Seat mod......slope change

[mahbin]

I swear by my AirHawk, and you are right just about 1/4 full of air, just enough for you to float off seat. Some like it some don't, takes getting use to. Had it on a Rebel 450 for about 6000 miles and was a life savor, or but savor. hehe!!

 

[Fuzzy]

Used an airhawk to make my NC seat tolerable. Then did ride in to Sergeant and put airhawk on shelf.

 

[agia]

During my recent mods I took time to adjust the front of my seat, I didn't need to raise the front as much as all of you did so I just used some rubber gasket material glued to the top of the bracket were the seat bumpers hit. Raised it a 1/4 " and was still able to jiggle the tongue back in. WOW what a difference, glad I took the time to do it too.

I did something similar based on your idea. I used two 7/8" square stick-on furniture sliders (about 0.25" tall) on the bracket where the front seat bumpers land. It was a bit of a tight fit to get the seat tongue in place. But I think my Alaska Sheepskin ButtPad is contributing more to stop the forward slide. While I wanted to level out the seat some, I'm vertically challenged so I didn't want to raise the seat as much as others.

 

[Mike Cash]

This morning, prior to my local touring club's first monthly ride this year, I tried the seat slope mod myself. I couldn't face the prospect of another long day off a$$ agony and having my tailbone driven up into my spine. And I'm damned well tired of constantly having to adjust myself back on the seat after sliding forward, and spending the day fishing my nuts out of my butt crack.

I used a simple long piece of D-shaped (cross section) rubber bumper material about 20mm high, placed across the full width of the metal piece where the seat bumpers hit, with a notch cut halfway through to snug it up against the seat tongue bracket.

As you can see, it is secured by cable ties.

What an incredible difference this makes! I had none of the usual pain that I used to get from a day's ride in the stock seat. Not once did I have to adjust my position on the seat. Not once did I have to dig in my crotch to get the boys back where they belong.

I should have done this the day I bought the bike. It would have saved me two years of pain and aggravation. Count me as another one who for less than five bucks of material (and only about five minutes of time) saved himself the expense of buying a custom seat.

 

[jggassert]

I'll be trying this in the meantime while I wait for the funds to generate for more of a touring seat.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[745cc270°]

Brilliant solution to a problem for my backside that should never have existed. It's what has put me off from getting an X but one reason less to do so

I prefer sheepskin for long distance comfort and the resultant gap looks about perfect for tucking in the leading edge of the skin to prevent it blowing away whenever the bikes left unattended.

ric.

 

[itlives]

I always wonder if the Honda Powers-that-Be ever look through site like this one. Surely they could learn from it!
I'll be doing some kind of front seat raise before my Tail of the Dragon trip in May.

Excellent thread and rated as such!

 

[ziggie]

Nice job mike,and nice choice of words as always,made me laugh.i will do this soon also as I have found sitting towards the back of the seat and staying there makes it a better seat then before.

 

[agia]

This morning, prior to my local touring club's first monthly ride this year, I tried the seat slope mod myself. I couldn't face the prospect of another long day off a$$ agony and having my tailbone driven up into my spine. And I'm damned well tired of constantly having to adjust myself back on the seat after sliding forward, and spending the day fishing my nuts out of my butt crack.

I used a simple long piece of D-shaped (cross section) rubber bumper material about 20mm high, placed across the full width of the metal piece where the seat bumpers hit, with a notch cut halfway through to snug it up against the seat tongue bracket.

As you can see, it is secured by cable ties.

What an incredible difference this makes! I had none of the usual pain that I used to get from a day's ride in the stock seat. Not once did I have to adjust my position on the seat. Not once did I have to dig in my crotch to get the boys back where they belong.

I should have done this the day I bought the bike. It would have saved me two years of pain and aggravation. Count me as another one who for less than five bucks of material (and only about five minutes of time) saved himself the expense of buying a custom seat.

I take it the seat's tongue and two rubber bumpers all sit on top (judging from the wear marks on your rubber bumper). I like your idea but would 'worry' about the front of the seat being unattached -- which I realize is not an issue when you're sitting on it. Perhaps another strap run longitudinally to secure the seat's tongue would hold the seat down... I take it this is a non-issue for you?

 

[showkey]

I take it the seat's tongue and two rubber bumpers all sit on top (judging from the wear marks on your rubber bumper). I like your idea but would 'worry' about the front of the seat being unattached -- which I realize is not an issue when you're sitting on it. Perhaps another strap run longitudinally to secure the seat's tongue would hold the seat down... I take it this is a non-issue for you?

First page, First post in the thread resolves this issue...............having the front of the seat not attached is just wrong in so many ways....

 

[Mike Cash]

I didn't find it to be a problem. I'm not averse to making a bracket to hold it down, but I don't own a drill, have almost no use for one, and wasn't about to buy one until I at least tried the mod to see if this worked for me and is something I want to make permanent.

 

[Ruggybuggy]

And I'm damned well tired of constantly having to adjust myself back on the seat after sliding forward, and spending the day fishing my nuts out of my butt crack.

I laughed hard at that one! If it's such a pain in the a$$ or in your case ballsack why not just buy a proper custom seat and be done with it?

 

[L.B.S.]

I didn't find it to be a problem. I'm not averse to making a bracket to hold it down, but I don't own a drill, have almost no use for one, and wasn't about to buy one until I at least tried the mod to see if this worked for me and is something I want to make permanent.

I think what Showkey was alluding to was to maybe look into some simple method to additionally help support the seat via the little rubber bumpers (adding thickness to them, or sticking some appropriate thickness of material to where they touch down) so that the tongue wasn't doing the sole support. I can picture the plastic cracking breaking at that flex point over time.

Or at least that's what I took out of it, lol.

 

[Mike Cash]

I laughed hard at that one! If it's such a pain in the a$$ or in your case ballsack why not just buy a proper custom seat and be done with it?

Because money is scarce around my house. Also because there is no assurance an aftermarket seat (they're not all "custom"; most are "one-size-fits-all"). I've seen sufficient posts from people whose aftermarket seat didn't work for them.

 

[ronsaw]

Used a piece of brace I had at home, bent in a vise, drilled, and attached. Felt better just sitting on it in the garage. Installed the chair bumpers as noted earlier on this thread 1" by 7/8" (fit right over the stock bumper on the seat). This took the strain off the seat locating/positioning tab on the front. Trimmed the bumpers to 3/4" tall. Rode 50 miles - feels MUCH better. With the bit of lift too, that made it nice (I'm 6'4"). This, literally, can be a $7-$8 modification.

 

[agia]

First page, First post in the thread resolves this issue...............having the front of the seat not attached is just wrong in so many ways....

I read that sometime before. I was curious what "Mike Cash" thought about it but I wasn't clear on who I directed my post to (I see it further up in this thread). Despite all my tinkering with the OEM seat to fine tune it, it seems like the longer I ride on it, the more I get used to it. It's starting out for the ride where I get fidgety. The Alaska sheepskin really helps.

 

[BerndM]

I used the info from here and simplified it to suit my needs.
First I removed the front seat and drilled a 3/16" hole right thru the center ridge of the seat pan's plastic tongue, about 5/8" from the front edge. I then put a bolt thru the hole with the bolt facing down and nutted it down tight. I then reattached the front seat with the 2 bolts and raised the front of the seat up an inch and let it drop down onto the metal tongue receptacle a few times so that the bolt would leave a mark. I drilled a 1/4" hole right on the marks so that now the bolt will slip into that hole on top of the metal receptacle. I then cut 2 wood blocks about 3/4" tall and used carpet tape to attach them at the spots where the 2 rubber bumpers sit. Done! Works perfectly. My front seat is NOT latched down in the front, but then again, who cares, with my 190# butt sitting on it, where's it going to go???? The 2 wood blocks support the seat and the bolt keeps it centered.

Regards
Bernd

 

[dduelin]

These just go to show that there are multiple solutions and more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[VE258]

Seat mod......slope change

slope change is a piece of cake. done that long time ago.

combined with small drop via homemade lowering links(that did changed angle of a seat by a bit) + small small tilt up on the front of the seat(but not that much,as other people did-i just put a few pieces of thick tape under the П share thingy,where sit goes and placed about 5mm thick furniture pads on front rubber pads of the seat.

 

[L.B.S.]

Wow! That looks like (better than!) pro job, mate