TOPIC:

Well I had my seat off today and decided to lower the drivers section by cutting the foam. I removed the leather and strap and cut out a large section (about 2 1/2 -2 3/4 inches down) to make the seat sort of stepped. Then I put a chunk of much denser foam (about 1/2 inch thick) under the stock foam to give it about the same amount of "cushion". It is now about 2 1/4 inches lower, and feels great. I still need to finish streaching the leather back over it, It was pretty cold and I figure a heat gun or hair dryer should help when I try it again as its not quite tight enough.
DanOz7Five0 gave me the idea awhile back, as he did something very similar.
I reccomend this mod to anyone as it lowers your center of gravity, and will help you keep from sliding back on hard launches (at the track or just the street lights against a crotch rocket)
(I'll gets pics as soon as I can borrow the dig cam again)
Scott

Cool! That's what I need to do. What did you use to cut the foam?

DanOz7Five0 reccommended using an electric knife (like for cutting turkey or bread) and smoothing it out with a belt sander, but I just used a sharp hunting knife and a grinder (yes normally for metal ) it worked fine for me.

I did pretty much the same thing to the seat on my 650 last year.
Actually, I had to do it more out of necessity than desire.
The PO of my bike had cut a square into the center section where the driver sits, shaved it down about 2", then placed the square piece back in there.
Of course the sides around that square flared out and started hanging out from beneath the cover, which was cracking anyway.

I adhered that square piece to the sides again, then shaped the back portion of the drivers area using a large bread knife (I've heard electric carving knives also work great for this) to form sort of a pocket, similar to a Corbin Gunfighter seat.
$5 worth of Marine grade vinyl (the kind with the simulated grain) and two hours later, I'm stylin' again!

The vinyl kind of "pooched" where it rises up. But after riding it out to Vegas for the BikeFest, the heat and my butt smoothed it out for the most part and it looks/feels pretty decent now.
It's not a pro re-cover by any means. But sure a lot better than paying an upholstery shop $50+ and waiting a week for them to get around to it.




I'll try to take some better pics tomorrow when it's still light out and post them then.

Post edited by: RetroRiceRocketRider, at: 2006/04/18 22:57

Sorry to hog in on your thread but.....the fairing you have on your bike,where did you buy it? & how did you install it? Is it secured well,or does it vibrate alot?
Reason I'm asking is that I have one but the pleixglass broke when I dropped it. But I did install it (after taping the plexi)but it kinda vibrates. Just curious....Thanks....JC

77KZ650 wrote:

Well I had my seat off today and decided to lower the drivers section by cutting the foam. I removed the leather and strap and cut out a large section (about 2 1/2 -2 3/4 inches down) to make the seat sort of stepped. Then I put a chunk of much denser foam (about 1/2 inch thick) under the stock foam to give it about the same amount of "cushion". It is now about 2 1/4 inches lower, and feels great. I still need to finish streaching the leather back over it, It was pretty cold and I figure a heat gun or hair dryer should help when I try it again as its not quite tight enough.
DanOz7Five0 gave me the idea awhile back, as he did something very similar.
I reccomend this mod to anyone as it lowers your center of gravity, and will help you keep from sliding back on hard launches (at the track or just the street lights against a crotch rocket)
(I'll gets pics as soon as I can borrow the dig cam again)
Scott

Any pics yet?? I'd like to try that myself...JC

johnny chop wrote:

Any pics yet?? I'd like to try that myself...JC

haha not yet, I just started this post tonight:P maybe in a couple days if I get the cam;)

Post edited by: 77KZ650, at: 2006/04/18 23:47

Im glad to hear you liked the way it turned out, thanks for the recognition also. Do you have pics yet?

Someday I will be doing another one, then I will take some pics of the progress (but then my wife has evidence that I used her electric knife)

I havent gotten around to recovering my seat, but as 4R said, its getting to fit better with more miles now.

77KZ650 wrote:

johnny chop wrote:

Any pics yet?? I'd like to try that myself...JC

haha not yet, I just started this post tonight:P maybe in a couple days if I get the cam;)<br><br>Post edited by: 77KZ650, at: 2006/04/18 23:47

I'll be waitin........ JC

My very petite girlfriend has a 1998 or so Ninja her brother gave her. I know there's a couple of other ways to lower the Ninja that we'll probably do, but to your knowledge can the Ninja seat be cut down in the same way? Even to lose an inch or so?

crd wrote:

...can the Ninja seat be cut down in the same way? Even to lose an inch or so?

I would think that it would depend on how thick the foam is, theres lots to work with on the KZ seat, not sure about the Ninja. have a look at it, if theres lots, I would think it would be ok to cut some off. just dont make it so thin that its too hard. if you can find a thin peice of denser foam, maybe try putting it under the stock foam like I did so I could cut more out and still have enough "cushion".

Oh, and I should have pics up tomorrow night guys

Post edited by: 77KZ650, at: 2006/04/19 19:09

johnny chop wrote:

Sorry to hog in on your thread but.....the fairing you have on your bike,where did you buy it? & how did you install it? Is it secured well,or does it vibrate alot?
JC

I bought it at my local motorcycle mega-stealership, and it's identical to the ones you see listed on eBay.
Same price too - $45. The only diff is that I had to pay tax on it. Still a whole lot cheaper than what a lot of eBay sellers lately seem to be trying to gouge folks for on shipping and "handling" charges.

It came with two rinky-dink slotted pieces of metal, directions to bend them to shape into brackets, and mounting screws/nuts.
I bent them into a "V" shape and mounted one side in the pre-drilled holes in the fairing, and the other side to the side bolts on the headlight bucket.
So basically it's only one bolt per side on the fairing that is holding it onto the bike.
About 3 years later with multiple 100+ speeds and it's still in the same position.
Yes, it does vibrate some. I remedied that by splitting some 1/4" fuel line in half lengthwise, and then using it as sort of a moulding around the headlight opening.
I also cut two rectangular pieces from an old bicycle inner tube to place in between the bracket and the fairing to get rid of the "buzzing" vibration sound from there as well.

Sorry for my high-jack of this thread as well.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled seat fab thread in progress.