Reshaping My Seat - A How To

[Superzoom]

Some of us have come to the conclusion that the FZ6R seat leaves something to be desired. I find that after half an hour, the seat begins to hurt in certain pressure points, and gets a lot worse as time goes on.

Here's why I think the seat is uncomfortable:

a) The seat is small (like all sport bike seats). Too little surface area means your weight is carried on a small part of your butt.
b) The seat is not ergonomic. It doesn't cradle your butt and is designed mostly for sleek looks.
c) The seat has a pronounced forward slope. This position both pushes you forward and puts pressure on your coccyx.

So I bit the bullet and reshaped the stock seat of my bike, hoping to remedy problems b) and c). I think the result was a success. My seat went from being a 4/10 for long term comfort to a 7/10.


Here's how I did it...

First I removed the staples on the back 3/4 of the seat using a small flat screwdriver. Pull the cover forward, exposing the seat foam.

Then I began reshaping the foam. There are multiple methods for doing this. You can either cut the foam, or you can sand the foam. Both work well, but I find cutting the foam leaves a rough finish with carving marks, so I think using both cutting and sanding is the best of both worlds. Sanding allows for smoother contours and transitions.

Cutting is done with a knife. I've read many recommendations for using an electric carving knife (for turkeys). I was being cheap, plus I knew that I would be smoothing the cuts with sanding, so I used a very sharp kitchen knife with a long blade.

Sanding can be done with a portable grinder or a power sander. I ended up using a big curved file instead of a sander to minimize the mess, since I live in a condo and have nowhere to do messy sanding.

So I first used my knife and began taking thin slices off the seat starting near the front. I went fairly slow so that I could see the effects of each pass. My goal was to make the main portion of the seat perfectly flat. Some of the best seats are flat, and some are more anatomically contoured, but I think you can't go wrong with a flat foam seat. A flat seat does not push you into one position and it creates no strange pressure points when you're sitting with a slight forward lean.

I left a slight upward curve at the very back of the seat to give a slight cradling effect on the back of the butt. I don't think it hurt or really helped too much. I think flat all the way back would have worked just as well.

Once I was happy with the flatness of the foam, I took a big long file which has one flat side and one curved side. The curved side was actually very rough, almost like a rasp. I used the curved side and began to smooth out the seat, removing any knife marks, and taking areas down that seemed too high. The quality of both the cutting phases depends entirely on your hand and eye, so if you're patient and you're precise, you'll get good results. I couldn't smooth out all the knife marks and gouges as I'd been a little butcher like with my cutting.

You want your cutting and filing to be as smooth as possible, because bumps and imperfections will be somewhat visible through the seat cover. It doesn't have to be glass smooth, but try to avoid lumps and bumps.

You can see in one of the pictures how much foam material I removed. It takes quite a bit to make the seat flat. But there is plenty left for padding.

When I was satisfied with my filing, I used a vacuum and cleaned the seat, foam and cover.

Then I used a manual staple gun with 1/4" staples (don't get any longer ones because the seat pan is quite thin) and began to staple the cover back onto the seat pan. I started at the very back, stretching the material fairly tightly. Then I worked my way to either side, finishing the back. Then I did the sides.

Done!

The end result is a seat that is good for more than double the time of the original seat. Frankly it feels really good when you first sit in it. The original seat just felt weird to me. It's now not an all-day seat. I'd say it's good for about two hours, and then the usual pressure point sore spots begin to creep up. It's still at least 100% better than the original seat. In order to make it an all-day comfortable seat, it would simply need to be bigger.

From start to finish, this whole mod took me just over an hour. I was a bit surprised by how easy it was. Leading up to it, I was debating about getting it done professionally, or buying a grinder and finding a place to do it. I'm glad I went simple, using a knife and a file. I would imagine you would have very good success using an electric knife and a grinder as well, but I was avoiding expense and mess.

The total cost to me was $15--$3 for the staples, and $12 for the file.

I'll probably get a good touring saddle at some point, but I'm pretty happy with the new seat. This is how the seat should have come stock.

[Superzoom]

Here are some pics of the process...

[Superzoom]

Here are more pics. You can see the amount of foam I removed in one of the pics.

[J.J.]

Nice mod and it looks like you shaped it nicely!
I've been emailing back and forth with Spencers and think I am sending mine out next week for the LD mod.
Nice work though and make sure to give us all an update when you get more saddle time.

[Superzoom]

And here are some pics of the seat on its maiden flight, a "little" two day, 1800 km ride from Toronto to Halifax, 30% curvy back roads (through Maine and New Brunswick).

I went a little overboard and rode 1400 km straight on the second day. My ass definitely hurt four hours into the ride, but it didn't get progressively too much worse. I honestly don't think I could have survived on the stock seat.

[Superzoom]

Hi JJ,

Please let us know how Spencers works out. What's the price on that?

[bestmapman]

Superzoom, what bags do you have.

[Marthy]

I really love your bike! I'm heading that way too. I'm working on a custom windscreen now, ordered a new set of handlebar and got a 16/38 drive for smooth freeway driving. I really want to get a set of those hard case too. Might be my christmas present for myself... Great Job! enjoy your ride.

[MC#4]

Hey, Great write-up. This looks like a very worthwhile mod. The factory seat definately needs something. I was thinking of a corbin or seat cushion, but I think I will try this first.

[J.J.]

Originally Posted by Superzoom

Hi JJ,

Please let us know how Spencers works out. What's the price on that?

$75 plus the shipping to and from. I'm sending it out Monday. I think I will take some before and after pics. Yours looks pretty darn good tho and has got me thinking.....