No rear seat?

[supraman_nz]

Hi there

Just wondering is the rear seat on a bike part of the structual strength in a bike frame?
If you removed the whole rear seat so you just had the riders seat would the bike still ride similarly? Obviously this would differ from bike to bike , so just say for example any of the 600 super sports .. eg zx6, r6 etc

[McJim]

On the modern Sprotbuicks it's really just a place to bolt on the rear lights. On older bikes the suspension links were bolted on to the rear seat but you can feel free to chop it off - loads of people do.

[James Deuce]

What ARE you going on about?

Any bike built to carry a pillion has a rear subframe capable of carrying the maximum rated load in the manual. If by removing the rear seat you mean taking the rear pad off a sportsbike and replacing it with a cowl, then it has no effect at all.

If you mean hacksawing the rear half of the subframe off, then be sure to try not to cut the CDI in half. The bike may not go if you do that. Otherwise it will have no effect at all, except removing all the mounting points for the rear half of the lighting system and number plate, and of course the pillion pegs. Be aware that you have to illuminate your license plate at night when you rejig all the mounts.

If it is for the purpose of creating a race bike, then check the rules. Some classes require the rear subframe to remain intact.

Is it just me or are there a whole pile of Toyota related account names starting to emanate from Wellington? This is a bike forum people. Cars are for weaving through on the way to work.

[supraman_nz]

Yeah i was talking about lobbing it off the entire rear rather than just putting a cowl on.

Thanks for the advice thou.

As for the username I use it on most forums and its 2nd nature to use it when I sign up to new forums.

[FROSTY:Me]

It really depends totally on the bike as to where you can cut it off.
can you be more specific as to the bike?

[imdying]

Yeah i was talking about lobbing it off the entire rear rather than just putting a cowl on.

Thanks for the advice thou.

As for the username I use it on most forums and its 2nd nature to use it when I sign up to new forums.

Well, it's hard to say. Some bikes (like a 93 ZXR750) you can actually unbolt the entire rear portion of the rear subframe. Some bikes, the rear subframe is all one piece. Obviously the former is designed for the subframe to remain structural (for the riders seat only) when the rear portion is unbolted. On the latter, you need to be careful where you cut.

Assuming that you actually have to cut it, that's a structural mod, and you'll be required to get a Low Volume Vehicle Certification, the same as you would on a car.

Once you've chopped it, you may or may not need another brace to keep it solid, but that depends on the bike, where you cut it etc etc.

Alternatively, you could just leave the rear portion in place, and take to it with a power drill, that'd lighten it some too. You'll still need to certify it for such a modification though. Although, having said that, I doubt you'd actually get pulled up on it at Joe Average WOF man, assuming it looked tidy and had a nice single seat race tail over the top of it.

Go nuts