Having a custom seat made

Posted March 11, 2004

Introduction

When I got the Le Mans back in 2002, one of my goals was that it should be a comfortable and capable distance bike. To that end, it has side cases, a more comfortable set of handlebars and footpegs, etc. It will soon have a built-in intercom and radio. But, as I mentioned in my Leavenworth ride report, the seat was in need of some serious reshaping.

When I found myself in possession of a little bit of extra cash, I decided the time was right to get my seat fixed up. I live about 10 blocks from Rich's Custom Upholstery, who have been getting more and more into the custom motorcycle seat market. They have some pictures on their site of the kind of work they do. I've also heard from other motorcyclists that their work is pretty good.

So, I made an appointment at Rich's for the last Monday, and prepared to get myself a new seat.

A Gentle Cupping

The idea of all the custom seats out there is that they reduce pressure hotspots by spreading it out around your bottom. Stock seats are uncomfortable in long distance riding because they're designed to be comfy when sitting on the bike in the showroom. They're also designed to fit a large variety of people, which means that they don't actually fit anyone well.

So, in order to get a comfortable seat, you want to have one that is practically a mold of your butt, and places you in a comfortable position fore-and-aft. This spreads out the pressure so that, instead of a few small points supporting all your weight, the weight's distributed across your whole bottom. It's the same concept that means you can comfortably walk across a snow bank with snowshoes on, when you'd sink up to your knees with regular boots.

In order to enhance this butt-molding ability even more, most custom seat manufacturers use a gel insert. The gel most closely resembles very soft Gummi Bear material in consistency.

Building The Seat

When I dropped in to Rich's, I was an hour and a half late for the appointment I'd made, so the plan was to split the seat building time across that day and the beginning of the next. I introduced myself, and Rich had me pull the bike into the shop, which is in the basement floor of its building. As soon as I had the seat off, he accepted it from me and grabbed a drill. As we were chatting, he drilled out the rivets holding on the silly grab-strap. As soon as he was done with that, he passed it to an assistant, who removed all the staples and the existing cover in a few minutes, and handed it back to him. I was amazed at how fast they were working, since in order to do this kind of work by myself would have me considering each step very carefully and proceeding with extreme care. Of course, they do this every day, and their days of beginner-borne caution were behind them.

Rich had me sit on the bike in about the riding position I normally use, although he had me scoot backwards a bit more than I ride. He traced a line on the now-exposed seat foam, and had one of his assistants glue a 1.5" thick piece of foam to the driver area of the seat. When he got it back, Rich started cutting it down with an industrial-strength electric knife, shaping it into a much more butt-shaped concavity than it had been before. I was impressed with his facility with the electric knife.

Soon, the seat was to his liking, and he had me sit down on it (sans cover), and see what I thought. I did, and said it felt alright, although there seemed to be a bit of a ridge under each leg. He had me go out for a quick test drive, so I suited up and spent 5 minutes going up and down Aurora. I found the seat to be oddly uncomfortable, which I quickly decided was because I was "supposed" to be sitting further back than I was. I rode back into the shop, and conveyed my opinion on it. He marked the amount forward he thought the seat should go, and told me to come back in the morning.

The next day, I showed up just as they were opening at 8:30. One of his assistants (Rich wasn't there yet) laid on some more foam when I told him what I'd decided the previous evening. He reshaped it to put my ass further forward, and bade me give it a test-sit. I did so, and it was much closer to what I wanted. He asked me to go give it a test drive, to make sure it was about right. I did, and proclaimed it "pretty good." It was very close to what I wanted, and I didn't really know how to tell them other ways it might be improved.

They took the seat back to the gel area, and laid out a sort of rounded-triangle shaped gel mat on the seat, getting it ready to cut. I didn't see most of what the gel guy was doing, but he managed to get a perfectly mat-shaped hole cut, and the gel inserted into it with minimal futzing. Since this was the point at which the seat couldn't really be modified further, they glued a foam cover on it and had me go for a longish test ride, after making a cover pattern using heavy plastic sheeting.

I suited up again, and spent about 40 minutes out riding. The seat was pretty much right, but felt odd. I couldn't tell if it was the kind of odd that would go away, or if it needed to be modified further. At one point I thought the seating platform needed to be tipped back, then later I thought it needed to be tipped forward. I decided that since I couldn't decide how it could be improved, that would be good enough.

I showed up again to find the leather cover constructed and ready to be applied to the seat. The cover guy took the seat from me, and sprayed it down with adhesive. After about five very careful fittings, it was finally aligned to his satisfaction, and he proceeded to staple the cover to the seat pan, and trim it down.

That, as they say, was it. I had a beautiful new seat.

Final Product

The outcome of this product is an amazingly seductive seat. It sounds almost silly to say it, but every time I pass by it, I have an urge to sit on it. For the first 10-12 times I passed by, I did sit on it. It just looks so fabulous, and feels pretty good to boot.

Unfortunately, the opportunity to sit on my luscious new seat has been curtailed as of this writing. The Le Mans is in for warranty work right now, and I was only able to put in about 20 miles before it went into the shop. I'll have more to report after I perform the recommended 500-1500 mile break-in, and the seat is a bit more suited to my anatomy.

Created by Ian Johnston. Questions? Please mail me.