[enumclaw]

Don't tear the foam completely down to the plastic. The existing foam is a good base to work from. I cut the hump between the pilot and passenger down and went from there. I am 6'-5" so I wanted it taller anyway obviously.

Rebond foam is a nice, firm choice for building the seat out on top of that. That's like the multicolored carpet padding, only the stuff I use I get in 1" and 2" thicknesses. 3M spray adhesive or equivalent to attach the pieces. I use an electric carving knife to get the rough shape I want, then an orbital sanding disk on the end of my drill to round the edges and get the final shape. A 1" thick piece of soft foam on top when complete, many miles with a temporary cover for the inevitable tweaks and adjustments, then off to my local upholstery guy for the final cover.

 

[Fire Terp]

Sadly I have to replace the pilot seat foam entirety. My old wee seat was destroyed due to vandalism.... I already have taken a firm piece of foam and carved it to fit onto the base. Now I need to shape it and cut it to the right size. I think I am going to reuse the passenger section to keep it simple. What material did you use for your temporary cover?

 

[enumclaw]

My wife picked up some kind of semi water resistant fabric for seat cushions at a sewing store. A big chunk of hideous colored stuff for like $2. A few staples are all you need to hold while you're checking out the fit.

 

[MoDaddy]

Anyone have any tips or suggestions? I am a college kid so cheap is good :thumbup:

Go to the local thrift store and buy the electric carving knife.
Practice on any old foam you can find. Practice some more.

Make very thin slices, going front to back.

Multiple layers of 1/2" thick foam is better than one layer of 2" thick foam.

If you have any dense foam, make that your base layer.
Use the softest foam as the top layer.

When you have it right, it will look too tall. Then stretch the fabric down snug to get the shape you want.

.

 

[sweetcreek]

this sounds crazy

The Corbin on my RoadStar cruiser was way too hard. To make more comfy, I P/U a red kneeling pad from ACE H/W (they make at least 2 sizes), cut away some of the Corbin, 3M glued the kneeling pad, trimmed it up with a filet knife. Not perfect (like my Russell Day Long) BUT way better than sitting on a rock hard Corbin.
It's a closed cell foam, fairly soft, tough, easy to work with.

 

[Stromin'Nroman]

I bought some 1-5/8" thick closed-cell foam at a fabric store.
I cut oa flat spot on the operator's section of the seat.
I cut a tractor seat-shaped piece of foam and laid it over the seat.
I test sat and marked the seat where i wanted more support.
I bolstered the sides with wedge-shaped peices of foam for enhanced hip support - key to my comfort.
I glued this all together with 3M upholstery spray adhesive.
I tried memory foam over this, but it really didn't improve comfort for me.

I'll post up some pictures when I find them.

 

[sempervee]

I bought a Corbin and had a professional add more foam and cush to it ..... The standard Corbin is wide enough but far too hard for me.

 

[crispy]

I too am thinking of some seat mods, I find the stocker has no real support,, what I'm wondering, after reading all sorts of posts on seat mods, here and on other sites,, it seems that in none of the posts I've read does anybody glue in some flat hard plastic to cover the slots in the seat pan,, it seems to me that if your not sitting on a plastic fireplace grate , then it won't take as much foam to make your ass comfortable , I've fixed a few seats on bikes in the past, and correct me if I'm wrong , but the first thing to do is make the seat pan as smooth and bump free as possible, then work on shapes and padding.

 

[rhbell]

Here's what I modified on my DL650 about 3 months after purchase. I did have the luxury of a neighbour who is a professional upholster who provided some advice re: foam placement and shaping - after observing me sitting on the bike and both flat-footing it from seated as well as from standing.

I remover the stock covering and foam, added 1.25 inches of fairly firm memory foam over the driver portion of the seat (I ride alone so no mods were done to passenger section other than to pad the junction of two positions by extended the memory foam from the drivers position back about 3/4" farther along the passenger point). The memory foam was sculpted narrower at front than stock (Padding on sides at the very front isn't as vital to have at the same thickness as the top and allows you to reach the ground easier. I put the stock foam back on over top of the memory foam and was able with slight compression to reuse the existing fabric to attach to the seat pan. You need a good air-driven upholsterers staple gun to put staples into the plastic seat pan - since I do a little upholstery myself once in a while I treated myself to one - a regular spring loaded stapler will likely not do it. Alternatively, you could probably take your mod / seat to an upholster who could do it in about 10 minutes (I never miss an opportunity to turn a job into a new tool purchase).

This has allowed me to go from a 45-60 minute seat to an easy 3 hours seat which is as far as I'd ever want to go without a stretch. For reference I'm 6ft 3 ", 265 lbs. with a 33 inch inseam.

memory foam - approx $12
staple gun - air driven: ~$100 Optional
neighbour who's built several and done it: Priceless!

 

[rhbell]

Forgot to mention - if you don't have an electric carving knife, any good sharp fish filleting knfe works as well.

The suggestion to put the soft foam on top of what you already sculpted is a real time saver since you will go a long way towards smooth shaping of the underlying memory foam (after the rough shaping).

Safe Rides

 

[crispy]

I still say that the first thing to do should be to use a thin piece of 1/16 plastic or fiberglass to cover the seat pan ,with all those stupid grooves ,, make it flat and smooth , then work on the padding, or is there some reason everyone likes to heap up tons of foam , without fixing the base? any comments?

 

[rhbell]

crispy:
you raise a good point. The open segments in my o6 seat were only about 1/4 wide and didn't think they would be a problem at the time (and still don't) but it's a point to consider. I'm not sure of design of other seat pans on other model years. I put the memory foam underneath and as it was much more stiff, probably less likelihood of it spilling through the gaps and reducing the padding.

Seats I think are largely subjective. In my case, being a larger size rider, I found not so much overall uncomfortability with the stock seat as I did more pressure-points, mostly tailbone on longer rides. I found if I shifted back, the discomfort went away. The other area was on the inner thigh portion. I had decided to try this resculpting / repadding route first and to move the seating position back about 3/4 " on the advice of my neighbour, who has in the past modified quite a few cruiser seats for more solo-oriented use. So far I've been pleased as it fits how long and how I ride.

Safe rides