Seats from Old Britts
- Thread starter Lorenzo
- Start date
- Status
cyclegeezer
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2010
- Messages
- 345
Are you asking about just the covers or an entire seat? I just bought a Roadster cover from them and the materials and workmanship look just fine. The label inside the cover says Andover Norton. It's a definite improvement over the old dried cracked faded original.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2005
- Messages
- 18,978
I got one of their cafe like seats, not a Norton brick type and it is my favorite seat so far and has worn and weathered well with passengers and lots of cargo and good bit of rain, still primo but for the faded rear Norton label. I think Old Brits have a stencil for that too. I love to look at Sleek Corbins but sure don't care to ride but a few miles on them. I have non cafe Corbin on my SV, more comfy and lower sitting than Suzuki seat but not compared to my Commando Old Brits seat.
Best bang for the bux to me.
Best bang for the bux to me.
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2004
- Messages
- 1,616
I bought a Roadster seat from Commando Specialties for my 850. I don't know if is the same one that OldBritts sells. I'm guessing it is not, as Commando Specialties mostly seems to sell RGM parts. The seat has a tag on the pan that says "Coventry Spares", which I believe is the name of the parts wholesaler who imports them to the USA. I don't know who made it.
Like most pattern parts, it's pretty good except for one little detail they didn't get quite right. In this case, the mounting ears. They don't fit. They're not the same shape as on the OEM seats and they don't clear the frame rails. On my 850's Italian frame I was able to tweak the ears a bit and get the seat to fit, but it won't go at all on my 750's frame. I'd have to cut the ears off and make new ones. I could take a couple of photos to show what I'm talking about if anyone is interested.
It is a nice comfy seat with the new foam and the later-style flat profile.
Debby
Like most pattern parts, it's pretty good except for one little detail they didn't get quite right. In this case, the mounting ears. They don't fit. They're not the same shape as on the OEM seats and they don't clear the frame rails. On my 850's Italian frame I was able to tweak the ears a bit and get the seat to fit, but it won't go at all on my 750's frame. I'd have to cut the ears off and make new ones. I could take a couple of photos to show what I'm talking about if anyone is interested.
It is a nice comfy seat with the new foam and the later-style flat profile.
Debby
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2009
- Messages
- 11,527
debby said:
a) Old Britts buys mostly Andover parts. I'm not sure what percentage that Commando Specialties does.
b) can never hurt to post pictures.
swooshdave said:
I can confirm from their email that OldBritts imports his seats from Andover. What is strange is that those on Andover website are different in some details from those on OldBritts website..
again, pics of both posted would be greatly apreciated! (in order to see the cover, but also the pan!)
.. and also pics of the bikes seats of Debby would be quite interesting to see..
thanX!
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2010
- Messages
- 78
It seems like there is a new cheaper source for seats. Norvil and RGM now list their seats at 100 pounds instead of the 220 pounds I paid last year. Lucky me.
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2004
- Messages
- 1,616
So here are some photos:
1972 750, older seat with fiberglass pan:
1974 850, "Coventry Spares USA" seat with steel pan:
A side-by-side comparison (sorry the photo didn't turn out so good):
Basically neither seat fits on the other bike although I also have an Interstate seat that fits perfectly on both. :? The mounting ears on the seats make a sort of Z bend to clear the frame rails. If you look closely, the bend is shaped a little differently on the two seats and so the 850 seat does not clear the frame rails on the 750 frame. The 750 seat also does not fit very well on the 850 frame. If I had some skill at working sheet metal I suppose I could make the seats fit and interchange, but I lack such skills. As it is, the 750's seat fits perfectly on the 750 frame and the 850 seat fits "ok" on the 850 frame (I have to do some wiggling to get it into place).
Debby
1972 750, older seat with fiberglass pan:
1974 850, "Coventry Spares USA" seat with steel pan:
A side-by-side comparison (sorry the photo didn't turn out so good):
Basically neither seat fits on the other bike although I also have an Interstate seat that fits perfectly on both. :? The mounting ears on the seats make a sort of Z bend to clear the frame rails. If you look closely, the bend is shaped a little differently on the two seats and so the 850 seat does not clear the frame rails on the 750 frame. The 750 seat also does not fit very well on the 850 frame. If I had some skill at working sheet metal I suppose I could make the seats fit and interchange, but I lack such skills. As it is, the 750's seat fits perfectly on the 750 frame and the 850 seat fits "ok" on the 850 frame (I have to do some wiggling to get it into place).
Debby
DogT
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
- Messages
- 7,394
I wonder when Norton started putting those cranked ears on the mounting tabs. My 69 has straight ears and no crank to the slots, just straight slots. Was that a 71 and up, or 73 up?
Nice Fireflake Debby. What is that boot on the tach drive? Need to send it to Phil, he'll put an o-ring on it.
Dave
69S
Nice Fireflake Debby. What is that boot on the tach drive? Need to send it to Phil, he'll put an o-ring on it.
Dave
69S
- Status
