For my leg length challenged friends...

[AsItLies]

Please Note: 1 of the participants in this thread, Mary, pointed out that depending on the year of your Feej, the seat may have two diff layers of foam. I don't recommend trying to lower those that have more then 1 layer (I believe it's prior to 07 or 08 that has the 2 layer, but it would be wise to verify that with someone before pulling the staples out). Thanks again to Mary!

Having just got my (new to me) 08 Feej, with about 3.7k on her, I've set about doing one of the things needed for me with bikes like this.

Lower the seat. I'm about 29" inseam. Not so good. Pretty much on the balls of both feet on the fly and ride back. But I've lowered seats on 2 VFR's and 1 ST1300. Almost sent it off to Spencer, but hey, I can do it, save some bucks, gain more experience... and if I foobar it, well sargent and corbin make very nice replacements

The first thing I do is mark along both edges an inch from the top...

Next, the two marks on the sides are for narrowing, pretty much where to start and where to end (sit on the bike and get a visual of where your legs go down)

After using the electric turkey carver, taking just little bits at a time. Also, don't try to take the very front or very back down any, just kind of feather it into those points but keep the same angle everywhere else. And don't try to narrow it too much on the sides, there just isn't that much foam on the sides...

Another shot after the carving...

Carving done, and about as symmetrical as I could get it...

Use 100 grit sandpaper, it gets very messy, and wear a dust mask for sure. Go slowly, the foam can rip.

Close up of pretty much the finished product, it takes patience and a couple of hours...

Another of the finished product, with enough effort you can make it virtually perfect looking...

If you attempt this, be prepared to get foam dust everywhere!

Finally, it's helped a lot. Can get almost flat footed on both. One side down and the other about an inch up on the heel. Of course, you're a little more scrunched and knees will inform you of that, c'est la vie.

In the past, I've put the seat cover back on myself and also have had an upholstery shop do one. The shop did a great job and was only like 10 bucks. There's a lot of foam on the top, and if you're relatively light, you'll never notice the missing 1 inch or so. Will probably put this cover back on myself tomorrow.

So all in all it's not really a difficult mod. And really, the benefit, for those that can relate, is just flippin awesome!

Enjoy, be safe, Hank

 

[Silver Penguin]

Interesting report and pictures. How far have you ridden with the 'new' seat? and how comfortable is it? I took my bike in, to Bill Mayer Saddles hoping the have the seat made lower. Rocky gave me the choice of lower or touring-comfortable. I chose the latter but it's a compromise because I'm on my tip toes even with Kouba link lowers.

 

[AsItLies]

Interesting report and pictures. How far have you ridden with the 'new' seat? and how comfortable is it? I took my bike in, to Bill Mayer Saddles hoping the have the seat made lower. Rocky gave me the choice of lower or touring-comfortable. I chose the latter but it's a compromise because I'm on my tip toes even with Kouba link lowers.

Hey SP, haven't had a chance to ride with this mod yet, still need to spoon on some new treads. Got the 023 GT stones on the way... will give a report on those fer sure.

But the seat mod I've done for other bikes, and really the only diff is that yer sitting... kind of like the long legged people amongst us do, a bit scrunched up. It really can't be helped, assuming you want to put your feet down at some point

Keep in mind, the bikes are generic for a wide weight range of riders. To as much as 250lbs? Those of us that are 100lbs or so less then that have "foam to spare".

I've ridden my (gone now) seat modded vfr and st1300 more the 500 miles to deals gap (tail of the dragon), with no ill affects, except of course to be able to stop with more confidence that I won't fall over

Regards, Hank

 

[RadioHowie]

The problem isn't your 29" inseam....

[SIZE=36pt]It's your 1,600px × 1,200px camera/picture resolution settings!!![/SIZE]

Resizing is a GOOD thing!

 

[AsItLies]

The problem isn't your 29" inseam....
[SIZE=36pt]It's your 1,600px × 1,200px camera/picture resolution settings!!![/SIZE]

Resizing is a GOOD thing!

hahahah no m8 the problem is both of those items, well ones more important then the other

Hey I've posted here what ... twice? other sites resize them auto magically u know ...

this one's an easy fix none the less, lesson learned. give me a few please...

 

[Scotty]

Frankenstien, is just full of unpractical advice. If we could only minimize him to 3X2. Good luck with your mod. Consider taking the 4 rubber feet off the seat bottom for an extra .5". The Seat may sit a little low at the tank line but you will be closer. Balancing is what it is all about except for those unplanned parking excursions onto dirt. Short legs plan carefully.

 

[madjackdog]

Excellent job, Hank. I got the Kouba Links, which lowered the seat 7/8". I wanted to maintain my leg position, but of course your way maintains the ground clearance. C'est la vie.

 

[Bounce]

Or, you could fix everything in the world of longer legged design in one step...

 

[AsItLies]

Interesting report and pictures. How far have you ridden with the 'new' seat? and how comfortable is it? I took my bike in, to Bill Mayer Saddles hoping the have the seat made lower. Rocky gave me the choice of lower or touring-comfortable. I chose the latter but it's a compromise because I'm on my tip toes even with Kouba link lowers.

Wanted to say also SP, since this might become a bit of a resource for some of us, Spencer (for site click here) would have given you both of your choices.

I haven't had him do a seat for me, but recent email exchanges with him indicated he could lower the seat (about an 1" at most) and he could add his "long distance" mod, which is a material called "supracor".

Would bet that the big mfg (corbin etc etc), like you experienced, have kind of set ways of doing seats, which works for the large percentage of their orders / requests. Paying enough money you could probably get anything, but maybe not "recommended".

The large percentage thing would also be relevant with Spencer. He will do it differently if asked, but usually (again it's the predominant requests) he will change the angle of the seat so you don't feel like "you're sliding into the tank". He describes what he does as "create a pocket" etc. It seems the requests are from those who want to sit bolt upright, with risers. Which is okay, but it's not me.

My preference is to keep the angle the same. I want the seat to promote leaning forward (as it was designed), that's how I ride, with the balls of my feet on the pegs and my legs holding up my upper body (leaned forward), elbows bent and weight off the wrists.

So not sure if these kindof random thoughts are helpful, but things to keep in mind when trying to sort this stuff out...

Regards and be safe, Hank

 

[krashdragon]

Did that with my 05.

Problem was that I took off more than 1"...found out the next day on my sort of cross country ride that under that nice thick foam is some very soft soft soft not thick at all foam.

It was like sitting on a board from Ohio to Cali and back.

I also had the Koubla links, a shorter rear shock and the front forks slid down a bit.

Still is a big figgin bike, sold it due to old age. Mine, not the bike's.... just can't handle what I used to....sucks... :angry:

but I can still ride the Harley <_<

Sheepskins are wonderful. :yahoo:

Take care and have fun.

Mary

 

[AsItLies]

Did that with my 05.Problem was that I took off more than 1"...found out the next day on my sort of cross country ride that under that nice thick foam is some very soft soft soft not thick at all foam.

It was like sitting on a board from Ohio to Cali and back.

I also had the Koubla links, a shorter rear shock and the front forks slid down a bit.

Still is a big figgin bike, sold it due to old age. Mine, not the bike's.... just can't handle what I used to....sucks... :angry:

but I can still ride the Harley <_<

Sheepskins are wonderful. :yahoo:

Take care and have fun.

Mary

Hi Mary

That's a very good point, forgot to mention it. It seems (I've only read this before but your experience makes it clear), earlier FJR seats had 2 diff layers of foam. Spencer had mentioned that a long time ago in some forum I read.

But he recently told me that 08 fjr (not sure what year it changed) now only had 1 layer. That's part of the reason I did it myself. Ea of the seats I'd done before only had 1 layer.

So thanks to Mary! anyone thinking about this be sure your seat doesn't have the 2 layer thing, that's something I'd only let the pros do personally.

Hope you enjoy your riding of any bike Mary, that's the main thing

Regards and Enjoy,

 

[DE OPPRESSO LIBER]

Or, you could fix everything in the world of longer legged design in one step...

That SO ain't right! Ouch!

 

[Nate]

If you get a chance I'd like to see a picture of the seat with the cover back on. What type of staple gun did you use to re-upholster? Curious me.

 

[RadioHowie]

The problem isn't your 29" inseam....
[SIZE=36pt]It's your 1,600px × 1,200px camera/picture resolution settings!!![/SIZE]

Resizing is a GOOD thing!

hahahah no m8 the problem is both of those items, well ones more important then the other

Hey I've posted here what ... twice? other sites resize them auto magically u know ...

this one's an easy fix none the less, lesson learned. give me a few please...

Nice job on the resize. 800x600 is perfect!

Frankenstien, is just full of unpractical advice. If we could only minimize him to 3X2.

You're probably right. 1600x1200 images are perfectly normal. And you ridden in the Alps, so you're the expert.

 

[Scotty]

Riding in he Alps doesn't make me an expert. Riding and working on techniques for 40 years doesn't make me an expert, either. Speaking about unsafe practices and foolish ideas does compel me to speak out. Common sense always prevails over internet "dribble"

"

 

[AsItLies]

Hey again, well the seat has returned from the upholstery shop. Actually tried 3 diff ones. One of them said it was too loose and he'd have to glue the cover on... 50 bucks... I could not have left faster

This guy, Cash Upholstery in Carrollton, Tx, did a great job, you just gotta stretch the cover here and there, 20 bucks, I could live with it...

While it looks good in the pictures it's not perfect, but who cares? I mean it's hard to see the imperfections, and the benefit way out weighs any of the negatives...

I'm very happy with it, enjoy! be safe! Hank

 

[boomerang]

Nice job.

I noticed that in places the seam on the top panel dont line up.

I was thinking maybe that could be solved by making a few referance measurments before you remove the cover, then transfer those to the foam.

 

[AsItLies]

Nice job.I noticed that in places the seam on the top panel dont line up.

I was thinking maybe that could be solved by making a few referance measurments before you remove the cover, then transfer those to the foam.

Yes absolutely correct, but having done this before I know mostly who is going to notice such things... just you. But I do agree if you wanted to put the time and effort into it, it could be perfect.

Regards, Hank

 

[AsItLies]

Just to cap off this thread (if only we could cap off oil wells so easily...)

Here are some pics of the seat on the bike:

this first one is my fav, just a good angle I guess, of the bike:

Next one, you can see some dirt on the top of the seat, sat on some concrete before riding this morning:

And finally, I don't think the seat being slightly lower is that noticeable at all, the angle is the same (very desirable imho), and for short leggers such as your's truly, the confidence factor is exponential, even if it is only an inch or a bit more of a help.

enjoy!