Denfeld vs Pagusa?

[strichzwei]

Whoa........I never knew Pagusa was an acronym for PAtent GUmmi SAttel, that is so cool!
Reminds me of Haribo - HArold RIgel BOnn, must be a German thing!
Scott

[R68]

I think you're confusing the chrome extension spring used on ALL the plungers with the rare-as-hens-teeth vertical spring used on a few very early 1955 swingarm twins ie. R69 (Vech, I think you have one of the very few of these I've ever seen?)...but for benefit of OP and to get out of the weeds, basically you can use either the Denfeld or Pagusa type
Did you know that the Pagusa rubber seat cover first shows up in 1936 on the R5. Someone once told me that Dunlop made the rubber seat to substitute for the fiber seat cover used before on the pre 1936 bikes. Here's a pic! Might be a fairy tale though?

[Daves79x]

This is my '55 and what I was referring to. I have the correct no-branded seat, but it was not quite good enough for the restoration. Sorry, if you click on the picture, it will display correctly.

Dave

[vechorik1373]

Obviously, my organic hard drive is fragmented and can't be rebooted!
You are correct. There WAS a vertical compression spring for the R25. not used on the twins. I had them. I forgot completely about that.

[sherman980]

Here are some pics of an original '55 only vertical spring seat as used on the 1955 R50 and R69. Just a bit easier to see the details here than in the pic that Dave posted above of his '55 (nice bike by the way). You will note that the mounting "T" bracket is different than the one shown in Vech's post for the singles.

While we're in the minutia rabbit hole, my original paint with original seat cover (I think and since replaced) 1955 R67/3 came with a Pagusa seat, not with an unmarked seat like my R69. Curious...

[R68]

I feel for the OP; all the fella wanted to know is what seat to put on his BMW, and now we have gone from the weed field down into the rabbit hole of seat trivia?
Anyway Chuck and Vech must have the only vertical spring type early '55 examples of those swingers seats in the world? I once wanted to trade an ISDT clock for one, no takers!
Here's poor quality pic of the early version SFS seat, with "SFS" shown, Chuck's being a later type, correct to '55 (?), I think?
It's a poor design, rubber tends to crack early, cannot be repaired, I think? That's why they are so seldom seen?

[sherman980]

Didn't know there was an "early" and a "late" SFS seat? That said, the original plunger seat frame is a bit different from the R50-R69 series seat frames so not sure comparing a plunger seat to a later model gives you all the info you need to make that determination. Regardless, the non-logo seat tops didn't hold up as well as either the Pegusa or the Denfeld tops from my experience. The one I showed in the pictures above is the nicest of that type I have ever seen or touched.

A couple of other minutia details... If you look carefully at the vertical seat spring, the mounting of it is completely different than that shown in Vech's diagram for the singles. The spring actually "threads" into its top and bottom mounting brackets. In addition if you look carefully inside the spring, you will see a rubber "bumper" designed to cushion the spring before it coil binds on compression. From a comfort vantage point, a rubber silent block "spring" gives a much more pleasant ride than the steel coil spring, probably why BMW switched somewhere in the late '55 - early '56 time frame.

[cwf]

'Whoa........I never knew Pagusa was an acronym for PAtent GUmmi SAttel, that is so cool!
Reminds me of Haribo - HArold RIgel BOnn, must be a German thing!
Scott'

I spent months while researching my R 35 trying to work out 'hirafe'. Turns out it means HInter RAd FEderung - rear wheel suspension. LIMA means LIcht MAschine - generator. There are more.

Charlie.

[johnlacko]

There were actually other brands of solo seat used by BMW. I’ve had both plunger and very early Earles fork bikes with the SFS seats, which looked the same as the Denfeld/Pagusa offerings, except for the logo. These are not being reproduced to my knowledge. And another brand that slips my mind. I think that the Denfeld verses Pagusa question has the same answer as the high-lip verses low-lip Weinmann aluminum rim question. BMW seemed to alternate between the two over the years. Whether it was an availability or a price issue, we may never know.

[Slash2]

Well this thread has certainly generated a hell of a lot more interesting information than I had anticipated. Cheers to all for their thoughtful contributions.

The only saddle I don't think I heard mentioned was the "Steiger," which has a poor reputation for quality. That being said, I bought a 1964 R60/2 about 15 years ago that came with a Steiger solo and had been in service for 3 decades showing zero indications of impending failure. But with the suggestion from Christopher Betjemann at the time, I swapped it out for a Pagusa which was incidentally his saddle of choice. The Steiger is on the shelf and still looks fine. That being said, the rubber does seem to be slightly thinner than the heavier Pagusa and was arguably slightly more comfortable as a result.