Seats

There are many kinds of seats you can put on your Chinese roadster, but if you want to stay traditional, you'll stick with one of only a few variants.

First there is the "Mattress" seat. This is a vinyl seat with felt and both longitudinal and vertical springs underneath for cushioning. It's good enough, but it's not terribly comfortable. It is what came as standard on my bike.

Then there is the so-called "Red" leather seat. This is very much like a traditional tensioned leather seat made by Brooks, Persons, etc. However, I am not entirely sure it IS leather. It looks leatherish, and it smells a bit leatherish at first but the top side is covered with a thick glaze almost a plastic so there is no oiling this seat. And if you take a knife to the underside it doesn't really look like leather either.

This is what I currently have on my bike. Mine is "OK" brand but all the major makes have one something like this.  It is a bit more comfortable than the Mattress.

Then there is the "Premium Fox Brown" leather seat. While you can clearly tell this one is leather, it too is covered with a thick glaze. Waterproofing it I suppose, but again, making it impossible to oil.

Finally, there is the "Black Plastic" seat. It may not actually be plastic...it may just have the same plastic coating that the previous two seats have, but who can tell? I saw this once in a showroom, and it looked a helluva lot like plastic!

You really don't see these very often, but you can see it here on this old Flying Pigeon. This one will last forever. I'm not sure your crotch will fare so well, but I think it is probably intended for work bikes, and therefore needs to withstand all manner of grease, oil, dirts etc.

So how do these seats age? Well, if you treat them well I suppose they age quite well. Here is an example of an aged "Shanghai" brand seat. You can almost make out the remains of the plastic coating similar to that on the Red or Fox Brown seats. Overall, it looks pretty good!

Comments

[12inchtoyscollector]

nice collection of seats you got there. I've been eyeing one in my neighbourhood. It's mounted on a Hercules but it got 2 sets of BIG coiled springs to support the butt. I've been following your postings and it got me all fired up into collecting old bicycles. Now, in my collection, I've 2 Sturmey Archer AB hub, some China made hubs with brake and my latest buys are Sturmey Archer AW hub. Great job and keep posting! Cheers from Singapore.

["Hey Stracco"]

12inch-

Glad you like the blog. I know the seat you are talking about, but don't have a good pic of it...Maybe in a later post. :-D

Hope you are enjoying riding in warm and balmy Sing!

[Larry]

Warm and balmy... I sure could use some of that here in the Northeast US right about now. I daresay... at -11 degrees F (that would be -24C) a plastic seat would shatter if you hit a goodly bump in the road...

Cheers!

Larry "Boneman" Bone

[John Timbes]

I have an Indian "leather" seat made by Eastman. I doubt it's real cow hide, but could be sheep, goat, or pig skin. Awfully thin, and reinforced by some kind of fiberboard. $30 at Yellow Jersey. I twirled the tension adjuster all the way tight, and yet it was still not even putting tension on the cover. The springs holding the rear of the saddle are very flimsy, and don't even hold the saddle straight. I got tired of loosening and turning them to straighten things up. I have done some lacing to keep it from folding in the middle like the plastic saddle you show. Your "red leather" saddle looks to be better quality than mine, and will probably hold up longer. I will probably have to buy a real Brooks in the not-too-distant future.
John

[kumo]

really enjoying your blog, it's great to read another bike nuts adventures. any idea where one might be able to find and purchase an "ok" leather saddle in shanghai?? i'd love to pick one up while i'm here.