MotorcycleSeatBlog.com

This is the second chapter in our ongoing “Motorcycle Seats 101” blog series.  “Assessing Your Needs” (no pun intended) is intended to help motorcyclists who are thinking about buying a replacement seat.

There has been a huge influx of motorcycle seats available for bike models in the past decade or so — available in a range of styles and prices. Take the time to think about the type of riding you do, the style you want for your bike and what it is specifically that you hope to achieve by making the investment in a new seat.

The type of seat you purchase usually depends on the type of riding you do or a certain look you are trying to achieve. Ask yourself the following questions:
• Do you mostly ride around town or do you take long trips?
• Honestly assess your height vis-à-vis your bike model.  Does your seat help you to put your feet flat on the ground for safety and control at stops?
• What percentage of the time do you carry a passenger?
• Is your bike stored outside during the riding season or is it always under cover?
• Are you looking for a comfortable touring seat or a one-of-a-kind custom seat for your show bike?
• Will you need a sissy bar for either passenger back support or to secure luggage on long trips?

With few exceptions, we ride for the fun and thrill of it.  Before purchasing a replacement seat, spend some time to select perfect seat that will enhance the look of your bike while making riding enjoyable for both the driver and passenger.

We just added a new line of seats and we’ve documented the design and creation on video.

No matter how you pronounce it, Mustang has the final word when it comes to comfort for the Kawasaki Vaquero.

The deeply pocketed driver seat on the one-piece Wide Touring style with Driver Backrest is a full 16.5” wide and sits you at the ideal cruising angle.  The 13” wide passenger seat utilizes Mustang’s unique internal steel support wings.  The optional driver backrest provides superb back support for those longer rides and is fully adjustable and easily removable.

The Vintage style seat is sold as a three-piece set including solo, removable driver backrest and passenger seat with a backrest receiver for $739; the optional passenger backrest (shown) is $200.  Also available with studs and conchos.

Mustang seats for Metric Cruisers and H-D® models are proudly handcrafted in the USA.  For more info, visit MustangSeats.com or call 800-243-1392.

Click to watch the how Mustang designed and built their new line of seats for Vaquero!

It was a perfect New England fall day a couple months ago when a 1961 Mustang Pony was very carefully loaded into the Mustang truck. Confused? Well, over the last three decades, while Mustang was growing to become the world leader in replacement seats for Harley, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Victory, Mustang Seats’ founder, Al Simmons, was simultaneously working on another type of “stable” of Mustangs.

Tucked away in our Connecticut warehouse is Al’s collection of dozens of vintage Mustang motorcycles (those half scooters/half motorcycles built in Glendale, CA, after WWII). When Ted Doering, founder and owner of Tedd Cycle and V-Twin Manufacturing  opened the doors of his huge “Motorcyclepedia Museum” in Newburgh, NY, Al offered to donate a special Mustang—a single cylinder, 319 cc, 3-speed transmission Pony that could run over 60 mph!

Al and Ted had spent a lot of time together about 35 years ago in the late 1970’s and Al credits Ted for playing an important role in the start of Mustang. Despite taking separate paths, Al and Ted would see each other at the annual trade show in Cincinnati. With such a history and a shared love of motorcycles, Al says it was really nice to be able to spend some time together.

 Ted very kindly gave Al a personal guided tour of the incredible 85,000 square foot museum. Al was particularly fascinated to learn about the large displacement motorcycles that were used for bicycle pacer races throughout the early half of the 20th century—but that’s a subject for a later blog.

For now, Al is proud that his little Mustang Pony has found a suitable home in Motorcyclepedia among over 300 bikes that span the history of motorcycling.

Now that the wrapping paper is all picked up and the gifts are put away, we have time to take a breath and look back at 2011.  We have survived the holidays, seen ups and downs of the economy and experienced the wrath of Mother Nature.

The economy has been on a roller coaster ride, and we are happy to be still strapped in our seats at the end of the year.  We hope the 2012 brings much needed boosts to the economy for all concerned.

Mustang, for the first time in years, closed for a day due to weather related conditions.  Mother Nature decided to “trick us” with a surprise snow storm before that practically shut down Connecticut.  Once the snow was cleared and the power turned back on, we were up and running with business as usual.  We were one of the lucky ones that did not lose power for a long period of time.  It was quite the ordeal for many others, some being without power for 10 days or more.

Even though it is the end of the year when many businesses are quiet during the holidays, we are just beginning to hustle and bustle with things to do.  This is the time of the year that we begin planning our line of seats, creating new ones and continuing to produce the seats that everyone has come to know.  We are preparing our catalogs for printing and distributing, and planning our attendance at dealer and retail shows during 2012.  We always look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at these shows.  Our scheduled shows in 2012 are listed on our website, so if you are going to be attending one or more of them, please stop by and say hello.

We hope that 2012 brings good health and prosperity to all.  We also hope that Mother Nature will be kinder to everyone in the weather department.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  See you in 2012!

Replacing your stock motorcycle seat with a Mustang seat is easy.  Have you ever taken off your stock seat?  If so, you are well on your way to installing a Mustang seat.  If you still have concerns about replacing your original motorcycle seat, rest easy. It’s a relatively simple process and you don’t have to be a trained mechanic.
Mustang is very careful to build seats that use stock mounting points. We try to make the installation as easy as possible.  If different hardware is needed for mounting the new seat, it will be included with the new seat.
Mustang seats come with printed mounting suggestions; we are also creating a library of video mounting instructions.  For example, you may be mounting either a one-piece or a two-piece Mustang seat.

As long as you purchase a Mustang seat that is specifically made for the exact make, model and year of your bike, there’s no need to worry about fitment.  Choose your seat style, mount your new seat and ride in comfort and style!

Every driver and passenger rides on one but just how often do you think about what you are sitting on during your rides?  We’ll bet your response depends largely on how happy (comfortable) your bottom and your back are at the end of a day’s ride!

We are introducing a five-part series “Motorcycle Seats 101.”  This brief but comprehensive overview is designed to help you make an informed decision when buying a motorcycle seat–whether you’re looking for a seat or saddle made of the highest quality materials, attractively styled, designed for comfort, reasonably priced or all of the above!

As you know, replacement motorcycle seats can be purchased from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Victory, Honda and Harley-Davidson. Replacement saddles are also available from aftermarket seat companies whose main business is the production of seats, not motorcycles. These businesses include C&C, Corbin, LePera, Mustang and Saddlemen, and a multitude of smaller, custom seat builders.

If you simply want to change your seat style or you need to replace a worn-out seat — and improved comfort is not an issue — buying a seat from your OEM might just be the ticket.  Truth is, most motorcycle manufacturers (OEMs) concentrate most of their time and money researching the bike engine and aerodynamic design of their bikes, rather than putting a lot of effort into their seats.

Aftermarket seat companies place all of their focus and effort into providing an array of seat styles and features because that’s usually their primary business.  These aftermarket manufacturers sell their brand of seats directly to OEMs, offer them through a distribution channel to dealers or directly to dealers, or they market the seats directly to the riding public.

Small-scale custom seat builders often work directly with the individual rider, building a seat using the original baseplate and the original form. Custom builders may offer a unique selection of baseplates, materials and stitch patterns.

Check back next week for first of five chapters that Mustang Motorcycle Seats has compiled to bring you up to speed on motorcycle seat basics:
• Chapter 1: Seat Fitment 101
• Chapter 2: Assessing Your Needs
• Chapter 3: What Makes a Seat Great?
• Chapter 4: Seat Features
• Chapter 5: The “Bottom Line”

Meanwhile, feel free to post any seat questions or comments here and we’ll address them below or in our next blog.

Thanks and Happy Holidays from all of us at Mustang Seats!

Back support is not just for the driver anymore!  Passengers can have the comfort they deserve with Mustang’s new fully adjustable backrest!   The built-in, removable passenger backrest offers all the features of the popular driver backrest for FL Touring models 1997-2012.

The 13.5” wide passenger seat with built-in backrest is available with plain, chrome studs or black pearl-centered studs, with prices starting at $449.  The front of the passenger seat is recessed to allow clearance when installed behind a solo with a built-in driver backrest.  For passengers who prefer more room or want to lean farther back, Mustang offers an optional offset backrest post for only $25.

Riders who have a Mustang solo with a driver backrest and want interchangeable comfort can purchase the passenger seat with a receiver only (without backrest) priced from $249; this passenger seat accepts the driver backrest from the solo for dual versatility.

Mustang can also accommodate riders that have our solo seats without driver backrests, but would like to have a backrest for their passengers.  These passenger seats are not recessed; instead they extend forward over the driver’s solo to give additional back support.

Watch a short demonstration of the full versatility of the passenger backrest.

Visit MustangSeats.com  to view our full line of seats for Harley-Davidson® and Metric Cruisers, all handcrafted in the USA, or call (800) 243-1392 for more information.

Look for our new ads in your favorite motorcycle magazine next month!

Anyone who’s professionally involved in any industry involving cars, trucks and motorcycles knows that the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) convention is absolutely the top dog of such events in the United States.

SEMA is a trade association consisting of a diverse group of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, magazines, builders, restylers, race teams and more. And each fall, this industry’s brightest minds and hottest products are drawn to the Las Vegas Convention Center like moths to a light bulb.

And while this is strictly an industry-only event that’s not open to the public, even civilians know this trade show by one simple acronym: SEMA.

This month, Gary Kendrick, Mustang’s vice president of manufacturing, joined more than 60,000 of his closest friends at SEMA, touting our world-famous motorcycle seats and talking them up to anyone who would listen. He said he spent three full days making (more…)

Click above for a PDF download of Marilyn's' article

We’ve never been shy about offering up suggestions for motorcycle-related gifts, so when IronWorks magazine asked our marketing director for some holiday gift ideas, she was more than willing to help out.

Marilyn Simmons has been marketing our products for years, and was the perfect go-to person for the popular motorcycle magazine to approach. Her article, which appears in the Holiday Gift Guide edition of IronWorks, features all kinds of helpful hints for those shopping for biker enthusiasts.

Posed under the article’s headline (What the heck can I buy for the biker on my list?) are dozens of suggestions presented by our own expert that should help holiday shoppers come up with something original this year, instead of what Marilyn kindly calls “the standard gift box of T-shirts, hats and posters.”

For the male rider, she suggests (more…)

Nothing pleases us more than to read a glowing review about our motorcycle seats, especially when they appear on someone else’s website. We’re absolutely thrilled that customers do this all the time without any prodding, pleading or promises from us asking them to do so.

So you can imagine how happy we were when Kyle Bradshaw, community director at CruiserCustoming.com alerted us via our Facebook Wall to a nice write-up about our seats that appeared on CruiserCustomizing.com community pages recently. Cruiser has been selling motorcycle parts online for more than nine years, offering great merchandise at fair prices, as well as comprehensive product reviews on thousands of parts.

The author of the Cruiser Customizing review lives in Richmond, Va., and goes by the handle vasoftball5, and he’s new to the joys of owning a Mustang Motorcycle Seat.

So what did vasoftball5 have to say about Mustang Seats? Seems this rider purchased one of our Wide Touring Seats with a driver backrest and matching passenger sissy bar pad — all decorated with studs and conchos. He said the seat was (more…)