customizing seat

[tradeshowjoe]

I am 5' 6" and comfortable riding with the ability to touch both balls of my feet on the ground during my stops. Right now my tires are bad so it is hard to gauge my clearance. Can I get some direction on perhaps customizing my seat and what benefits this might have for my vertical challenge?

[Bob]

customized seat

howdy! I have an XS79F & am 6'3" tall. BUT....I found the factory saddle soooooo uncomfortable that a buddy of mine & I built an entirely new saddle----pan & all. I now sit approximately 1 & 1/2 inches above the frame & my wife sits about 4-5 inches above the rear fender. It is a two-piece saddle. I have to remove only my saddle to access the battery. We made the pan out of lexan----either 1/8 or 3/16 inch thick. We shaped the saddle by using spray insulation---the expanding type. After cutting the insulation to shape the saddle, we then put a layer of carpet pad on top of that, and then gel pad (1/2 inch thick). Then the final touch......a real nice LEATHER cover. Comfy as all get-out. BTW....sitting that much lower on the bike--to me--is very comfortable. Don't know if this info is of any use to you, but thought I'd pass it along. BTW....this project cost me approximately $75. ($50 of that was for the leather).

[Bob]

oops! fergot sumpin!

Add about $50. to that cost....forgot to include the cost of the gel pad.

[MartyA]

I could use a revamp of my seat.

You of course documented all with great photos so we can all share in your success..

[Bob]

Pictures???

Uhhhh......never thought about documenting the work-in-progress, but I am working on getting some pics to post.

[MartyA]

YAY! I need to do something with mine, and your sounds like it is affordable...

[Bob]

cost of seat

Trick to keeping the cost down is doing the labor yourself. My leathersmith buddy would not let me pay him for his labor, but I slipped him a "50"......and threatened his butt if he didn't take it *L* I'll sit down & try to write a how-to that hopefully will be fairly understandable. Then I gotta figger out how to "illustrate" with pics.

[MartyA]

Remember a picture is worth a thousand words. All around photos and a little text can go a long way.

THANKS! for the effort.

[Phoenix Rider]

Customizing Seat

Hi Tradeshowjoe,
I stand about 5' 5 1/2"short (Gotta' get that 1/2 inch in there) and I took my seat in to get lowered. What the problem was is that there is only about 2" or less of padding or foam in there so there isn't much you can remove to lower it and the foam is a poured foam that starts as a liquid and hardens in a mold. It is then mounted on a seat pan and the leather is then put on over the formed foam. If I did want to cut away some of the foam it would change the shape and the leather would possibly not fit right.
What else I was told is that if you remove the existing foam and replace it with new foam the shape and comfort is jeopardized because it is difficult to cut the new foam exactly the shape of the poured foam. All this without a guarantee of comfort if you like long rides.
One other option I was looking into was getting handlebar extenders and lowering the front end by loosening the triple tree bolts, but I haven't done this as of yet. Gary Granger sent the extenders link to me once, but I no longer have it.
Just do what I do. Ride everywhere real fast and try not to stop ...(Just Kidding

Good Luck,
Wayne Reddin

[tradeshowjoe]

Thanks for all the input. I am a couple of months away from making a final decision on my seat. Have a few other things on my agenda first. Rebuilding my top end and trying to tackle my carbs along with other stuff. Please add any suggestions and I'll let you all know what happens. Once again, thanks.