Exhaust & Seat Mods

[Never2L84Ridin]

Looking into putting on somekind of slip on or Harley exhaust pipes on my 80 xs. Looked at few posts with Harley pipes. My question in regards to exhaust is,will anykind of slip on or harley pipes work without having to rejet?
Next question , has anyone used the existing seat and cut out foam and put in gel style pad then put on new cover? I currently have an airhawk, also the atv seat pad. My rear still hurts after about 30-40 miles on a ride. Kinda feel like the seat keeps me pushed forward too much and causes my rear to hurt. I've rode on the passenger part of the seat while driving and it doesnt hurt as bad. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[MaximPhil]

Yes it has been done. Be aware that the Gel retains a lot of heat so park in the shade or cover with a sheep skin. Or Chestnuts roasting on ........ comes to mind.
Phil

[crazy steve]

If your stock exhaust is good, don't hack it up!!! Pretty much anything you change to will at best only maintain performance, and in most cases reduce it. If it's rotted out, then that's another story....

Good choice for Harley mufflers is the '04-up Sportster units; both mufflers are the same, so going 'side to side' is fairly easy. Fairly common as take-offs, you do need to watch for the later ones as some have a catalyst in one muffler (and will be marked as such). There's a lot of variations in Harley mufflers, the older Sportster unit will work as well as some Dyna units....

[BA80]

Looking into putting on somekind of slip on or Harley exhaust pipes on my 80 xs. Looked at few posts with Harley pipes. My question in regards to exhaust is,will anykind of slip on or harley pipes work without having to rejet?
Next question , has anyone used the existing seat and cut out foam and put in gel style pad then put on new cover? I currently have an airhawk, also the atv seat pad. My rear still hurts after about 30-40 miles on a ride. Kinda feel like the seat keeps me pushed forward too much and causes my rear to hurt. I've rode on the passenger part of the seat while driving and it doesnt hurt as bad. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

As to the exhaust, if it ain't broke don't fix it. If you have a good stock system you won't get anything that will perform better.

As to the sore butt, get used to it. That's just part of riding. It get's easier after a while. The trick is to move your........self.......around to different postions on the seat. One cheek, then the other. I stand up on the pegs a lot on long rides. It's rtefreshing.

[fredintoon]

Looking into putting on somekind of slip on or Harley exhaust pipes on my 80 xs. Looked at few posts with Harley pipes. My question in regards to exhaust is,will anykind of slip on or harley pipes work without having to rejet?
Next question , has anyone used the existing seat and cut out foam and put in gel style pad then put on new cover? I currently have an airhawk, also the atv seat pad. My rear still hurts after about 30-40 miles on a ride. Kinda feel like the seat keeps me pushed forward too much and causes my rear to hurt. I've rode on the passenger part of the seat while driving and it doesnt hurt as bad. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Kevin,
like they all said, if the stock mufflers are still good (that includes perforated but patchable) leave them alone.
But if the mufflers are FUBAR and good used replacements can't be found you gotta do somethin' eh?
Typically the mufflers will be shot while the headers are still OK. You may or may not have to weld in an extension pipe to get back to a round cross section for the slip-on of your choice to fit on.
Anything with baffles should work OK. You will have lost the crossover along with the stock mufflers but most aftermarket slip-ons have sufficiently less baffles than stock to make up for that.
Consider that the rear part of your seat hasn't had near as much wear as the front so the sponge is in better shape.
You can get a fancy modern multi-density foam and cover built onto the existing seat pan but it won't be cheap.

[Poprock]

Got Sporty muffs on my SG. Work fine. Sound like stock except deeper tone. No corssover, no problem. Stock jetting works fine.
Running a Diamond Custom seat. Not cheap, but worth it. 12 hrs no problem at all. Custom made for your height, weight, inseam. Good people there. Only place that makes seats for XS, unless you can get a local shop to fab something up on your pan. Your old foam may be letting you down on the pan. BTDT, not fun.

[tom clisham]

Wasn't that from a movie?

I stand up on the pegs a lot on long rides. It's rtefreshing.

Didn't I see some guys do that in an old movie? Dennis Hopper or some one in a flick called Easy Driver or somthin?

[ddragon63]

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...00S-Parts.aspx

check this out... you can recover you factory seat with one of these.. pretty similar to and early goldwing style.

[ddragon63]

Got Sporty muffs on my SG. Work fine. Sound like stock except deeper tone. No corssover, no problem. Stock jetting works fine.
Running a Diamond Custom seat. Not cheap, but worth it. 12 hrs no problem at all. Custom made for your height, weight, inseam. Good people there. Only place that makes seats for XS, unless you can get a local shop to fab something up on your pan. Your old foam may be letting you down on the pan. BTDT, not fun.

I wanna say the seat on Old Man is a Diamond... not sure. I know Dad bought it before their last trip to Yellowstone in the late 80's early 90's. The foam is starting to wear down. its about time to take it to an upholstery shop and have them re-stuff it

[XJkid]

Next question , has anyone used the existing seat and cut out foam and put in gel style pad then put on new cover? I currently have an airhawk, also the atv seat pad. My rear still hurts after about 30-40 miles on a ride. Kinda feel like the seat keeps me pushed forward too much and causes my rear to hurt. I've rode on the passenger part of the seat while driving and it doesnt hurt as bad. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I have the same problem, I have to keep scooting myself back on the seat. Has anyone tried memory foam, the stuff like Tempurpedic foam?

[ddragon63]

I have the same problem, I have to keep scooting myself back on the seat. Has anyone tried memory foam, the stuff like Tempurpedic foam?

I'm not sure how well memory foam will hold you up... seat should be a little stiff so when you whack a pot hole you don't bounce yourself off the spine of the bike because you collapsed the seat all of a sudden. And I've never met a motorcycle seat that didn't run you down hill every now and then... especially under deceleration or braking. it seems to be a normal thing.

[skids]

You don't want to put in any type of foam. You need what I think is called, "high density closed cell foam." Regular foam is something like NO FOAM.

[XS1100 Newbie]

building a proper seat is an art. That is why if one is custom made for you it costs a lot. They use different foams in good construction. Maybe three kinds on the same seat. The angle at the front keeps you from slapping your jewels, and the width , and positioning of the seat is very important. I tried to do this on an old seat of mine, and i think i came out good. It works pretty well, and i just trimmed it down, and added foam where needed, and carved an up angle at the front. Upholstery shops can recover, but i don't believe there are many that actually know the proper way to build a seat.

[Never2L84Ridin]

My exhaust is still good shape, has about 3 or 4 holes on each side. They are not big holes(the largest is smaller than dime size). Didnt know if could patch with something, just figured had to put on slip ons.
Have an upholstry shop about 30 miles away. I asked if they do motorcycle seats. He said yes, just need to buy a recover. He said they cut out and fill in the spot. Ballpark is $150.

[Never2L84Ridin]

Poprock,
I looked on diamond seat website but didn't see the xs1100 listed. Looked like newer Yamaha listed. Did you send an email requesting a custom seat?