Comfy Seat Mod

[Hawkerjet]

Everyone knows that the T-700 comes standard with a motocross seat. It provides limited comfort for about 40 to 50 miles unless you have a cast iron butt. I don't.

 

The main problem is the stock seat is way too narrow. If you measure across the flat area on top it is only 6 inches wide. Imagine if your toilet seat was only 6 inches across? That dog ain't gonna hunt. So my goal was to provide a much wider area to sit on. The seat pan at it's widest point is 11 inches, so if I added a good quality foam to the sides and trimmed it vertically, instead of sloping it towards the center, I could create a seat with a much wider area for my tush to luxuriate upon. My seat width on top is now 11 inches. I will tell you the juice on this project is definitely worth the squeeze.

 

Those in the auto sales world will tell you "there is an ass for every seat." Here is my take on that logic. Having done seat mods on several of my past bikes with good results I would now say: "there is a seat for every ass" and my mission, should I accept it, is to build it. Of course if I am caught or captured during my mission the secretary will disavow any knowledge of my actions.

 

The parts list and tools I used are included in one of the photo's. The construction went as follows:

 

Remove the seat cover by pulling out the staples with a small flat screw driver and needle nose plyers. Measure and mark the foam to be removed on each side. Remove seat foam from seat pan. Carefully cut along your lines with a good o'l electric carving knife. This works amazingly well to cut foam. Use some 3m 90 spray contact cement to glue the seat foam onto the seat base. 

 

Next I trimmed off the crowned top of the seat foam with the electric knife. This got rid of the crown beginning where the seat base gets to it's widest point. I trimmed off the crown towards the rear and stopped about 3/4 of an inch from the end of the foam. Your reference point is the far edge of each side. The foam should be flat from there inward to the other side. It is important to make the top of the seat flat where you sit.

 

Carefully measure and mark the black foam to fit into the open sides. Make it taller than the seat foam as you will trim it later. When you are satisfied with the fit you are ready to glue. Since you are using contact cement you only have one shot at installing the black form properly. If you don't put it properly into place on the first try you will not be able to correct it by pushing or sliding it into place.

 

What I did was glue the bottom center portion first. After it dried for a couple of hours I twisted the non glued end portions and sprayed the glue into the non glued areas. Then held the end away from it's proper position until the glue was ready to bond. Usually a couple of minutes. Then carefully placed it so all 3 sides dropped into place at the same time. Holding your mouth just right will help with this maneuver.

 

Once the sides set for an hour or two I added the additional side pieces to the side of the previously installed black foam as it was not quite wide enough to fill the space. When this set for a couple of hours I began the final trimming and shaping.

 

Take your time trimming the black foam with the electric knife. It is better to go a bit wide on a cut leaving extra material cuz you can easily remove it later. If you cut it short it's a real pain to have to glue in more foam to fix your goof. Just like the good o'l boy said: "Hey Margaret, I cut that board 3 times and it is still too short."

 

Now it's time to build the pocket right where your bum sits. I did this with my pneumatic angle grinder using a flex disc. Go easy as it will remove lots of foam in a hurry. I basically dish out about a third to a half an inch deep of the stock seat foam beginning where your tail bone sits and then forward from there slowly shallowing the cut until travel forward to about where your family jewels sit. The width of your pocket will depend on how wide your arse is. For me the width of the pocket was about an inch inward from the black foam on each side. The pocket should look like a tractor seat with the deepest part in the center and shallowing towards the sides and front.

 

Of course you will want to install the seat on the bike for a test sit. Do this until it feels just right. Then bolt it on and go for a 20 minute test ride to make sure it's right. Once you are satisfied the fit is good then it's time to re-install the cover.

 

The good news is the stock cover material has a lot of stretch so it will fit back on for this mod. I use a harbor freight pneumatic stapler to drive 1/4 inch blunt nose staples. Don't use chisel point staples or use staples longer than 1/4 inch of you could snag some of your parts on that pointy tip. Yikes!!!

 

I realize this mod could be a bit intimidating for some, but if you have the tools, time, and are good with your hands you can achieve a really good result and at the same time save a crap load of money by not buying a custom seat for $700 to $1000.

 

Remember, there is a seat just waiting for your arse too.

 

Good luck. 

 

Oops, I almost forgot. The one pic of the carpet padding build was my first attempt on this project. In the past I had gotten a good result with carpet pad but no so on this seat pan. So I executed plan B, which turned out mucho better.

 

 

 

Edited August 18 by Hawkerjet
change a couple of paragraphs

[Stagger Lee]

good job

[Noel McCutcheon]

@Hawkerjet An interesting and nice read… Love the “Holding your mouth just right will help” bit, lol,

[BikeBrother]

It took a loooong sit to read it all.  Now i feel my butt...

Nice work though!

[Hawkerjet]

Ride Report:

 

I did about 50 miles on my "new" custom seat today. 80% in the Sierra Foot hills up to about the 5000 feet elevation.

 

All I can say is O.M.G.  Night and day difference. 

 

The ride did not require standing on the pegs at all. The increase in comfort level exceeded my expectations.

 

Having an extra 5 inches of width distributed the load over a much larger area for all my sit bones and flesh.

 

Total cost for the upgrade was less than $50. Contrast that with the professional built seats that will cost you $500 to a $1000. I can say from experience that my upgraded seat is within 10% of their comfort level.

 

It was definitely worth the effort. A real win win for sure.

 

Now my butt is happy as a clam at high tide. 

 

 

Edited August 20 by Hawkerjet
add emoji