I am curious how easy would it be to convert a single seat R27 to 'seating for two' ?
I am considering buying a R27 and most of the ones I see 'on the market' are single seaters, and my wife is going to be very resentful if she will not be able to come along for a ride...
As far as I can see there are 2 configurations: two separate single seats, or a bench type seat available - any comments on the relative virtues of those?
When I bought my R 26 in 1997, the bike was with a DENFELD double seat, not two separate seats.
I replaced this seat by a single seat which is more comfortable.My wife does not ride with me in comparison with your situation.
I prefer the look of my bike with a single seat.
André.
For carrying a passenger on your R27, you can add a passenger saddle to the fender, or you can replace the solo saddle with a bench seat.
There are two kinds of passenger saddles. One mounts directly on top of the fender, and the other mounts on a luggage rack atop the fender.
I have owned all these seats, for both R27 and /2. My wife did not like the passenger saddle because it made her feel insecure. The saddle is too far back for the passenger to hold onto the rider. There is a rubber grip to hold onto, but it is soft and floppy, offering no bracing. And the seat is softly suspended on tension springs that allow the passenger to continually bounce up and down -- I heard the Germans called it the "catapult seat". My wife said it was like riding a bucking bronco with nothing to hold onto. I sold my passenger saddle and instead adapted a scooter seat into a breadloaf cushion to mount on the fender rack. If you are interested this, I can email some photos.
I think the bench seat may be the preference for most passengers, if the have the opportunity to try both the saddle and the bench.
I can thoroughly recommend a bench, or dual seat. They are dead easy to fit as they simply bolt on. Make sure you get all three mounting brackets - a long "Z"-shaped mount for the nose and two triangular brackets to mount the rear to two of the fender mounting bolt at the top of the suspension units. Go for the Denfeld type fitted with a mat of "bed springs", rather than the Schorsh Meier type that relies solely on a rubber mat suspended between the front and rear of the frame as the rubber is prone to perish and split over a period of time. Both are comfortable, although some passengers find the bench seats tend to pitch them forward slightly due to the shape of the rear of the seat.
I've always preferred a bench seat on my R50, not only for comfort and the fact you can slide back to stretch your legs, but that the vacant pillion seat is a great place to tie luggage, keeping its weight over the rear wheel spindle. Plus. of course, they must be one of the best looking dual seats ever made!
Your detail as to the difference is innacurate. The Shorsch Meier bench seat was produced by Denfeld but marketed by SM. The first bench seat mounted to a BMW was on the R26 edition Swiss Blue. Originally all were made with coil springs till Denfeld tried to bring down production costs by replacing the coiled tension springs with a moulded rubber mat in 1960. Denfeld went bankrupt in 1974 and the remainder of the company was bought by a Mr. Schwarz. As they no longer had any of the original tooling, they made their own bench seat again, but went back to the coil spring construction. As they also no longer had any works drawings, their production no longer fits snugly as it should as many of the dimensions are incorrect. We produced the new Schorsch Meier bench seats according to the original spec and using coil springs. The name "Schorsch Meier" is now the intelectual property of BMW AG.
Is it possible to get the foam pad only for any of the old Denfeld bench seats. In my case I have the extra wide (355mm at widest) USA seat that I would like to restore. Do the new pads fit?
The two options are adding a pillion saddle, or replacing the solo saddle with a bench seat. Both the pillion saddle and bench seat are available in the online store here. One version of the saddle is mounted on a fender rack, the other version is mounted directly on the fender.
My wife found the pillion saddle to be very unsettling. The saddle floats up and down on its own springs, the rubber grip is too flexible to use as a brace, and the saddle is too far back to allow holding onto the driver. So some passengers may prefer the bench seat.
On my R27 I have one of the first bench seats that Huggett began having made, back in 1998. It looks just like the photos of the seat that was on my first R27 that I bought new in 1966. Here's a photo showing the new Huggett seat: http://home.insightbb.com/~aatherton/R2 ... in2004.jpg
Until Huggett began re-making the bench seats using the original design and the SM brand, the Denfeld-made bench seats were ugly. The Denfelds had flat tops and high straight sides, with no curves.
Hi
It's been a long time since this post, but do you still have pictures of this seat? I'd like to make one for my r69s.
Thanks,
Dwight dwightjacobson@yahoo.com
?