I am looking to improve the stock seat on my 04 gs500f, and i am looking for opinions and suggestions.
I know someone who does Upholstery work, and was thinking of having him replace the foam that is in the seat, as i find it to be very hard and is uncomfortable after only an hour. I was also thinking of having him change the shape of the passenger area in order for it to hold onto the rider better
Here is a rough drawing of the idea: the passenger area will be more blow like so that back and forth movement is reduced, also shorting the amount of room the driver has to move back and fourth.
(http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/LetsBeFriends010/2004-suz-g5-02-2.jpg)
has anyone ever attempted this sorta thing, or a better idea is also welcome, my main concern is making the seat softer, the lip for the passenger is not as important.
I know Corbin made a seat for the 89-2000 model.. no clue on the F model. Adidasguy has a custom seat for his F from Germany, I believe.
Here's the Corbin on my bike. #1 (http://i.imgur.com/LG0mO.jpg) #2 (http://i.imgur.com/DKXpv.jpg)
Not sure what you could do to improve the stock seat though.
I'd love to be good at modifying seats. It's definitely something I'd like to learn someday.
Jared does upholstery work, he made a custom seat similar to that a while back. PM him for some pics.
-Jessie
Quote from: LetsBeFriends on May 18, 2011, 04:57:10 PM
I am looking to improve the stock seat on my 04 gs500f, and i am looking for opinions and suggestions.
I know someone who does Upholstery work, and was thinking of having him replace the foam that is in the seat, as i find it to be very hard and is uncomfortable after only an hour. I was also thinking of having him change the shape of the passenger area in order for it to hold onto the rider better
Here is a rough drawing of the idea: the passenger area will be more blow like so that back and forth movement is reduced, also shorting the amount of room the driver has to move back and fourth.
(http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/LetsBeFriends010/2004-suz-g5-02-2.jpg)
has anyone ever attempted this sorta thing, or a better idea is also welcome, my main concern is making the seat softer, the lip for the passenger is not as important.
I did that to one seat that I sold.The sliding person problem lies within the vinyl cover.An upholstery shop that knows anything about motorcycle seats will have the non polished vinyl.I used 1/2 inch high density foam like exercise pads and then 1 inch regular seat foam.It was pretty cushy for a 200lb person.I would have kept the seat but I needed money and I am working on a one piece solo tail fairings.
I enjoy the new seat I got from Germany. A little softer than the stock seat. Looks really cool. Has the bump so you don't slide back.
(Got one for my 2009-F and the seat in the back is for Trey, my 1994 "E")
(http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb442/adidasguy/IMGP0968a.jpg)
"I did that to one seat that I sold.The sliding person problem lies within the vinyl cover.An upholstery shop that knows anything about motorcycle seats will have the non polished vinyl.I used 1/2 inch high density foam like exercise pads and then 1 inch regular seat foam.It was pretty cushy for a 200lb person.I would have kept the seat but I needed money and I am working on a one piece solo tail fairings."
so are you saying that changing the shape of the foam will not be needed if a new type of cover is put on?
"I enjoy the new seat I got from Germany. A little softer than the stock seat. Looks really cool. Has the bump so you don't slide back.
(Got one for my 2009-F and the seat in the back is for Trey, my 1994 "E")"
would you be willing to tell me where I could find those?
Here is a link to where I got the seats:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Suzuki-Sitzbank-GS-500E-Komfort-Umbau-/270684519477?pt=Motorrad_Kraftradteile&hash=item3f060dfc35
http://stores.ebay.com/be-ziehungen?_trksid=p4340.l2563
He didn't list seats for the "F". I asked and he was able to do it. Usually you send your seat then he recovers it. I explained I was in the US and that was not practical, so he charged an extra 25 or so Euros to get a seat. You have many choices of color, embroidery and stitching color. The guy was really nice. If you mention you saw the seat he did for the ebay buyer "LAJKO" it might go easier. We exchanged email photos first to insure it was the correct seat. You can also email him my photo as a reminder.
I'm sure he could add extra padding if you asked. I did a 3 hour ride with the new seat. My buttocks was not sore at all. I like it over the stock seat.
If you do ebay searches, the german word for seat is "sitzbank". Do a search then at the end click "also show international sellers". You can also search ebay.de or ebay.com.uk
Quote from: LetsBeFriends on May 18, 2011, 04:57:10 PM
I am looking to improve the stock seat on my 04 gs500f, and i am looking for opinions and suggestions.
I know someone who does Upholstery work, and was thinking of having him replace the foam that is in the seat, as i find it to be very hard and is uncomfortable after only an hour. I was also thinking of having him change the shape of the passenger area in order for it to hold onto the rider better
Here is a rough drawing of the idea: the passenger area will be more blow like so that back and forth movement is reduced, also shorting the amount of room the driver has to move back and fourth.
(http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/LetsBeFriends010/2004-suz-g5-02-2.jpg)
has anyone ever attempted this sorta thing, or a better idea is also welcome, my main concern is making the seat softer, the lip for the passenger is not as important.
Οk, you can watch what i have done for my seat...http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=55574.0
(http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/8861/bikepic.jpg)
I love my seat. Gel seat from France, www.topsellerie.com
Great communication, great shipping. Just expensive. My seat was the last gs500 seat they had on sale. I got it for 180 euros, shipping was a killer though. Had to send my core back to them.
Quote from: NickyNumbers on May 19, 2011, 04:13:25 AM
(http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/8861/bikepic.jpg)
I love my seat. Gel seat from France, www.topsellerie.com
Great communication, great shipping. Just expensive. My seat was the last gs500 seat they had on sale. I got it for 180 euros, shipping was a killer though. Had to send my core back to them.
Just excellent seat and very very nice little right side engine/pulse generator cover instead of emblem!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: LetsBeFriends on May 18, 2011, 09:36:55 PM
"I did that to one seat that I sold.The sliding person problem lies within the vinyl cover.An upholstery shop that knows anything about motorcycle seats will have the non polished vinyl.I used 1/2 inch high density foam like exercise pads and then 1 inch regular seat foam.It was pretty cushy for a 200lb person.I would have kept the seat but I needed money and I am working on a one piece solo tail fairings."
so are you saying that changing the shape of the foam will not be needed if a new type of cover is put on?
"I enjoy the new seat I got from Germany. A little softer than the stock seat. Looks really cool. Has the bump so you don't slide back.
(Got one for my 2009-F and the seat in the back is for Trey, my 1994 "E")"
would you be willing to tell me where I could find those?
A new non polished vinyl cover will not stop all sliding,but it will help with all but hard launches.I have seen some guys add tweed to the sides of the seat to give their legs some grip.
Quote from: sotomoto on May 19, 2011, 05:19:22 AM
Just excellent seat and very very nice little right side engine/pulse generator cover instead of emblem!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks! Thats a buddah cover, ask to see if he has anymore.
Obviously plenty that like that solid-step style here. It certainly looks nice.
In my butt's personal experience, it's nice to be able to shift to a slightly different position on a long ride when one-up, rather than being locked into one spot.
When I recovered my seat I added 1/2" or 1" of foam to the passenger and 2" foam to the rider position - somewhat reducing the stock step (this was just on top of the stock foam.) Don't put armor-all on the seat and no problems sliding backwards un-intentionally, in my butt's personal experience.
Quote from: NickyNumbers on May 19, 2011, 07:14:02 AM
Quote from: sotomoto on May 19, 2011, 05:19:22 AM
Just excellent seat and very very nice little right side engine/pulse generator cover instead of emblem!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks! Thats a buddah cover, ask to see if he has anymore.
That cover looks like its part of the motor on the grey motor. On teh black motors it just stands out.
Cool.
Buddha.
I have 3 seats for my other bike, 2 of them are smooth vinyl and 1 of them is a traction grip vinyl. There's a huge difference in how much I slide around when I switch seats. The step in the back is nice, but you've also gotta wait until you slide all the way to the back of your seat before you hit it. Better vinyl is definitely an easier way to go without actually having to modify your seat. In this case, I'd rather have the stock shape with grippy vinyl than a seat hump and the stock vinyl, although if you can get both you're obviously gonna get the best out of the 2 options.
Quote from: DoD#i on May 19, 2011, 08:40:15 AM
Obviously plenty that like that solid-step style here. It certainly looks nice.
In my butt's personal experience, it's nice to be able to shift to a slightly different position on a long ride when one-up, rather than being locked into one spot.
When I recovered my seat I added 1/2" or 1" of foam to the passenger and 2" foam to the rider position - somewhat reducing the stock step (this was just on top of the stock foam.) Don't put armor-all on the seat and no problems sliding backwards un-intentionally, in my butt's personal experience.
That's the reason I prefer the later F4i's with the banana seat :thumb:
-Jessie
all good points.
I've had a few rides over 2 hours long on that seat and its quite comfortable. All gel baby, oh yea!
thanks everyone for the great suggestions, i have a lot of research ahead of me. Sotomoto, i especially like what you did with yours, seems exactly what i need