How to ... lower / reshape the seat

[wingwing]

I've got a few offers on my seat
... but (butt?) I've got many more PM's
asking "how to do it".

I can't take credit for this
(it's all here on the board)
but here is my summary.
============================

THIS WAS DONE ON AN UNHEATED SEAT

Don't remove the foam from the top
... you'll destroy the shape of the seat ..

A few others have posted some "do-it-yoursefl" tips that I used.
It's easy to remove the cover off the seat,
it's only stapled on.

There are some strings which pass through
the hard plastic "core" (Pan)..
(they keep the faux leather cover taught)
.. pull them down and give a half twist to release.
You'll have to "thread" them back through the holes
when your done...
(I used some wire and pulled them back through the holes).
It's easier than it sounds...
(kinda like turning the key to ACC while your riding)
.. lol .. (inside joke).

I removed about half the staples then
peeled back the front of the cover about half way
... up to the back of the driver portion of the seat.

You'll see when you get that far where to stop,
it's like there are two seats under one cover.
You just want to shape the front (driver) seat.
For my taste, the seat is "overstuffed".

You don't want to take any of the sculpted foam off the top
... otherwise the outer covering will lose it's shape.

What I did was remove material from the bottom of the seat.
That's a long flat chunk of foam.
I used one of those electric carving knives to make it
a little more narrow and sloped toward the rear.

I shaved off slices like thin Swiss cheese
... thinking I could glue them back if I took off too much.
To give you some idea of how much I took out,
I have a medium sized plastic grocery bag full of shavings.

Don't remove any from immediately next to the gas tank
or the screws from the tank will be exposed.

Before my seat was flat...
Now it more banana shaped with my butt at the lowest point.
You can shave some
then reinstall with just a few staples and ride it
and, if it's not right,
... take it apart and shave some more.

Once you get it "right"
you can put all the staples back
with a $10 air stapler from Harbor Freight.

It baffles me why some people spend thousands of
dollars for this.
From my point of view
it's like beating your pillow
into shape before you go sleep ...
only YOU know when it feels right.

Take you time and tinker with it
... it's not hard to make it better.

Here is a picture so you can see how much lower the sear is compared to stock.



regards,
Dennis

(I take no responsibility if you ruin your seat)

[Red Ron]

Originally Posted by wingwing

I've got a few offers on my seat
... but (butt?) I've got many more PM's
asking "how to do it".

I can't take credit for this
(it's all here on the board)
but here is my summary.
============================

THIS WAS DONE ON AN UNHEATED SEAT

Don't remove the foam from the top
... you'll destroy the shape of the seat ..

A few others have posted some "do-it-yoursefl" tips that I used.
It's easy to remove the cover off the seat,
it's only stapled on.

There are some strings which pass through
the hard plastic "core" (Pan)..
(they keep the faux leather cover taught)
.. pull them down and give a half twist to release.
You'll have to "thread" them back through the holes
when your done...
(I used some wire and pulled them back through the holes).
It's easier than it sounds...
(kinda like turning the key to ACC while your riding)
.. lol .. (inside joke).

I removed about half the staples then
peeled back the front of the cover about half way
... up to the back of the driver portion of the seat.

You'll see when you get that far where to stop,
it's like there are two seats under one cover.
You just want to shape the front (driver) seat.
For my taste, the seat is "overstuffed".

You don't want to take any of the sculpted foam off the top
... otherwise the outer covering will lose it's shape.

What I did was remove material from the bottom of the seat.
That's a long flat chunk of foam.
I used one of those electric carving knives to make it
a little more narrow and sloped toward the rear.

I shaved off slices like thin Swiss cheese
... thinking I could glue them back if I took off too much.
To give you some idea of how much I took out,
I have a medium sized plastic grocery bag full of shavings.

Don't remove any from immediately next to the gas tank
or the screws from the tank will be exposed.

Before my seat was flat...
Now it more banana shaped with my butt at the lowest point.
You can shave some
then reinstall with just a few staples and ride it
and, if it's not right,
... take it apart and shave some more.

Once you get it "right"
you can put all the staples back
with a $10 air stapler from Harbor Freight.

It baffles me why some people spend thousands of
dollars for this.
From my point of view
it's like beating your pillow
into shape before you go sleep ...
only YOU know when it feels right.

Take you time and tinker with it
... it's not hard to make it better.

regards,
Dennis

(I take no responsibility if you ruin your seat)

Very, good post. I did something like this with my VTX because the seat pushed me too far forward.

[Silverwings]

I need to do this to help with my short leg issues. I had my Upolstery friend cut down the sides some. I also would like to make it a little softer for those long rides. Especially where my tail bone hits. Got no butt left. Can post a few pictures of your seat? I don't supose you took some pictures when you did the trimming?

[gary4565]

A local upholstery guy did some work on my 1500 seat. He drilled the foam from the bottom and took out a bunch of plugs about the size of a 1/2 dollar which allowed to compress more ( lower seating ) and made it a little narrower without having the leather on the side of the front of the seat pucker. I was happy with the result and would have never thought of doing it that way.

[Wingleader09]

Back in the '90s there use to be a guy named Pappa Jack who did this kind of work full time. He traveled the motorcycle rally circuit all over the South and Midwest that I know of and maybe further. I had both of my GL1500 ('89, & '94) seats cut down by him. He cut down the top and sides of the foam with an electric carving knife and used a 5" high-speed grinder to contour the seat to fit your rear end. When he re-stapled the covering, he pulled it nice and tight so their was no puckering. He got $100 per seat back then and he was always so busy at rallies you had to make an appointment.

[cesarb]

Nice post. For those that don't want to do it themselves, try Butt Buffer from PA. Jerry modified my seat (on my Ducati 1098S) and it was good for 700 mile days!
He has a GL1800 so I am sure he also knows this bike's innards and how to make it comfy.

[davenc]

Originally Posted by cesarb

Nice post. For those that don't want to do it themselves, try Butt Buffer from PA. Jerry modified my seat (on my Ducati 1098S) and it was good for 700 mile days!
He has a GL1800 so I am sure he also knows this bike's innards and how to make it comfy.

I had a butt buffer installed on an FZ1 seat I had and it was the worst thing I could have done. The seat became hard as a rock for me and I couldn't stay on the bike for more then an hour. The guys from butt buffer did there best to fix it but it just never would work for me. They ended up getting me a new seat which is great customer service BTW. I think the problem was my weight was not heavy enough for the butt buffer to work for properly for me. I think heaver people will benefit from the Butt buffer because it helps them from sinking and bottoming out the seat. I ended up doing the skinman seat mod and it worked perfect for me. Each persons ARse is a little different so there is no single cure for monkey butt. Whats works for one person might not work for another person.

[cypressfly]

I have an extra seat so I'm thinking of experimenting with one of them and putting a gel pad which I already have into the top. I am thinking I will need to remove the cover, trace the gel pad onto the foam, use a high speed grinder with a coarse disc (40 grit) to carefully remove enough foam so the pad sits at the same level as the ambient foam. Am I on the right track here? After a six hundred mile day my butt is so numb that it hurts when I stand up and the blood rushes back in. I know loosing a few lbs wouldn't hurt either. I have ridden consecutive 600 mile days year before last but not sure I could do that on this seat. Any help would be appreciated. Not trying to hijack your thread so if I need to post this to a new thread, let me know. You won't hurt my feelings. Thanks, Al.

[cypressfly]

By the way, WingWing, was that picture of the Animas and Uncompaghre taken in NM or Colorado?

[wingwing]

Originally Posted by cypressfly

I have an extra seat so I'm thinking of experimenting with one of them and putting a gel pad which I already have into the top. I am thinking I will need to remove the cover, trace the gel pad onto the foam, use a high speed grinder with a coarse disc (40 grit) to carefully remove enough foam so the pad sits at the same level as the ambient foam. Am I on the right track here?...

I'm not an upholstery guy, just someone who likes to tinker...

You plan sounds good to me...
.. only thing I'd offer is
... might try to think of a better way to cut your foam after you
trace the gel pattern on to it...
... "grinding" it seems like no going back ...

Dennis

[wingwing]

Originally Posted by cypressfly

By the way, WingWing, was that picture of the Animas and Uncompaghre taken in NM or Colorado?

... Colorado ... I think somewhere between
Montrose and Durango
(not positive..)


Dennis

[mctv]

i was wondering how much lower you get with the mod.i'm 5-4 with 29" inseam riding 2up is ok but could really use another inch or two solo.how much dose it acually help to remove foam and narrow the nose.i'v heard different storys from several sources but would like to hear it from someone who acually did it.thanks.

[wingwing]

Originally Posted by mctv

i was wondering how much lower you get with the mod.i'm 5-4 with 29" inseam riding 2up is ok but could really use another inch or two solo.how much dose it acually help to remove foam and narrow the nose.i'v heard different storys from several sources but would like to hear it from someone who acually did it.thanks.

about an inch and half... maybe a bit more

Dennis

[mctv]

that would really help.

[wingwing]

Originally Posted by mctv

that would really help.

... if you get down to central Florida area
you're welcome to try mine.

Dennis

[Silverwings]

Can you take some more pictures of your seat. I would really like to see how you shaped it. What I saw looked real good.

[hunzee]

Originally Posted by Silverwings

Can you take some more pictures of your seat. I would really like to see how you shaped it. What I saw looked real good.

I ripped this pic off of RDL's site. I took the cover off my RDL and used a 4" grinder to reshape it because I felt like I was sliding foward.
The green line is the limit of the removal. You could use a pen but I could see on the foam where I wanted to quit.
There were 3 groves already in the foam (red in the pic). They were about 3/4" deep so I just ground down to the bottom of the groves and tapered it out to the edge.
You have to be pretty steady with the grinder because if the edge catches it will pull it to where you don't want to go.
I did the same to the passenger's seat and it worked out good.

[LDimick]

Originally Posted by cypressfly

I have an extra seat so I'm thinking of experimenting with one of them and putting a gel pad which I already have into the top. I am thinking I will need to remove the cover, trace the gel pad onto the foam, use a high speed grinder with a coarse disc (40 grit) to carefully remove enough foam so the pad sits at the same level as the ambient foam. Am I on the right track here? After a six hundred mile day my butt is so numb that it hurts when I stand up and the blood rushes back in. I know loosing a few lbs wouldn't hurt either. I have ridden consecutive 600 mile days year before last but not sure I could do that on this seat. Any help would be appreciated. Not trying to hijack your thread so if I need to post this to a new thread, let me know. You won't hurt my feelings. Thanks, Al.

Did you ever do this? I am thinking of doing exactly the same thing which is why I searched out this thread.

[dr.jim]

That is Red Mountain Pass on Hwy 550 about half way between Durango and Ouray. One of the best rides you'll ever do. Been featured on History Channel's "Dangerous Drives".