Is one functional seat bolt all that is needed to keep your seat (in my case a Corbin) safely on the bike?

I rode around for a while with only one bolt in mine without knowing it and didn't have any trouble. I've since switched to wing bolts....

Theirs a reason it came with two in my opinion , if one falls out you have the other to rely on but with only one vibration could turn it out also and couse the seat to be loose imo

One will work since you have your weight to hold it down while riding. However, I would find a way to fix it.

In my opinion, since the seat slots into the tongue in the front and between that and the sissy bar, I wouldn't hesitate to ride the bike without any bolts holding it on, since there isn't anywhere it can go with my tonnage on it. As a matter of fact, the KLR 650 folks take the bolts out of their seat mounts and leave them out because of the pain in the butt it is to remove them, and the KLR is a dual sport, and lots of these guys do some pretty tough trail riding with them with no problems. Would I put the bolts in our seats if I had them, sure, but if I was missing one, I wouldn't park the bike. :smiley_th

It's a long story (which I may tell later)... But the receptacle that receives the left bolt in my Corbin seat was torn out (by a well-meaning stranger offering me roadside assistance in the middle of nowhere) -- leaving a 1" diameter hole in the fiberglass instead of the usual screw hole.

I'm going to see if Corbin can do a patch repair. If not, I'd rather get by with one bolt than send it back for an entirely new fiberglass basepan... although I would do that if it was necessary for safety reasons. (Since the damage is on the inside, it doesn't mar the outward appearance of the bike, although the mere fact of it still bugs me.)

One rider I consulted said that one bolt will do fine (along with the tight tongue fit and my body weight). If the seat flies off, then there's something far more serious going on than a missing bolt!

Yea, I think if it came off it would be following your same trajectory. Keep the rubber side down please!

I've ridden with just one bolt with no problem and I am all over the seat when I ride. I have the mustang seat and since I also have the rear luggage rack I had to do some customizing to the seat pan to have the seat snug down over the luggage rack bolts. I figure that cuts down on any side to side shifting that 'may' happen (but doesn't).
There was one time I rode for several months with no bolts and only discovered it when I was doing some work on the bike. *L* Guess I threw the seat on before to take it out for a test drive, came back, decided it was good and forgot to snug it down.

Although I never got around to it, I did have a design somewhat worked out to replace the stock seat bolts with a simple latch system.

A metal bar would be bolted to the back of the seat, and a simple "ratchet tooth" lever would latch the seat down. A choke cable would run to the lower frame under the left sidecover so to remove the seat you would pull the "choke knob" and just lift off the seat.

If I can find the original drawing for this I will post it.


KM

That sounds interesting KM, and I am looking forward to seeing exactly how you envision the latch working.

But I`m not sure which is a bigger pain, using a socket wrench to remove the 2 cap head seat retaining bolts, or finding a big enough slot screwdriver to loosen the side cover bolt that a PO has half wrecked the heads on.

But I`m not sure which is a bigger pain, using a socket wrench to remove the 2 cap head seat retaining bolts, or finding a big enough slot screwdriver to loosen the side cover bolt that a PO has half wrecked the heads on.

Sorry I did not make that more clear. By saying "under the sidecover" I actually meant below the cover, not behind it....that you did not need to remove the cover at all , just pull a knob below it.

Sorry bout that, to me "under" means well, under, below, beneath... "behind" is what you took it for instead, and I see how that could make sence, but was not what I meant.

My FJR has a key slot "under" the side cover, you insert your key and turn , and you can lift and remove the rear seat. I thought of using a keylock too on the vulcan, but as there really is nothing that needs to be locked up there , I thought a simple lever or knob would be the way to go.

I hated that to get to the battery you had to undo two bolts. Seemed unneccessary.


KM

Semantics are the bane of any technical writers existence it seems. If there is any way for it to be misunderstood, someone will. LOL. It`s all clear now. Thanks.

Reported.

Before getting a maintenance free battery, I rode mine without any bolts on purpose, and never had any problems. But I have the stock seat, and the Kawasaki backrest, and it was pretty well wedged into place. As for those side cover bolts, I never had any problem with them, I always used the head of the key to turn them with. They could be replaced by any number of different types of bolts or screw in knobs that wouldn't require any tools. Even if the threads were stripped in the frame, you can get to the back of them, and use a nut on the bolt. Jerry.