seat pan mounted rubber grommets to engage with them might do the trick.

Hope this helps, Frank"
 
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