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!

Welcome to the Mustang Motorcycle Seats Blog. As anyone who has taken a spin around the Internet will tell you, blogs such as this one give companies like ours an opportunity to share news and information in ways that weren’t even imagined yet when Al Simmons started Mustang Motorcycle Products, Inc. in 1980.

Back in the day, if you wanted to get the word out about something your company or business was up to, you had one of three choices: issue a press release, pay for an advertisement, or publish your own newsletter and mail it out to everyone you knew. Since we’ve always chosen to focus first and foremost on making the highest quality, most comfortable motorcycle seats in the world, we tended to shy away from tootin’ our own horn or becoming distracted by things that don’t help you — our customers — have a more comfortable ride.

That same philosophy is what we had in mind when we decided to launch our own blog. Here, you can expect to read about things that truly matter, including:

• Product announcements
• Installation tips
• Special offers
• Show and rally info
• Changes to our website
• And much more

Along the way, we’ll be introducing you to some of the people who make Mustang what it is today, as well as calling attention to industry news and information we think you might want to know about.

Each blog entry, including today’s, has a feature that allows you to join in on the conversation. Any time the mood strikes, click the “Comments” link (located below each blog entry) to weigh in on the topic of the day or see what your fellow Mustang enthusiasts have to say. In the meantime, as the title of today’s blog post says, take a seat and enjoy the ride!