2003 F650 Dakar Question

[LENRT1200ST]

I just bought a nicely maintained 2003 F650 Dakar w/ about 12,000 miles on the clock for my wife. She is six feet tall, so no issues there regarding flat footing the bike at rest. However, she is quite unhappy w/ the stock saddle! It pushes her forward and it puts undo pressure on her lower, forward pelvic bones. Ouch!

What can be done to modify the stock saddle? Are the good suggestions for a replacement seat? Need something flatter and w/ less forward slope.

Please lend your expertise.

Thx,
Len

 

[calvin]

The stock seat does drive you forward towards the fake tank and puts pressure where it hurts.
So I went to a local seat maker and had her flaten the seat and carve some off the sides also ,then she put in a gel pad and I have been happy ever since!!
The original seat cover was re used and the cost was $150.00

Also a sheep skin worked reasonably well before I did this.
Cal

 

[PGlaves]

Mine isn't too bad but does it too. A custom seat ($$$) will fix it but so can any decent auto upholstery shop. They can trim the seat flatter further back and either reattach the cover or make a new cover. Cheaper than one of the usual custom seat makers.

 

[Ridersouth]

F650 Dakar Seat Question

Hi Len,
I agree totally with Paul Glaves that a quality auto-mc upholstery shop would be a good solution. I also live in Georgia and used-recommend "BKD Custom Auto Upholstery in Marietta, just up highway 41 North of BMW of Atlanta Motorcycles.
Someone there recommended BKD to me. Dave at BKD did an excellent job of modifying-recovering the stock BMW seat and has many various fabrics/materials to choose from. I chose a leather-looking, water-resistant composite fabric.

I would also like to thank Mr. Glaves for his amazing knowledge, time spent and assistance to all BMW riders with technical questions. I have really enjoyed and benefitted from his "Bench Wrenching" articles in the "Owners News" mag.
Especially liked the January 2011 article entitled "Steering Head Adjustment".
Best regards Paul, we are all fortunate to have you amoung our ranks and
certainly benefit from your shared knowledge and experience.
Wrench On!
Jim/aka REBEL RIDER

 

[f650624]

The only seat worse than the stock BMW 650 seat would be a dull machete. I don't know where BMW found the butt to pattern the seat from, but it wasn't human. Bite the bullet and buy a good seat. 75,000+ miles ago I bought Corbin and it was worth every dollar.

 

[gblawler]

I bought a pair of gel bicycle riding pants for long rides. They do help, but I don't have anything to compare it to. I have heard good things about AirHawk, but I haven't tried one.

 

[LENRT1200ST]

Great suggestions, thanks.

Thanks for the great suggestions and websites for seat modification. Please keep the ideas coming.

Len