Lower/Narrower Seat

[Travist1161732]

Thanks to Lobelsteve for trying this, gave me the idea, and I decided to take pics while I did it.

Disclaimer: You do this at your own risk, I came to find out that this is not that easy, and requires a decent understanding of spatial relationships. I have never done this before, so some trial and error was involved, but it turned out well (100mi on it). No issues with vibration and I feel more 'connected' with the bike. Legs a little more cramped, so rearsets not a bad idea, but so far so good with stock. The best advice is to buy an extra seat just in case, but I did it on my only seat. This can go wrong if you're not careful (perf through foam, too much reduction, etc). If you have a long rainy weekend, etc, then go for it, but, just like painting/sanding fairings, sometimes this is better left to professionals. Just a thought before you get knee deep in foam shavings.

That being said, this is one of the best mods I've done. I have a shortish inseam (~31") for an avg ht (5'11") so wanted to feel more planted while trolling around town and at slow speeds. The bike feels perfect now.

I was initially just going for width reduction, but ended up doing ht as well. I wish I had taken more exact 'before and after' measurements, but from pics, I can see that it's about 1/2-3/4" reduction in ht (if not a full 1 inch when seated), and about 3/4-1" reduction in width per side. For math geeks, if ht is reduced by 1/2-3/4" and width by 3/4-1" per side, then you gain ~1-1.25" more foot on the ground (pythagorean therom, just an estimate).

Here's some before and after shots before I get into it, so that if you don't like it, you can check out something else and not waste time reading through Sorry about the foam shavings still in the pics, hadn't had a chance to clean at that point.

[Travist1161732]

Ok, so if still here, here's what you need before you begin:

Tools:
1. Dremel or something similar for shaving down plastic and foam (if you have an electric knife with various hard to reach attachments or a solder loop, that also works). Get some sand paper as well, and if you have a recip saw for cutting large pieces of plastic, it makes it quicker.

2. Short tacking screws (I used 3/8" sheet metal screws as in the pic below, however, if you have a pneumatic staple gun that penetrates that plastic, that is the best option). If you use the screws, try to get black ones so that if you reduce too much it's still not visible. (I used white, no issues though)



3. Screw driver and needle nose pliers to remove staples and the rubber stoppers under the seat



Steps:

Step 1:
Remove seat, remove all the staples with screwdriver/needle nose plier from leather and foam (carefully, don't tear the foam)



Step 2:
Sit on the bike with plastic only, and figure out where you'd like to reduce. I chose what I felt was appropriate for me, it may differ for you. I reduced until it satisfied (used a recip saw at one point for getting off big chunks, dremel used for fine tuning, then sanded down for smoothness).







I didn't reduce height from the plastic, only width. Height reduction came from removing rubber stoppers and foam reduction. Here's a pic of the final width on the bike, notice how visible the side plastics are. Make sure you don't over do it here, because you don't want rain flooding the battery box (I've run it and left it in the rain already and no leaks into box).

[Travist1161732]

Step 3:

Once plastic reduced to your liking, remove the 4 rubber stoppers to get you another 1/4" of reduction. I experimented with placing thin rubber washers there instead, but seat was very stable side to side without them, so left them off.



Step 4:

Foam reduction, here's the 'fun' part. This is not messy at all, and is very easy...... This is the part where I asked myself why I was doing this. But hopefully the tips below help out.

Tips: This can get bad in a hurry so don't over-reduce a section more than another. It may go without saying, but only reduce from the underside. I tried at first just reducing underside areas near the front, but found that as I sat on it, it felt like I was on a ramp, falling into the tank. So in general, if you reduce any aspect, you should probably reduce it all. To reduce all of the areas to the same depth, use depth cuts as below with the dremel.



To reduce the foam to the depth cuts, I found after much trial and error that a light but steady pressure on the dremel inverted as shown gave the best result (ie use the end of the wheel). In the pic, you can see I figured this out late, and some of it looks crappy, but where I'm inverted it looks decent.



I tried to keep the basic anatomy of the seat intact, so that things fit into grooves, etc. This is difficult to do but do the best you can so that the seat won't want to move too much in any one direction once you're on. If you're unsure, try it on the bike (foam gets everywhere so keep that in mind) and reduce until satisfied. DO NOT PERF THE SIDES OR TOP BY GETTING TOO THIN. Areas can get thin before you know it, so double check by shining light through, or just feeling before cutting.

[Travist1161732]

Step 5:
Once foam reduced and cleaned off of excess shavings/particles, fit it back on the plastic. This is NOT a tight fit (that comes form the leather). This is merely setting the shape in general. I used super glue on the foam to roll in the areas where I had no plastic support on the sides, and used 4 sheet metal screws to set the back. I used two super glue spots to set the front because screws were sticking out too much into the foam. [If you find that a screw is sticking into the foam too much and you could potentially rub to it, back it out some, it just needs to hold foam. Also, foam tears easy, so be careful here. Staples would have worked best, but my stapler wasn't powerful enough.] You can see the 4 white screws and the rolled edges in the pic.



Step 6:
Put the leather back on and tac it down in the front and back first, then I tacked down the sides. Take out a lot of slack and wrap it sort of tight, the cover stretches. After front/back and sides were tacked, I started placing screws sequentially left to right along the sides to make it stay evenly stretched.





I had to place one screw going from the outside-in where I had no 'overhang' plastic (see pic), this is hidden once the seat is in place, but cheat that one down low so it stays hidden (this is why I said you should do black screws, or something other than white, lol). If using staples, it's the same thing, it will have to go from outside-in at that point.





I ended by placing additional 'front' & 'back' screws, once satisfied with the sides.

[S1000RR ROB]

good job there look quite ok...

im just trying to get fatter to make mine lower lol

[Travist1161732]

Originally Posted by S1000RR ROB

good job there look quite ok...

im just trying to get fatter to make mine lower lol

lol, thx. Wish I had thought of that before inhaling foam for 2hrs.

[ronyd]

pics not displaying for me.

[Beemer]

Great job Travist!!...nice detail and pics.
Not sure if I would trust my own skill in performing this mod though, but wouldn't mind lowering the rear of the seat a bit. I'll think about it over a pint or three :-)

[Travist1161732]

Originally Posted by Beemer

Great job Travist!!...nice detail and pics.
Not sure if I would trust my own skill in performing this mod though, but wouldn't mind lowering the rear of the seat a bit. I'll think about it over a pint or three :-)

thx, ya alcohol is a good idea always (well i guess not at the track, but....) drink heavily when considering mods. so i've put now 500mi on it to include a long poker run, and it was fine. i think its awesome, just plan the reductions and you're fine. it feels great having feet firm at stoplights.

[MotoMadMan]

Wow that looks like an awesome job. Thanks for posting and detailing it so well. This is way better then people who put lowering links on bikes. This doesnt screw with the geometry of the bike.