special seats

[Tonyxs11]

Im not talking about the standard seat or the 79 special seat just the 1980 on specials. ive noticed their is a difference in them, i thought it was just the midnight that had the slightly taller more stepped seat but ive seen many other specials fitted with the same seat. does anyone know when they used the taller more stepped seat on the none midnight specials ?
just wondering by the way.

[DiverRay]

The Special seats for 1979, first year, are a one year only seat. !980 and up Specials ALL have the same pan and foam, but the stitching is different for year/MNS models, I think. I'm not sure about the XJ, but I think it may be a little different due to the tank design.

[Ranger_xs1100]

Im not talking about the standard seat or the 79 special seat just the 1980 on specials. ive noticed their is a difference in them, i thought it was just the midnight that had the slightly taller more stepped seat but ive seen many other specials fitted with the same seat. does anyone know when they used the taller more stepped seat on the none midnight specials ?
just wondering by the way.

I have seen two different seats on the specials. When I was working my last MNS project, after I put an XJ maxim tank on it, I was experimenting with different seats. One was off of a 1980 special and one from a 1981 special. I went with the seat that had more of a sloped step compared to the taller step because I thought it went better with the curved maxim tank. Sorry, but I don't remember for sure which one is which. Maybe someone else on here knows the different years.

[Tonyxs11]

The Special seats for 1979, first year, are a one year only seat. !980 and up Specials ALL have the same pan and foam, but the stitching is different for year/MNS models, I think. I'm not sure about the XJ, but I think it may be a little different due to the tank design.

yeah they all have the same pan but the foam and cover are different.

this is the seat thats on mine


this is the slightly taller seat

[Schming]

The '81 SH is the taller stepped seat in your second pic with the '80 above.

[Tonyxs11]

The '81 SH is the taller stepped seat in your second pic with the '80 above.

yeah cool, my guess was they used the taller seat around 81-82ish.

[jetmechmarty]

1981


1980


That difference applies to all XS Specials. 1980 has a gentle slope. 1981 and later got a step. The seat pans are the same, so the 1981 seat fits the 1980 bike and vice versa. The Midnights also got the same seat pan and latch configuration. I do not believe the XJ1100 seat swaps to XS without modification.