Quote:
Originally Posted by cdavenport
That spring arrangement went on to further development & use on future Harleys. You see it quite a bit in the rigid frame designs. Until they came up with softails and smoother suspensions, that spring design was the most effective way to isolate the rider from shock.
It's actually quite ingenious when you think about it. The seat is suspended between two spring systems. Though it floats somewhat freely, it is still locked into place.
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Yes, the twin-spring saddle rear suspension continued for some time, but a significant change happened in 1912, with the next model after mine.
Before 1912, the saddle frame was mounted rigidly on the main frame, in conventional cycle manner, and the twin springs at the rear were connected "in series", giving a soft ride with a long throw. In 1912, H-D introduced the Ful-Floteing (sic) seat, in which the saddle post slid within the frame rear tube, constrained by internal springs. This took care of the majority ot the motion, so the saddle mount now needed to be stiffer. The configuration was changed so that the springs operated "in parallel", each being fixed at one end to the saddle and at the other to the frame.
In time the external springs were dispensed with, relying entirely on the Ful-Floteing mechanism until H-D finally caught up with other manufacturers and provided proper rear-end springing with the Softail.
There is a delightful advertisement for the 1912 development:
I love the damning-with-faint-praise feel of the slogan. One can't imagine a modern copywriter coming up with that.
Alan