C&C Solo Harley seat with leather seating area, flame stitching and faux shark inserts. Mmmmm good.
If you've been searching for the perfect seat for your Harley Davidson then the offerings from the C&C Harley Seat lineup might be the Harley seat you've been looking for. Personally, I am pretty particular about the seat on my Harley Davidson as I have a tender butt. I am envious of those riders who could seemingly ride on a board for 500 miles without a complaint, but I am definitely not one of those guys.
So after a few different seats that didn't meet the standard, I finally landed on a company that I had heard a lot about on the various HD forums, but never had the pleasure of seeing in person. C&C seats out of California is the company I am talking about.
The test mule is my 2009 Street Glide and what I was after was a seat that had a custom look but that was not over the top different. I didn't want to look like the sea of black Corbin and Mustang saddles out there but we've all seen the bright green "custom" alligator skin seats or the wild dyed leather with in your face inlays or graphics and that wasn't for me. I like cool, subtle and laid back.
C&C Seat Review
C&C can customize a seat to any degree so no matter what you want, they could help. After much internal debate, I finally decided on a slick little leather solo seat that was customized with a flame stitch pattern and a faux shark leather insert. Chuck finished it off with a subtle use of blood red thread to outline the flames that matched my Red Hot Sunglow paint job. A nice balance between custom and subtle as it was not something you see every day but still not outlandish or silly looking.
I placed my order and a few days later a box shows up....that's how it's supposed to work. My first impression when taking the C&C Solo seat out of the box was Whoa! It was FAR better looking than I expected and the leather simply FELT great in my hands! After years of having vinyl seats, I can tell you there isn't much that feels better than a real leather Harley Davidson seat. It featured nicely cut inlays that were held together with very high quality stitching and the red thread matches the bike nicely. So as far as construction goes, the C&C is top notch, as good as anything I've seen from bigger companies.
The seating area looked super comfortable and the stitching and inlay kind of made me tingle, but that's another story altogether. So, the C&C Solo Harley seat passes the look and feel test. It is one of the best looking seats I have ever seen and the feel of it just screams quality. Full leather, no vinyl and super hot.
C&C Seat Measurements
The angles aren't the best but you can clearly see the C&C Solo seat sits the rider down approximately 1 inch.
One of the things many Street Glide owners want to know is how does the seat place you on the bike. Does it sit you down lower compared to stock? Does it place you further back? This is a very important question as many riders have a difficult time flat footing the Touring bikes and it's an awkward feel, especially if you are coming in from a Softail or other Harley that sits you down "in" the bike.
So I took the time to measure it and give you some fact based answers. Now bear in mind...I will never be mistaken for a rocket scientist so these measurements are NOT exact but they should give you the idea so don't be sending me emails yelling about camera angles and all that nonsense. I'm sensitive.
The stock seat measures about 28 1/2 inches from the floor to the seating area with the bike sitting on the kickstand. The C&C seat sits at about 27 1/2 inches to the seating area....so it definitely sits you down about an inch versus stock. You vertically challenged pygmy riders (like me) will be happy to hear that. I am 5'11" and still don't like the way the SG felt stock and I would confirm from my own butt measurement, that an inch lower is about right and matches the tape measure.
Again, not scientific but the C&C Solo seat design sits the rider back about an inch. The design of the seat allows for movement forward though if you prefer.
The other question is does the seat sit your further back? This is harder to measure because of the way the lower back supports are designed on the C&C Solo seat compared to the stock Harley seat. They are very different but take a look at the pictures to the right and you will see that the C&C seat also sits you to the rear close to an inch as well. The picture of the stock seat is very deceiving on the camera angle. The lumbar design puffs out towards the middle and bottom and this sits you further forward than the C&C seat. It isn't super apparent in the picture, but I can tell you fact based it is true. The lumbar is also taller (no pic) and feels better than the stock seat against your backside.
I wanted a seat that would sit me down and back...and so far the C&C seat seems to be perfect for that. You also retain the same width seating area as the stock seat, which is great as 13 1/2" provides a nice wide support what won't put undue stress on your tailbone or sit ones. The seating area is also nearly flat with a slight curve down on the sides.
C&C Solo Seat Comfort
Before and After. Big and Ugly to sleek and Sexy!
The one thing that remains to be seen is how well the C&C Solo seat feels when you actually ride it. I've only owned it a few weeks but I've gone as far as 200 miles on it without stopping and it felt great the whole way. The padding is supportive but still provides a nice cushion. My experience has been that most Harley seats come in either two flavors, very firm or very soft with nothing in the middle.
The C&C Solo seat falls right square in the middle. It is not a hard seat but it's firm and while it isn't a soft seat either, it is very compliant and offers some cushion. I don't think C&C could have nailed it any better, at least for me. The leather feels great to sit on and I expect that it will get better over time. I've only had the C&C Solo seat on the bike for a few weeks so I can't speak to how it feels once broken in or how it wears but I would expect that it will only get better as the leather gets more supple.
In summary, this C&C Solo Harley seat review, I would say the C&C Harley seat is absolutely PERFECT for me and I would expect that many riders will feel the same way. The HD forums are full of people looking for Street Glide seats that sit them lower and back as the stock seat height is slightly high and forward for most people's comfort. You can check out what other riders think about the C&C Solo Seat Reviews here but based on the reviews in the forums, this seat rocks!
US $265.00
