DIY Seat Mod

[racurley]

Has anyone tried a DIY seat mod on their stock seat? I find that I'm crushing my N$%^&ts on the seat to the point where my 30-40 min ride home from work is a bit of a torture. I installed some bar backs and that helped quite a bit in overall comfort but the smashing of the ya-yas is unpleasant.

This website makes it seem that it's something I could maybe handle and I would rather not spend big bucks on a custom seat.
http://www.diymotorcycleseat.com/index.php

Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if I didn't just buy the wrong bike for me. I'm 5' 6" with a 29" inseam. I was worried about the height of the bike but that has not been a problem really. I didn't like the pressure on my arms so I did the bar risers which helped significantly. Very pleased. I'm a little concerned with the scrunchiness resulting from the peg positioning. I could probably do with maybe a skootch less wind. I tested out the passenger seat and anticipate my wife maybe thinking the pegs are tight. I've read many of the threads on this forum about lowering pegs and Sargent seats and different windscreens. I added it up today what it would cost to make all of the comfort mods and it came up around $1,100-$1,300 depending on what you choose. Toss in some scary stories about clutch splines and FD failures and it makes me wonder if I should invest in the mods for my 40,000mi used bike.

Jeesh, that was a whiny paragraph.

Anyways, I love to hear about others who get a lot of miles on their bikes and take long tips. I would like to use this bike for some touring but I first need to be able to ride home from work comfortably. I can deal with the wind and scrunchy legs so I think maybe a seat mod would help keep me from sliding forward which seems to be the issue. Lower foot pegs may help get the ergos right. Not really interested in adding more height given my inseam. So, anyone have any success (or failures) with doing a DIY seat mod?

[P_Jensen]

I have about the same dimensions as you 5'7" with a 29/30" inseam, when I had my R1150R I went through a few mods looking for comfort as well. In the end the simplest mod had the most postive effect. Started with a corbin seat, the improvement to cost ratio was not worth it. I then tried a set of Wunderlich footpeg lowering brackets, improved the seat to peg relationship (more than I needed) but made putting the bike on the centerstand a exercise in of it self. Then I installed a set of SW Motech On/Off Road footpegs, these have two positions the upper one is 3/8" lower than the stock R1150R pegs and the lower adds another 1/2" drop (which is 7/8" lower than stock). With these pegs I was able to use the stock low seat when completing a Saddle Sore 1000 on my way home from the MOA Rally. I could use them in the high position when riding in New England and when I planned on long trips I would drop them to the lower position. The R1150R is not a listed fitment on Twisted Throttle's website but the ones for a F650CS fit fine. For your passenger, if you can find a passenger comfort seat it will make a big difference, it is about 1-1/4" taller than the stock passenger seat and is wider with more of a traditional bucket shape (less sliding back).

[racurley]

Thanks. Will look those pegs.

There's a cool website, http://cycle-ergo.com/ that lets you select your bike and enter your height and inseam. It then places a figure on the bike to approximate the ergos: forward lean angle, knee angle, hip angle. You can also tell it to put your feet on the ground so you can see how flat-footed you might be. I used it a lot when comparing bikes but I was more focused on the foot down aspect.

On the R1150R I'm leaning forward 17 degrees, knees are at 85 degrees, hips are 81 degrees. With no mods. The bar backs reduced the forward lean and increased hips. An RT, in comparison, has a 0 degree lean, with 90 and 98 knee/hip angles.

Now, if we could figure out a way to apply adjustments to the bike to update the ergos, that would be cool.

[P_Jensen]

Under vehicle customization, If you - the peg rise you will see the difference with the peg lowering 86.5 knee angle 82.5 hip with 3/8" lowering and 89 knee and 84.5 hip with 7/8" lowering

[racurley]

Duh. It's right there. Just what I wanted. Gives a great visual to the adjustment.

[racurley]

I wonder if anyone has tried an M-Factory Shiinobi adjustai footpeg. See them on Ebay for like $55. From Hong Kong. They have ones to fit BMW but I don't see a specific one for an R1150R. Not sure what might be comparable bike. They work sort of like the MFW Vario.

[P_Jensen]

I went with the SW Motech's for the adjustabilty and comfort of the larger footpeg. If you did not want the rubber footpads you could gain another 1/4" of leg room. I found the 3/8" in the upper position was enough to eliminate the pinch at the hip joint which made all the difference in the comfort of the bike with the stock seat.

[skylarmav1]

Love this forum-never knew that website existed. Very cool. http://cycle-ergo.com