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stock seat reshaped by owner

T

ToadKing

Guest
I have a 1200 gsa with the 15th century torture chair installed on it. Everyone that has purchased a BMW gs has had the bonus of this outstanding option included on their motorbike at no extra cost. Congratulations, you own one of the finest motorcycles ever made! Just don't ride it for more than an hour or you may never be able to have children. How such an outstanding machine can have a seat on it with absolutely no thought towards comfort is unacceptable. I was attempting my first long distance trip to Wyoming this summer but yes, I turned around. The 112 degree weather was the most comfortable part of my 7 hour day. I tried everything, I almost took the seat off and sat on some folded clothes but I just handled it. That was a great day for me as I realized that I was a more powerful warrior than all the mighty Vikings. I haven't had the chance to ride up to Ventura to have a new seat made. I am an auto body person as a hobby and thought I could make this seat better myself. I used a grinder disk of 50 grit with a Black and Decker plastic backing plate, I think 5". You can get this stuff at the hardware store its like stiff sandpaper disks. The backing plate goes on a drill and your ready. I pulled all the staples but the front row and peeled back the vinyl. I figured where the seat was angled forward and used a marker to reference where to start grinding. I just tried to form it so it looked shaped to fit someone sitting! It's not that hard to understand, why didn't BMW do this? I took off a lot of foam, slowly but mostly right where my weight is pushing down. You must be careful and smooth with the drill as you can dig ruts in the foam. Instead of leaning into my gas tank now the seat is flat where I sit and there is still plenty of foam, I don't bottom out. I would put on the bike and take it of and back on, testing every time by sitting on it. Finally It felt comfy and I stopped before I messed it up. Last, I use a 100 grit sandpaper by hand and smooth the bumps out on the foam. I pulled the vinyl tightly side to side and re stapled it. It's probably not as good as a custom seat but it turned out good and it looks good too! If you cant relate to making any kind of sculpture then you may not want to try this but it's free if it works!

This is for all the battle damaged warriors and Egyptian slaves out there.
 
seating..

I did the same to my LT seat rear "bolster". That worked well, so I'm going to attack the lower portion of the seat soon.

If I foul it, I'll send to a professional.

BTW.. I used short stainless screws and added 'cupped' washers to have a good hold on the vinyl.. now I can "adjust" with minimal damage to the seat pan.
 
The RT seat is just as bad!

I have had my RT for 6 months now, and have put 6K on it. I read all the hubbub about the seat when I bought it, and some said that they eventually got used to it. I gave it some time........then I went on a 1500 mile round trip haul last week, and I gotta say that I ain't gonna get used to it, not now or ever! When I got home I was so chaffed that I had to go see my doctor. I had thought about doing the same thing to my seat (I am also a paint & body hobbiest), but could not get up the courage do begin. I am not gonna pay 850 dollars for a seat that I will then have to ride it to see if it works.

Thanks for the info, I am gonna give it a try.

By the way, my seat is heated, was yours? If so, how did it affect the mod?

How about a pic or two??
 
I have had my RT for 6 months now, and have put 6K on it. I read all the hubbub about the seat when I bought it, and some said that they eventually got used to it. I gave it some time........then I went on a 1500 mile round trip haul last week, and I gotta say that I ain't gonna get used to it, not now or ever! When I got home I was so chaffed that I had to go see my doctor. I had thought about doing the same thing to my seat (I am also a paint & body hobbiest), but could not get up the courage do begin. I am not gonna pay 850 dollars for a seat that I will then have to ride it to see if it works.

Thanks for the info, I am gonna give it a try.

By the way, my seat is heated, was yours? If so, how did it affect the mod?

How about a pic or two??

As a fellow RT owner, I feel your pain, and can relate to your frustration.

However, lacking the skills to even consider what you and the original poster of this thread can do with a seat, I opted to spend approx. $650 for a Sargent World Sport seat and could not be happier or more comfortable.

Obviously, underground remnants of the Gestapo still exist in Germany, and are employed to design BMW motorcycle seats!
 
I tried to reshape the seat on my GS and the effort was a total failure.

It all started when a couple I know purchased some materials to reshape the seat of an F650CS they owned. The wife complained about the comfort of the stock seat. They bought two big rolls (you can't order small quantities of the stuff) of two different densities of foam, and some leatherette vinyl for covering. The 650 seat rebuild worked a treat, and the wife beamed at how far she could ride.
So the couple thought they'd do a few more rebuilds for other people to recoup some of the costs of all the materials they bought (and had a huge amount of left over). Their methods were a bit primitive, and having already bought an expensive custom seat for another bike, I had some ideas on how to reshape the seat of my GS.
I went over to their house one day and we took my seat apart. I had brought some stiff foam that had been the back-protector in an old jacket I had thrown out a couple of years ago, and I used this to make some structural elements to give support while widening the seat. Then I used some of the foam they had to add some height and softness, and to give me some meterial to carve for a better shape. I put the seat back on the bike and sat on it a few times along the way to make sure I was on track, and finally I stapled the new covering over it- which barely fit, what with the more complex shape I had built and the fact that none of us had any clue or equipment for sewing up a better cover.
The result? It sucked. Despite the fact that I worked diligently to try to do what the custom-builders do, I actually made my seat worse than it started. Then I panicked, knowing that I couldn't afford to buy another stock seat let alone pay someone else to turn this bastardisation into a better custom seat.
But I kept a cool head and found that I was able to remove all the added foam without causing too much damage to the stock foam (which was never cut in the process of the build). This is the only time I've ever seen 3M Spray 77 fail to make a permenant, irreversible bond, and it failed to do so in my favour. I got the seat back down to the original foam and stapled the stock cover back on. So I'm back to square one, and back to improvising extra padding strapped on when I take long rides, but I learned a few things along the way. When my cash-flow improves, a proper custom seat is definitely going to be on my shopping list.
 
As a fellow RT owner, I feel your pain, and can relate to your frustration.

However, lacking the skills to even consider what you and the original poster of this thread can do with a seat, I opted to spend approx. $650 for a Sargent World Sport seat and could not be happier or more comfortable.

Obviously, underground remnants of the Gestapo still exist in Germany, and are employed to design BMW motorcycle seats!

I really like the looks of the Sargent seat, it appears to be a quality seat, but I just do not want to mistakenly buy a seat that will not work for my Butt. A couple of weeks ago, after a long ride to Daytona, I bought a sheepskin cover, a Bead Rider, and an Air Hawk for my ride back. I was sure that one of them would do the trick. The best candidate for a long ride was the Air Hawk, it really gave my butt a rest when in the seat for a long while. The down side was that it did not work too well on twisties...too squishy to feel planted to the seat. The Bead Rider was better suited for the twisties, firm & better than the stock seat. All three helped to a degree depending on how I was riding, but the pain was still there after about 30 minutes. I do have a Corbin Classic Solo seat on my Electra Glide, and I absolutely love it. but I am not sure how I will like a Corbin on the RT. If I knew the Corbin on the RT felt the same as on my Glide I would buy one in a heartbeat! I wish I had someone nearby that would allow me to just sit on their seat for 20 minutes with the bike on the stand so I can get a feel for it.

What about it, anyone near the Mississippi Coast wanna let me treat them to lunch?:ear
 
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