Rich's Custom Seats

[Fly Bye]

When I purchased my '08 it came with Rich's Custom seats. He states that they are custom made to fit the riders rear end contures. His seats ARE NOT cheap. I find that the previous owners dimensions and mine are not even close, so I called him and he said I could make an appointment (in Kingston WA) and get a custom fit at a fraction of the price of a new seat.

I am just wondering if any of you guys have had any experience with his product.

Any feedback you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Robert

 

[ahchiu]

Rich is a great guy and will take care of you, I have had seat made by him for my other bikes.

 

[FJRay]

I know a few people that have his seat and all are happy.

 

[allrider]

Sorry, dup

 

[allrider]

I've had several Rich's seats over the years with OK results, but i probably won't go back. He seems to be a bit more than the rest and not that better than a Corbin.

In order to get the best outcome from Rich you will need to spend a day in his shop fitting, watching and waiting for him to get it done. This last time he said "it will only be a few hours". It ended up being a full 8 hours.

The upside is you will have a custom seat to your specs. The downside is the price. I would ask him to give you a quote or at least a range before you come all the way out here.

I have been doing some research on this lately and I am having my seat redone by Spencer at GreatDayToRide.com A number of members have had good things to say about his work He is using this Supracor material, which is something I have been waiting for, and his prices are very reasonable. PM me for more details.

 

[juniorfjr]

I've got Rich's seat on my 05. Very comfortable seat and well made. I've been looking at the Russell seats and the prices between them and Rich's aren't much. I do know that he does do mail in jobs. If it is not doable to go all the way to Kingston then you can send the seat with pictures of you on the bike and your particular measurements. Not ideal, but an option.

 

[dougc]

Any feedback you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

My seat from Rich has over 140K miles on it from two different Gen1s, an '03 and '05. I think it may have been the first FJR seat Rich put a backrest on.

When I crashed and totalled my '03 we riveted the seat catch back on and I tranferred the seat to my new '05 where it's been ever since.

I was at Rich's old shop in Auburn all day while he whittled and sculpted the foam to fit my ass before stitching together a leather seat cover. He did do two FJR seats that day and I had the passenger seat recovered and the backrest added. Since then he's recovered my Givi box backrest as well.

My leather seat is still in great shape and only just now beginning to show signs of wear. I could not have completed several IBA rides and the IBR without the custom seat. I would probably visit Rich again if I was to change bikes.

 

[beacher]

I have to disagree with Allrider; I couldn't STAND the OEM seat, and got a Corbin. It was an improvement, and dropped me a little lower to the ground, which I needed. A couple of years later, I was lucky enough to be able to trade my stock seat for Rich's, and I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven! It dropped me even a little lower to the ground, but there was, for me, absolutely no comparison in the comfort. The Corbin went into a box in storage, and I've never even thought about going back. At some point in the future, I may ride up to Rich's and have it custom fit for me, but, man, I'm actually really happy with it!

 

[bucky]

I'll second the recommendation for Spencer's in florida. He did my 08 fjr seat, rider and passenger with the supracor material. He got me lowered slightly too. Probably my longest day trip has been about 300 miles and the rear end takes it quite well. No complaints here. And the price is right too, about $150 or so round trip freight included as I recall. He re-uses your original seat base and cover material. First class workmanship in my opinion.

 

[allrider]

I have to disagree with Allrider; I couldn't STAND the OEM seat, and got a Corbin. It was an improvement, and dropped me a little lower to the ground, which I needed. A couple of years later, I was lucky enough to be able to trade my stock seat for Rich's, and I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven! It dropped me even a little lower to the ground, but there was, for me, absolutely no comparison in the comfort. The Corbin went into a box in storage, and I've never even thought about going back. At some point in the future, I may ride up to Rich's and have it custom fit for me, but, man, I'm actually really happy with it!

I actually have a Rich's seat on my 07 now, and no question it's much better than stock, and I got it for nothin. A guy gave it to me because it had been collecting dust since he had totaled his 06. The one thing he pulled off the bike before it went to the insurance impound was his $750 Rich's seat. BTW, he paid $750 just for the front half of the seat. I thought that was a bit too much. The seats OK, but for $750 IMO it better be spectacular, like sitting on Christina Hendrix' chest. But I wouldn't have had that made for me.

I paid Rich $750 for a one piece and backrest on a GTS which would be equivalent to a Gen I seat back in 1999, no special materials, and i thought that was to much at the time as well.

My point is just that there are lots of better seats and options for less than Rich's IMHO. But i'll take a free Rich's seat any day of the week.

 

[Fly Bye]

I've had several Rich's seats over the years with OK results, but i probably won't go back. He seems to be a bit more than the rest and not that better than a Corbin.

In order to get the best outcome from Rich you will need to spend a day in his shop fitting, watching and waiting for him to get it done. This last time he said "it will only be a few hours". It ended up being a full 8 hours.

The upside is you will have a custom seat to your specs. The downside is the price. I would ask him to give you a quote or at least a range before you come all the way out here.

I have been doing some research on this lately and I am having my seat redone by Spencer at GreatDayToRide.com A number of members have had good things to say about his work He is using this Supracor material, which is something I have been waiting for, and his prices are very reasonable. PM me for more details.

PM sent and thank you.

 

[Fly Bye]

I think at this point I am going to contact Rich's and Spencer to answer my questions.

The cost and time factor of a trip to Riche's is something I need to consider.

I will need to contact Spencer to see if he will work on a Rich's seat???

He will not work on Russel Day Long or Corbin.

I'll shoot him an e-mail and see what happens.

I want to thank all of you for your feed back.

Please keep this post going.

 

[ahchiu]

I think at this point I am going to contact Rich's and Spencer to answer my questions.

The cost and time factor of a trip to Riche's is something I need to consider.

I will need to contact Spencer to see if he will work on a Rich's seat???

He will not work on Russel Day Long or Corbin.

I'll shoot him an e-mail and see what happens.

I want to thank all of you for your feed back.

Please keep this post going.

To let you know Spencer won't work on anything that's not stock, I wanted him to work on a stock pillion seat that was recovered by Rich's, I had to send him a totally stock rear seat to him.

 

[captainjim]

i had memory foam installed in my stock seat. problem solved.it will conform to your butt then springs back to shape and it don't madder where you are on the seat and at half the price as a new seat. the only draw back i have seen is when it is cold the seat is hard as a rock till your body heats it up. It's not a one size fits all deal