texascanuck
New Member
I got tired of tormenting myself over what to do about the stock seat and decided to take a shot at reshaping it myself. I know seat comfort is extremely subjective and personal, so I post this not for others to necessarily replicate the seat shape I came up with, but to share the process and show that customizing your seat yourself is not that difficult and doesn't have to be expensive. I started out by buying a used seat in like-new condition off eBay for $60. One benefit of buying a second seat it I still have the original seat if I totally mess up the modified one. Also, I'll have a good seat pan for a Seat Concepts kit if my modifications don't work out. I modeled the new shape on a seat I find very comfortable from one of my other bikes.
This is the seat I used as the model shape with the reshaped seat behind it and the stock seat in the back:
Test fitting:
The aftermath...
I found after cutting the rough shape with the electric carving knife that using the sanding disc in the drill on the slowest speed was much more effective and controllable for smoothing and fine tuning the shape. I initially used the sanding disc in a die grinder but it's much too fast and cuts too aggressively which makes it very easy to screw things up very quickly
I had to do quite a bit of stretching to re-fit the original cover tightly enough so it followed the new contour. I also used more than twice as many staples to secure the cover because the added tension from the additional stretching would have torn it where the staples penetrate the vinyl otherwise.
I think the results look pretty good. There is some minor telegraphing of the imperfect foam surface that can be seen if you know to look for it. I suppose a thin sheet of 1/4" foam or some other batting material as top layer would help with smoothing it out more, but I didn't have any laying around.
So, a little bit about my specific problem with the stock seat to help explain why I chose the new shape I came up with. It's not really even that the stock seat is all that uncomfortable. What happens though is I get numbness in my legs and feet after an hour or so, which I've never experienced on any other bike I've owned or ridden. I think this is caused by the sharp edge transition from the top to the sides cutting into the back of my legs and maybe the flatness of the top. I figured if the edges and nose of the seat were a little more rounded and the main/widest part were slightly crowned in the middle it would help. We'll see.
I haven't ridden on it long-distance yet, but I did sit on it for about 30 minutes in my shop last night and so far, it's much more comfortable. I'll follow-up with a ride report once I've done a 200-300 mile day on the new seat, maybe this weekend.
This is the seat I used as the model shape with the reshaped seat behind it and the stock seat in the back:
Test fitting:
The aftermath...
I found after cutting the rough shape with the electric carving knife that using the sanding disc in the drill on the slowest speed was much more effective and controllable for smoothing and fine tuning the shape. I initially used the sanding disc in a die grinder but it's much too fast and cuts too aggressively which makes it very easy to screw things up very quickly
I had to do quite a bit of stretching to re-fit the original cover tightly enough so it followed the new contour. I also used more than twice as many staples to secure the cover because the added tension from the additional stretching would have torn it where the staples penetrate the vinyl otherwise.
I think the results look pretty good. There is some minor telegraphing of the imperfect foam surface that can be seen if you know to look for it. I suppose a thin sheet of 1/4" foam or some other batting material as top layer would help with smoothing it out more, but I didn't have any laying around.
So, a little bit about my specific problem with the stock seat to help explain why I chose the new shape I came up with. It's not really even that the stock seat is all that uncomfortable. What happens though is I get numbness in my legs and feet after an hour or so, which I've never experienced on any other bike I've owned or ridden. I think this is caused by the sharp edge transition from the top to the sides cutting into the back of my legs and maybe the flatness of the top. I figured if the edges and nose of the seat were a little more rounded and the main/widest part were slightly crowned in the middle it would help. We'll see.
I haven't ridden on it long-distance yet, but I did sit on it for about 30 minutes in my shop last night and so far, it's much more comfortable. I'll follow-up with a ride report once I've done a 200-300 mile day on the new seat, maybe this weekend.
