Jubilee de lux seat

Hello Allen,

There are two versions of the De Luxe seat; the original 1959/60 seat had Terry clips securing the seat to the suspension tops and the later 1960/61 (shared with the Navigator De Luxe) version which had 'locating' pins at the suspension tops AND a Dzus fastener at the rear. The difference is quite important as the later 60/61 frame has brackets WELDED to the frame suspension tops - not on the earlier 59/60 frame. Both are different to the Standard Jubilee seat.

Anyway this is hypothetical as there are no replacement seats available for the De Luxe. So don't dash to bin your old seat base - new foams and covers are available from the usual sources such as Leightons and maybe the NOCshop.

PS. if you find a supplier for the De Luxe seat please let me know as I want one as well.

Patrick

If you are looking for the early seat that clips down ,the spring clips and frame mounts are are availiable from the club spares. The seat brackets are similar to the bigger bikes and could be made up from sheet metal.I do think the later arrangement would be easier to live with.

Hi Robert,

Yes you are correct that the NOCshop keeps the spring clips and the suspension mounting bolt for the 1959 seat. These bits are easy enough to make and I have in fact already done this..

I want to get a complete new seat base for an early 1959 Jubilee but apparently the new seats available for the Standard are built using a modified version of the Dominator seat base - (information came from Dan and Ulrich). These willfit the Standard reasonably well but are not quite the right profile to match the rear enclosure.

I did a comparison today between an original De Luxe seat base and an original Standard and the pressings appear to be pretty identical except the De Luxe has additional air vent drillings. Both the original bases are not flat bottomed but are shaped to clear the De Luxe rear enclosure centre seam.

As you say it should be easy enough to make up a new base with the right mounting legs and dzus bracket but it means taking apart one of my existing seats for a pattern. And I'm just naturally too idle especially when it is cold out in the garage.

Patrick.

Hello Allen,

Yes that is definitely an one-off. The frustrating thing for you must be the fact that the original Jubilee front bit actually appears to have been in quite sound condition before it was cut up and welded to another unknown seat base.

Dan who comes on here regularly bought a new seat recently from Bantam John for his Navigator Standard and he passed a very similar comment about the seat sitting a bit high. So any mis-match would be even more noticeable on the De Luxe even if you altered the mountings to make it fit. Secondly it seems (to me) a shame to buy a new seat - all freshly powder coated and new foam & cover- to then take it apart and weld on new mountings etc, then it needs re-powder coating etc. etc.. - not cost effective.

I have in mind to ring Leightons to see if they would sell the seat base in raw steel so that I could cut and weld it to fit the De Luxe mountings. I believe that they actually do make their own seat base-(I doubt if Bantam John does and his seat base is reputedly a modified Dominator base anyway)- so I will let you know if I do get an answer from them.

Patrick

Hello Allen & anyone else interested - NOC spares?,

I had a phone conversation with Leighton's, Birmingham. Exceptionally helpful people. At the present time he has a firm working for him who manufacture a completely new (correct) base for the STANDARD seat as this fits the Jubilee/Navigator and Electra. This is made from a CORRECT sample The only difference in the DE LUXE seat is probably the mounting legs and the dzus fastener but he needs an original base to take measurements from.

He would be willing to make up a small batch and would upholster these CORRECTLY with the correct foam and cover. He says there are loads of rubbish covers on Ebay etc which are simply wrong. Leightons I believe made the original seats for Norton so he knows what he is talking about. They won't be the cheapest seats on the market but they will be right.

I'm in Ireland so I'm not very local to Birmingham - postage alone on a seat would be extortionate . Would anyone else be interested in getting PROPER seats made for the De Luxe lightweight ? Maybe someone close to the Birmingham area.? Maybe someone on NOC Spares?

Patrick

What is really needed is for the owner of a Jubilee DeLuxe with a pukka DeLuxe seat to step forward so that a proper, guaranteed-correct pattern can be provided. It's my belief that the standard Jubilee seat is both shorter and shallower than the DeLuxe version. The seat on my own DeLuxe, although labelled 'Jubilee/Navigator', has an unsightly half-inch gap beneath, revealing the upper frame rails and also falls about half an inch short of the petrol tank instead of butting up to it. Any public-spirited concours(ish) Jubilee DeLuxe owners out there?

The seat on my De Luxe Navigator sits down tightly and completely covers the frame rails but it is the 1961 version with the dzus fastener at the rear and without the Terry clips. The Standard Navigator -1961 as well- has an original seat and again the frame rails are covered. I'll take these seats off again and have another measure up- to see how De Luxe and Standard compare in measurements- visually they looked very much the same and Leightons seemed to think that the same foam and seat cover fitted. He did say he could do the early chequered top.

I really need two of the early seats as I have two 1959 Jubilees - both running but not 100% roadworthy. I tried a Dominator seat but as Howard says it doesn't fit properly and shows a big gap. With a frame number of 814XX it's a very early Jubilee and I would like to rebuild properly. The other is the Cafe Racer with genuine 1960's fibreglass race seat/ clip-ons and rear sets ! Now I would like to refit the rear enclosure etc and put back on a proper seat.

Allen's seat base at least has it's mountings intact.

Leightons phone number 0121 359 0514 if anyone should wish to contact them direct.

Patrick

I have put both seats side by side and taken measurements. Both seats are originals and both have been recovered. Neither show any signs of major welding or alteration- definitely none at all on the De Luxe. Both fit well to the frame.

Measurements.

De Luxe Standard Overall length 600mm 600mm Max width 290 290 Width at front 220 220 Max depth 65 65 Depth at front edge 52 52

All measurements are approx. as they were taken with the covers etc still in position. The seat pressings appear to be identical - the only visual differences are the different main mountings and the dzus bracket at the back on the De Luxe.

This website is definitely weird. I went to a lot of bother to get all the numbers in a nice table and it has done this to it. Anyway both seats are identical in measurement.

And it won't edit either - I reset all the numbers back in line but it reverts to this shambles when saved.

Many thanks for taking the trouble to provide such detailed information Patrick. From your findings I must now assume that the seat on my bike is a poorly-sized pattern product, rather than one intended for the other version of the bike.

No problem Howard. It would be nice if someone from NOC spares would pick up on this and maybe organise the making of some seats. In many ways they do a good job in providing lightweight bits. I might phone Ian Somerville or Neil to see if they would be interested. There must be quite a few De Luxe's still around.

My De Luxe seat was re-upholstered way back in the 60s or 70s in two tone red and white - one up on the Manxman.!

Here's a picture of a 1959 Jubilee - missing a seat.

And here's another picture of a 1960's workshop - not a Porsche or Honda in sight.

Wow! Shiny or what? (I'll spare you the depressing sight of my own fly-blown collection of old, oil-excreting rattlers.)

Hello there,

Today I had a telephone conversation with Ian Somerville of NOC Spares and he agrees that he will mention the question of De Luxe lightweight seats to Neil Shoosmith when they have their regular weekly meeting next Wednesday.

Here's hoping that something positive will happen. I forgot to mention that they are out of stock off the centre stand spacers !. Maybe he will read this message.

Patrick.

Hello, I have been restoring my own jubilee deluxe in between other project, the seat has been a real pain. I bought what I believe was the last repo seat base from the club, now after having the seat cover and new Guam fitted, once offered up I had a massive gap around the tank area, I wasn't happy about having to restrip the seat, but it was the correct thing to do, I ended up exstending the base itself, the from fittings were fine, as were the rear ones, it was just too short, so now when the base is fitted it's closer to the tank, the gap between the frame rails was a touch bigger than the old rotten seat base, but the cover has a trim that hangs down covering this gap and sits on the side panels/ rear fairing. This by far has been the worst part to sort out. So hopefully in the future I can finally pull the bike apart and start its repaint. I have a selection of side panels if anyone is interested.

sorry it's a poor picture, I will get some better ones.

cheers Kelvin Potter (Isle of Man)

I think the gap between the seat and tank is an issue on all of the seats, I also think it was noticeable back in the day, I remember the gap being filled with one of those stretchy seat covers back in the day. You can either extend the seat or move the mountings back. There's a thread on it in the navigator rebuild story.

I like the little Yam, I could do with one of those for the grand kids! Goes with my YZ!

Hello Kelvin,

I am interested in a set of side panels to go on the Cafe Racer. I already have a good rear enclosure. Four of my lightweight Nortons are De Luxes but I'm now sticking at that number.

My son lives in Port Erin- works as a Chemist at the airport industrial estate. How do I get in touch with you about these side panels?

On the subject of the gap at the front of the seat both my Navigator seats fit decently well but remember you can adjust the tank a bit as well - there's a fair bit of leeway in the mountings.

Patrick.

Previously patrick_mullen wrote:

Hello Kelvin,

I am interested in a set of side panels to go on the Cafe Racer. I already have a good rear enclosure. Four of my lightweight Nortons are De Luxes but I'm now sticking at that number.

My son lives in Port Erin- works as a Chemist at the airport industrial estate. How do I get in touch with you about these side panels?

On the subject of the gap at the front of the seat both my Navigator seats fit decently well but remember you can adjust the tank a bit as well - there's a fair bit of leeway in the mountings.

Patrick.

Hello Patrick I have sent you a message. Via the messenger option.

Cheers Kelvin

'...was there really a gap on the delux to start with?'

No there wasn't. I had one from almost new in 1960 and the seat fitted flush with the rear of the tank and also covered the frame top rails, hence my original supposition that the ill-fitting one on my current Jubilee must have been intended for the non-DeLuxe version.

I would agree with Howard that there was very little (if any) gap at the front and closely inspecting the two seats- still on the kitchen table- it is noticeable on the Standard seat that the seat foam sits 'proud' of the metal base at the front and the seat cover matches the foam. It follows the profile of the tank so the actual shape of the seat foam and cover determines the final fit. That's probably why Leightons said there loads of poor fitting seat covers/foams around on Ebay. He actually told me that he was loathe to sell individual seat parts (metal base, foam and cover ) separately as his items were made to complement each other and an 'Ebay' seat cover would not necessarily fit properly on his seat base.

This probably also ties up with Dan's recollection - the gap between the seat base and tank was down to the fact that the foam had become a bit squashed and out of shape. By comparison the Dominator seat seems to be wider and squarer/lower at the front.

Patrick

Hello everyone,

Here is some good news on the De Luxe seat. I have had an email from Ian Somerville telling me that he has spoken to Neil S. Neil is going to speak to one of his contacts at the Bristol show this weekend regarding the making of some Lightweight De Luxe seats. So things are progressing very nicely thanks to the Club's efficient Spares Officers.

Patrick.