[bludhemn]

Originally Posted by bradhey

I am actually thinking of lowering the seat, for the reasons of lower riding position (protects from wind blast, more comfortable overall geomerty with the handle bar etc). Do you think it would be wise to raise the height.

Bradhey, do you have the stock handlebar? If you do, and decide to lower the seat, you may find yourself leaning forward to reach the bars especially when negotiating a full turn of the bar. This can put considerable stress on your shoulder muscles and lower back because of the arch that forms. If you have long arms, then I guess this shouldn't be a problem.

I doubt if lowering the seat will provide any protection from the wind. If at all it does, it would be minimal. The max you could bring it down is a few inches until it stops just short of banging against the pillion seat frame running underneath the rider seat (assuming of course that you have a pillion seat).

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

However, what i had in mind was to reduce the height of the spring, from 8.5 cms to lets say 6.5 cms. With that, made some basic mods on the foam of the seat, and was hoping it would work better than stock.

Did you consider lowering the height of the springs and its effects?
The stock seat is almost horizontal to the ground and flat, without any contours for the butt to butt-in and find a sweet spot. Most of the cruiser seat are lower at the rear side, and higher on the front. So in my opining, reducing the height of the springs, and some mods on the contour would do wonders. Whats your thought on the same?

Nasirkaka, I had mentioned in my previous post about how I tried out a 2nd set of springs that turned out to be too short. It measured 8.5cm from the top of the coil to the point where the loop on the leg closes (This is the actual length that needs to measured, and not from the coil top to bottom of loop). I had a pillion seat and its frame was interfere with the oscillation of the spring. Im my opinion about 9.5cm should be just right provided the steel used is of the same (or almost same) tensile strength. If you don't have a pillion seat, then you could reduce it further.

I agree with a lowered and better contoured seat. In fact, I was contemplating on designing a new base plate (since Im pretty much jobless :P), with a narrower profile and slightly thinner foam. Yes, the cruisers have this kind of profile, but then again their handle bars sweep way back for a comfortable hold. We would have to lean forward with classic's tight handlebars.

Btw, I know yours has the rd's bar...you are the inspiration for mine :P.

[bradhey]

Lower seat will not just reduce the wind blast (although it may not be important as bludhemm mentions), but more importantly, it will give you considerably improved contorl on the bike as the Centre of gravity is lowered. The C5 that way would be easier to flick like any other street bike.

[nasirkaka]

ARE THE SPRINGS IN THE SEAT REALLY NECESSARY?

Or they are just for aesthetic value?

In past, when the shock-absorbers technology was not as advanced as today (pnumatic / hudraulic/double dampeners, etc), the motorcycles were given additional cushioning with the help of springs in the seat.

As we all know, the Styling (look) of the C5 is inspired from the bygone era, when the bikes had springs under the seat. May be the C5 was given springs to enhance its CLASSIC looks. Or was it considered for the riders comfort? or a bot of both?
I feel springs are something which add a little bit of extra cushioning, especially on bumpy rides. But i have been riding my C5 without springs, and dont really miss it. Infact, the seat without springs feel more planted / sturdy/ and comfortable. (except on bumpyterrain where springs would have an advantage).

Was considering lowering the height of the springs, but as suggest by BLUDHEMN, it may interfere with the rear seat. i cant do without pillion seat. now what? :(

[bludhemn]

One of the reasons I decided to change the springs was because I could feel my back crumpling while riding over the multitude of potholes and dungeons. The rains have willfully added to the pitiful condition of the roads and I seriously doubt if anything is going to be done about it.

Anyways, after putting up the new springs and softening the suspension, it feels much much better. All I can say is that the decision to change is left upto you and depends on what kind of roads you ride on, your body weight, the amount of strain your lower back can handle and aesthetics. From what I've seen many riders are quite content with what comes as standard.

[captrajesh]

Good you didn't try this. Heating and rapid cooling by dipping in oil is done to increase hardness and is a complicated process and would require you to know the exact metals and ratios. You would've ended up messing up the springs.

Originally Posted by bludhemn

From a few different sources, it was suggested to heat the spring, but this didn't seem feasible for two reasons. Firstly, heating causes change in the elasticity of the material ( probably carbon steel). The amount of change depends on the temperature and duration of application.

[mantrig]

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

ARE THE SPRINGS IN THE SEAT REALLY NECESSARY?

Or they are just for aesthetic value?

Hello Nasir, I didn't want to create a duplicate post, hence the link from other thread.

What do you think about this seat? I have used this set up for most of my long rides while touring on Standard 350 and it really is super comfortable and provides ample of support for lower back as well.

No springs, but never felt I required any.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post2063599

[nasirkaka]

What do you think about this seat? I have used this set up for most of my long rides while touring on Standard 350 and it really is super comfortable and provides ample of support for lower back as well.

No springs, but never felt I required any.

Wow! The seat looks soft and juicy. I am sure it would be equally comfortable.

Even i wanted something similar on the C5, tried too, but it failed. Basically this approach may not work with C5 with pillion seat. And it will definitely not with the stock seat plate, even we re-foam it.

The reason being, the length of the C5 seat is much shorter, compared to lets say, 'your modified seat'. We can achieve, the look and feel of your seat, but the distance between the centre of the seat and the handle would reduce (cos of the contoured lower back support) , making the ride very uncomfortable.
To explain further, if you draw an imaginery line connecting the TOP of both the rear shock absorbers, the back-most point of stock C5 seat will still be towards the front of this imaginary line, where as in your seat, the back-most point is about 5-6 cms behind that imaginary reference line.

But, if the pillion seat was to be discarded, and a new longer seat plate was made (like yours), i am sure it would be much comfortable than the stock.

Not sure if i made any sense..

[mantrig]

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

Wow! The seat looks soft and juicy. I am sure it would be equally comfortable.

Even i wanted something similar on the C5, tried too, but it failed. Basically this approach may not work with C5 with pillion seat. And it will definitely not with the stock seat plate, even we re-foam it.

The reason being, the length of the C5 seat is much shorter, compared to lets say, 'your modified seat'. We can achieve, the look and feel of your seat, but the distance between the centre of the seat and the handle would reduce (cos of the contoured lower back support) , making the ride very uncomfortable.
To explain further, if you draw an imaginery line connecting the TOP of both the rear shock absorbers, the back-most point of stock C5 seat will still be towards the front of this imaginary line, where as in your seat, the back-most point is about 5-6 cms behind that imaginary reference line.

But, if the pillion seat was to be discarded, and a new longer seat plate was made (like yours), i am sure it would be much comfortable than the stock.

Not sure if i made any sense..

This is exactly the reason why I would make an alternate seat using a custom made seat plate keeping in mind the pillion seat which also will undergo some customization to ensure it blends with the extra seat.

Let me get my bike on this Saturday and spend a week just enjoying her.

Hopefully, next weekend I will dedicate good amount of time to get this seat done. Whatever is the update, I shall keep you posted and use pictures as the base for our discussion.

[Randhawa]

@Nasir- I think you made a darn good choice by going in for M45. Doesn't even look like if its narrower then Zapper.

The box is looking sweet but I think the pillion seat and upswept is complementing it.

@Bludhemn- You have done a awesome work on springs. I'll add a bit of my opinion and reason behind it. Personally do not want to touch the design of the seat so I have learnt to live with baboons bottom syndrome till I sell my C5 in couple of months time.

I have always felt that the C5 springs sag a bit on a longer journey and others have observed the same. So what can we do to the springs if we dont want to touch the seat is the question I often asked myself. Now when you add more coils to the spring, in a sense you are increasing the height of the seat a bit and stiffing the absorption of the shocks by spreading the load over the multiple coils. It sags less but still doesn't give us the comfort we are looking for.

What I have in mind is if we keep the height of the modified/new spring to OEM spring but reduce the no of coils and increase the distance between them(still keeping the same tensile strength of the material). I believe it will provide a lot softer suspension and more absorption power but less sag which in turn will provide us with a comfortable ride. What happens on a OEM seat spring is that it sags to such an extent that even a small bump makes the coil touch each other and removes any suspension and makes it as stiff as a rock hence passing every jerk through our tail bone and the end result is not so charming.


Had my 6th service today at 15K

Things changed;
Oil, oil filter
Air filter(changed previous one at 9K-usually gets changed at 12k)
Rear cushion rubbers(inside the hub)- They are prone to wear as they are meant for the CI bulls but the extra weight of the C5, torque and the speeds we try to stop her has a negative impact on braking.
Cleaned the rear pads and drum- highly recommended to do during raining season to save from the nasty lockup and screeching noise on braking.

Symptoms of worn cushion rubbers- Spongy brake feel, hard to make out when the brake would bite. A bit jerky gear shifting, shuddering feeling from the brake lever. Not expensive so I recommend it changing when you feel its worn. I have changed it three times by now but it all depends upon your riding style. If you are a sedate rider then it might last 10k+.

Fork oil changed which I should have got it done at 12k and I highly recommend you get it done at 12k as by the book.

The reason I did not get the oil changed at 12k was due to the reason that the workshop did not had the tools to get the job done and as I did not had any problem with the suspension so I left it for 15k service.

With the normal bulls the Lkey bolt from the top of the fork is different size of the C5 hence some RE workshop don't have it yet. So they might not change the oil on yours.
If you are getting it done in front of you then I suggest you tell your mechanic that the oil cap on the top of the fork is unscrewed clockwise and not anti-clockwise as rest of the bulls. Might save him the embarrassment or saving your bulls fork from getting screwed up.

I wanted to measure the drained oil and accordingly replace the volume of oil in the fork. Although a bit surprised to what quantity was drained per leg.

In one it was 150ml and other it was 170ml to the specs of 195ml. I never had any leak so I was a bit surprised to where the rest of the oil went or RE never topped it up at the factory.

I was a bit cautious to put 195ml(factory specs) as my C5 slag in the front was half a inch higher compared to a new C5. So assuming there still be some oil sticking inside the forks, I used Shell 10w30 with 170ml in each fork.

Now I am quite satisfied as I have got just the right handling at front now. Neither to heavy nor to soft and feels a bit progressive. Just the way I wanted all that long.

I had 4 fault codes stored on the ECU so got them cleared. They were due to unplugging the different sensors for R&D purpose

Thats all to my 15k service, every thing is honky dory for now

[stnair]

Originally Posted by Randhawa

I'll add a bit of my opinion and reason behind it. Personally do not want to touch the design of the seat so I have learnt to live with baboons bottom syndrome till I sell my C5 in couple of months time.

Divorcing your darling C5 ? What happened? You cant stand her anymore? Or you want to ditch Anasthasia (Isnt that her name?) and go for some new Sharapova or Kournikova?

[nasirkaka]

till I sell my C5 in couple of months time

Holy cow!
OR should i say Holy bull!!

Why are you planning to part ways with your bike? Please share if the reason is not too personal. Now, who will answer, educate, explain and guide we confused souls on the issues on C5??
:(

[bhasma]

Originally Posted by Randhawa

till I sell my C5 in couple of months time.

Are you heading off shore?

[Randhawa]

Originally Posted by stnair

Divorcing your darling C5 ? What happened? You cant stand her anymore? Or you want to ditch Anasthasia (Isnt that her name?) and go for some new Sharapova or Kournikova?

Na man, I cant think of betraying Anastassia. I wont have time to take care for her in future

Originally Posted by nasirkaka

Holy cow!
OR should i say Holy bull!!

Why are you planning to part ways with your bike? Please share if the reason is not too personal. Now, who will answer, educate, explain and guide we confused souls on the issues on C5??
:(

I'll always be here for my comrades, not leaving Team-Bhp ever. When I bought the bike, I wanted to keep it for life. As I am immigrating to Canada so logically it does not make sense to keep her. My bad luck is that I cant import her into Canada so no use of storing her for some few days of riding in a year.

Plus in a years time, a lot will change inside the UCE. Just spoke to someone in RE yesterday and I am quite pleased that they are working on few things which I always suspected of flaws and issues A hint-(piston design). But it will take a while as they are not every day issues and people are not aware of it.

Who knows, I might get a C5 with a O2 there and keep the ball rolling

I had promised earlier that I will make a report on my findings about the serious issues with the engine I had a while ago so there is still a lot to come from my side. Plus you lads have lot to add to this thread so keep the good stuff coming.

Originally Posted by bhasma

Are you heading off shore?

Yes Doc, by the end of this year probably.

[madhkris]

Randhawa, although we are happy for you it is sad to hear that you will be away from among us. Your thread has been useful not just for the C5 owners but for all bullet fans and lovers. I have been glued to your thread from day1. Hope that you continue to guide us from Canada. Your knowledge and experience recorded here is already like a manual on maintaining a C5. All the best to you for your future. Godspeed.

[EssYouWe]

And I thought you were just going to give away Anastassia to me for safekeeping.

Thanks for the tips on the fork oil change. I still haven't found 300v! Hadh hai! No service, so no riding nowadays.

PS: When am I getting my long awaited treat?