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Softride owners - seat mount slippage solutions?
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I recently picked up this tandem bicycle, with a Softride frame mount for the stoker. The Softride to saddle coupling is slipping / rotating so that the saddle won’t hold a position and tips forward / down with the weight of the stoker.

Have at it with comments about the size of the stoker, my girlfriend if you want :-)

But seriously - the attached photo shows some details. There is a two piece coupling on each side, through which the seat rails pass. The inner piece does not have any notches cut in it, and is smooth faced where it presses into the central mount. Even with the bolts tightened down more than I’m comfortable with, it still slips.

Has anyone here ridden with this type of attachment and do you have any solutions for the problem of it slipping? I’m starting to think I might clean it up good to remove any residue and dirt, and apply some lock-tight to the faces before I tighten them down.

Any other ideas???

Thanks!
Last edited by: DougWelsby: Apr 2, 21 17:46
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Re: Softride owners - seat mount slippage solutions? [DougWelsby] [ In reply to ]
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I do not see any pictures.

Softride has had a couple of different beams. The beam from the earlier models was a two piece with a layer of foam like material between. The later models such as the R1, Rocketwing, etc had a one piece beam.

Either way with Softride no longer producing bicycles your limited to finding parts on ebay.

Good luck.

https://www.ebay.com/...0:g:CR0AAOSwVnpgXnLt

Once, I was fast. But I got over it.
Last edited by: hblake: Apr 2, 21 15:06
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Re: Softride owners - seat mount slippage solutions? [DougWelsby] [ In reply to ]
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It's been a while but I remember using anti-seize on the clamping portions and threadlock on the bolt. I also remember tightening it way way tighter than I felt comfortable with and cracking the clamp parts a few times. It also helped to have a saddle that happened to fit with the rails clamped more or less in the center so it didn't put a lot of rotational force on the clamp.

This is a traditional beam right (curved beam with elastomer sandwiched in the middle) versus the rocket style blade right? I've only seen the traditional beams on tandems.

God those were plush bikes... plush and heavy like a tank
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Re: Softride owners - seat mount slippage solutions? [DougWelsby] [ In reply to ]
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I never had a problem with mine rotating. Now I did tighten it up quite a bit. Keep in mind what Tai said as well. Keep the clamp in the middle of the seat. Unless you have a crazy reason to not have it mounted that way, keep it in the middle. I seem to remember that I kept mine mounted that way as well.

So just try to move your clamp forward (relative to the seat) and see if that helps.
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Re: Softride owners - seat mount slippage solutions? [DougWelsby] [ In reply to ]
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Some of the specialized seat posts have a clamp mechanism that fit the softride hardware (the two round sides that provide infinite angle adjustment). The specialized one works way better than the softride one. Use some carbon assembly grease which contains some 'grit' which prevents slipping, while also keeping the interface from corrosion. Worked for me.
Stephen J

I believe my local reality has been violated.
____________________________________________
Happiness = Results / (Expectations)^2
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Re: Softride owners - seat mount slippage solutions? [DougWelsby] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for all the replies. Carbon seat post paste - of course! I have a lifetime supply sized tube in the garage and didn't even think of it.
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