Just spoke with Sargents Seats

[NCGS]

I know there have been more than one discussion about replacing the stock R12R seat with something else, and I know that a Sargents has often been discussed as a viable option. I signed up to receive info on the seat on Sargent's website last October, but hadn't heard anything, so I thought I'd give them a call and see what the dealy-oh is on their R1200R seat.

There won't be a replacement seat for the R12R, at least not in the foreseeable future. What they will soon be offering is a custom foam replacement program where you can send them your seat, and they'll replace the foam. The gentleman I talked to said to expect a 10-day to 2 week turnaround. I told him that sounds like a winter project..

Little else was said.. I'm thinking it might be an opportunity for me to ride down to J'ville and have them do it 'while I wait'.. if they'll do such a thing.

[AllanCook]

I had signed up for their update, too. Disappointed they have decided not to produce a seat for the R12R. Let us know how the foam replacement goes, OK?

[kudzu]

...I'm thinking it might be an opportunity for me to ride down to J'ville and have them do it 'while I wait'.. if they'll do such a thing.

They will do it and it is a good plan. When I bought my F650GS, in anticipation of an Alaska trip, Sargent did not yet have a production seat for it, but was willing to build a seat for it using their Atomic Foam and whatever covering and other details I chose. Rather than send them my seat, I told them exactly what I wanted and they had it as nearly complete as possible when I visited them. My recollection is that it took them less than an hour to cut the original seat from the seat pan and install the new one. They even offered to ship the portion of the BMW seat that they had removed to my home in case I wanted (God knows why!) to reinstall it at some later time. I was very happy with the result. Put 13k miles on it in 39 days.

Sargent is not located in the best part of Jacksonville and is a very low key operation - a shop behind an auto upholstery shop, if I remember correctly. It is clean, neat and orderly. The people are very customer-oriented and a pleasure to deal with. All-in-all, a very good experience.

Like you, I signed up for the notification of availablilty but had not followed up. I am sorry to hear that a production R1200R seat is not in the forseeable future. Since Sargent seats work well for me, I may have to do the Sargent foam on the BMW seat pan thing again.

[alaskaflyer]

Any word on prices? I'm taking a vacation in July and will be gone for 3 weeks so this would be a great time for me to do this.

[NCGS]

Give 'em a call.. although this is probably a busy time of the year for them.

1.800.749.7328 or 1.800.749.SEAT

Here's a couple pix of a seat that was for sale on ebay. One of the members of this board bought it. I'd be curious to see how he likes it after owning if for six months or so.

[hoonu]

Is that not a Sargent in the pic? Dayum! That looks good! As far as when they'll get one out--they will. It took from 1993-4 to around 2000 to get one for the R11xxRS.

[NAIAD]

FWIW< I think the pictured seat may be a Corbin, placement of tricolor and (indeciperable) label on the side look exactly like the Corbin's I had on a couple of Ducati's.

BJ

[kudzu]

Is that not a Sargent in the pic?

My bet is that it is Sargent's foam and cover on the original BMW seat pan. It looks very similar to the seat they did for my little thumper.

[NCGS]

FWIW< I think the pictured seat may be a Corbin, placement of tricolor and (indeciperable) label on the side look exactly like the Corbin's I had on a couple of Ducati's.

BJ

Nope.. it's a Sargent recover on a stock R12R pan. If you'll scan back to a December 18, 2007 thread titled, "got my new Sargent seat" - or something similar - by member "Motarradguy", you'll see where he bought it off ebay. I had a bid in on it, but I was out of town, and wasn't able to snipe his bid. What he doesn't do is tell us how he likes it.

The Sargent lable is similar to Corbins.. the three colored stripes are a tribute to BMW's "M" series performance vehicles.

Nice looking seat - much better (IMHO) than what Corbin would sell us. (I'm not a big fan of Corbin seats or their customer service).

[deilenberger]

Based on my past experience with having Sargent redo a seat rather than providing a new seat - I would avoid going that route. The seat they did went from being a 1 hour seat to a 20 minutes (before being in intense pain) seat. They "redid" it twice, and then basically told me to pound sand (sell it on eBay..)

Their money back guarantee only applies to complete seats they manufacturer, so if they offered a complete R1200R seat I might consider it.

[OlyVR]

Don, you may have to reconsider...as the latest I heard is that they will start producing and shipping by mid June.

I plan on buying one once available and will be happy to report back.

Here's the email I got:

Oliver,

First I would like to thank you for contacting Sargent Cycle Products!

Our foam tool for the R12R has been completed and we expect to producing foams by mid to late June. (Some assembly and preparation must be done before we can start manufacturing.)

I apologize for your wait. We had at one point put the project on hold due to lack of demand on this particular model. Tooling costs for any one model can run into the tens of thousands and we must weigh the costs verses demand before proceeding forward with any new line. Recently we have seen a new serge of interest in the R12R and the project was given a new life.

I hope this information will assist you in your decision to purchase.

Please feel free to contact us should you have any further questions or comments. We value your input and depend on our clients and potential clients opinions to help us deliver the best possible product for our clients.

Thanks again for contacting Sargent and as always.....Ride Safe!

[NCGS]

Our foam tool for the R12R has been completed and we expect to producing foams by mid to late June. (Some assembly and preparation must be done before we can start manufacturing.)

I hope you're right, but that's not what I was told Thursday - and I did ask about a completely new seat.

I think the quote above means that they're going to begin producing their custom foams for their custom foam replacement program; a big difference from being able to buy a completely new seat (which - like you - is what I'd hoped to be able to do).

We'll see what happens next month..

[hoonu]

This is OT, but I'm going to have Sargent re-foam the Corbin on my R90. That's actually the most comfortable motorcycle saddle I've ever spent time on, but it's old Corbin, meaning pre-1990.

[deilenberger]

Our foam tool for the R12R has been completed and we expect to producing foams by mid to late June. (Some assembly and preparation must be done before we can start manufacturing.)

I hope you're right, but that's not what I was told Thursday - and I did ask about a completely new seat.

I think the quote above means that they're going to begin producing their custom foams for their custom foam replacement program; a big difference from being able to buy a completely new seat (which - like you - is what I'd hoped to be able to do).

We'll see what happens next month..

Agree - I'd only buy a completely new seat from them.. loosing money on reselling their seat on Ebay isn't something I want to repeat. I'd only buy something from them if it came with a "Satisfaction Guaranteed" policy that covers a full refund if it isn't comfortable. I loved the look of the seat they made me - but couldn't sit on it.

[TAG-Caver]

I had a good experience with Sargent redoing my DR650 seat and I'd be willing to try a World Sport if/when it comes out for the R1200R. Hopefully it will happen before the summer ends. A little off topic, has anyone bought the Corbin seat that recently came out for the R12R? I saw a little flurry on the board when it came out, but no one appears to have picked one up, or at least they didn't write about it.

Kevin

[lewellen]

I had Sargent re-foam and -cover the seat on my old KLR650. That worked out really, really well; but it was also just a simple bench seat, no fancy curves and I was pretty happy with the original contours.

With the R1200R seat, it's a different story. I want some serious modification to the profile, as well as different foam - make it more into a bench so I can actually move more than an inch forward and back. That's a more serious modification, and I'm not willing to risk my original seat.

I've had two Corbins - one on a CB650SC Nighthawk, one for a '94 CB1000 - and was happy with neither of them. I wonder if one could get just the seat pan from them, and then have Sargent foam & cover it? :-)

Good roads,

- John L.

[OlyVR]

Our foam tool for the R12R has been completed and we expect to producing foams by mid to late June. (Some assembly and preparation must be done before we can start manufacturing.)

I hope you're right, but that's not what I was told Thursday - and I did ask about a completely new seat.

I think the quote above means that they're going to begin producing their custom foams for their custom foam replacement program; a big difference from being able to buy a completely new seat (which - like you - is what I'd hoped to be able to do).

We'll see what happens next month..

Bad news guys!!!
I'm buying a Corbin, because here's the clarification I got from Sargent:

Oliver,

This will not, at this time, be a complete World Sport Seat. Demand for this model has yet to hit the numbers we would like to see to make the rather large investment in tooling required to complete a full blown World Sport seat. We will do a complete one piece foam replacement, manufactured here, with our Atomic Super Cell foam, on your pan with a new cover. The foam is the exact same product we use on our WS seats only on your seat pan.

In the future, should we see the demand for this model increase, we will re-evaluate the need to pursue the manufacturing of a World Sport pan.

[r12r-don]

Bad news guys!!!
I'm buying a Corbin, because here's the clarification I got from Sargent:

Please Please Please keep me/us posted on your progress. I so want a corbin seat but am on the fence given the mixed reviews I've gotten on this and other boards.

[eisen]

Am i the only one that finds the R12R's seat comfortable???

My spoilt-rotten backside is used to the comfort of my LT - but saying that, i can ride for hours (6+) without any sort of discomfort or complaints from my tush when on the R.
The S/O has never complained either.
I have (for experiments sake only) tried the airhawk, alaska sheepskin, BMW low seat, medium seat, etc. None of them are as comfortable (for me) as the BMW standard high seat.

The one thing i did buy recently is a triboseat anti-slip cover for the passenger. Works great and the S/O says it works wonders when i drive/brake/turn in a more spirited manner
She does not slip or slide forward anymore.

Also, if i tie down anything to the rear seat, the tribo stops it from moving anywhere.

Here is the link:
http://www.ekmpowershop6.com/ekmps/shop ... -181-p.asp

[deilenberger]

Am i the only one that finds the R12R's seat comfortable???

I think it's you and me..

My spoilt-rotten backside is used to the comfort of my LT - but saying that, i can ride for hours (6+) without any sort of discomfort or complaints from my tush when on the R.
The S/O has never complained either.
I have (for experiments sake only) tried the airhawk, alaska sheepskin, BMW low seat, medium seat, etc. None of them are as comfortable (for me) as the BMW standard high seat.

Comfort is a relative thing.. I find the stock low seat tolerable. It's about as good for me as the custom made Russel was that I had on my K100RT. I have arthritis in my hips, and tend to get pressure related "hot-spot" pain. I also have some back problems. Getting old is a bitch.. and I'm really never without some pain. Trick is keeping it to a tolerable level.

The low seat works as well as any aftermarket I've tried and better than several aftermarket seats I had made for other BMWs. I use "LDComfort" underwear when I'm planning an all day ride. Besides providing some support in the right places - it is unique in having no seams that cross the seating area of my butt. Seams cause pressure points which cause pain. Using the LD-Comfort undies - if I take a break every 2 hours - about 10-15 minutes, I'm good pretty much for an entire day without being in intense pain. I find I'm good with less ibprofen required on the R1200R seat than I was on almost any other seat. http://ldcomfort.com/

I do have an air-cushion (FreedomAir) which I took with me on last years 10 day ride, and found I only used it one day out of the 10, and didn't really "need" it on this seat as I had on other seats. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the stock seat on the Roadster..