Took the S.O. out for dinner on Jade last night, and asked her how was the seat. "BE HONEST NOW". Never heard anybody complain about Russells that were made for them. Thought I was gonna get rave reviews.
Well I asked for it. Ask for a complaint, that's ASKING for it. She can always deliver.
Anyway, I thought they had goofed a bit in the position of the pillion - it looked to be too far forward. In fact, it was. She was sitting on the rim, "like a toilet seat". Hmm. Also, she was really cramped, very little space between the seat backs; her legs were cramped against my backrest and she didn't even have room for her hands in her lap. And I had to modify the driver's seat backrest arm before this - with adjustments fully rearward, it was still too far forward. So I used my Hydraulic press to bend the bracket and move the Spartan backrest back. In all fairness, Russell did a fine job but didn't pay attention to seat position as I expected, given that we provided all the photos they asked for of us sitting on a Valk, as well as our weights and inseams. Not to mention the cost. But all that was needed was to reposition the location of the pillion, and my backrest. So I modified the mounts under the pillion - basically removed, reversed them, and then recontoured their shape on the press so they would still work properly, but now with the pillion moved back 2 inches. Then I added a spacer to move my backrest fwd 1 5/8". Perfect. Now they work with our fat asses as they should.
Not Complaining, Russell. Fine work, this is just fine tuning to fit us better. The seats are really beautiful - and folks are asking where I got them. Now I'm wondering if they are "sharing" my embroidery files. Hope not. (Just cause I like being unique, and I paid for the graphics as well as created the embroidery files myself with SewArt.)
Before:
After:
And the spacer: It's secured with screws from below the brace. Note the vertical brace is no longer at 90°, and the backrest arm is also bent. Man, that 20-ton press is USEFUL.
Another view. I like this shot though it's cluttered. Before the mods.
