Sorry for such a long delay since my last update, finalizing the saddle and rear tank mounts was a bit of a nightmare. LOTS of trial-n-error on this update.
As soon as the saddle came in I new that I couldn't use standard coil springs, they would need to be hair-pin style so I could run them next to the frame. I wanted the saddle to sit as low as possible so it didn't look like a wart like all of the bolt-on solo-saddle kits.
This is what I came up with for the spring mounts. Just some 1/8 flat-stock from Home-Depot with a couple 5/16-18 nuts welded in. Milled the angles to make them look a little less crude.
Then I milled a large radius on them to fit around the frame's 30mm diameter tubing.
This is their final mounting point. I originally had them higher up the frame but it wasn't working out with the springs I had. Yeah, rust. I left it out in the rain.
And with the springs and saddle. Probably makes a bit more sense now that you see it all together.
Next I wanted to devise a way to hold the front of the saddle and the rear of the tank in place with the same part. I made this with M6x1 holes so my bolts could go through the frame and tank and into this, holding everything in place. I soon realized that was a bad idea.
This threaded tube was nothing more than a section of 1/4" schedule 40 tubing that I ran a 3/8-24 form tap through. This is what the saddle-bracket will bolt to. The saddle-bracket on the seat is just a standard part, I didn't take any pictures of it.
If I would have used this mount to hold the tank down it would have caused two problems. One, it wouldn't have been a very strong mount. The sleeves going through the rubber tank bushing would have been what this was mounted to. I didn't like this at all. Two, if I wanted to remove the tank, the saddle would have to be removed as well. The M6 threaded holes are now just 6mm holes.
Now the bolts go through the frame, through the saddle mount, then through the tank. Now I can pop the tank off without removing the saddle.
Since the saddle mount was no longer holding this all together, I took the stock saddle mount and welded a couple nuts to it. A little modification was necessary to get it to fit.
This is it all together. I can drop the M6 bolts to remove the tank or I can pull these 3/8 cap screws to remove the saddle. Surprisingly its not hard to get that piece in there with the nuts welded to it.
For the rear of the tank I just cut the rear mount off the stock tank and welded it on this tank. A little modification to this as well.
Final position.
Next up: Exhaust.