Hey guys I've been looking at seats for a long time. Personally I don't have a problem with the stock seat but my wife is kind of small with a petite build and she is never comfortable on the GS because the seat is too wide for her. It chaps my ass to hear her tell me the KLR was more comfortable... NOT going back there! Anyway was looking at the Sargent rear seat and it looks like it is built with a rise at the front to keep from sliding forward and tapers down much narrower than the stocker. If you have that setup, check with your wives, girlfriends, and mistresses, and see what they think! And before you even say it, I'm not into the Russell with the huge butt cup shape, neither of us is shaped like that and I can't see that working for us.
The wife reports that the Sargent is much better than the stock seat. I also added a back-up back rest.
Troy, We have about 18000 miles on the Sargent rear & my wife says that it is a better ride than the stock for the reasons that you state above. I have the Top Box with the back pad on the bike. Sometimes she has a red spot in the small of her back from being against it. We guess that the rearward slope on the Sargent rear may have a little to do with this. A minor gripe for an overall better ride she says. Good luck, it was a big choice for me as well.
I'm on my second Sargent seat on my second GSA and the wife loves them. She say she is more cofortable than she was on the Harley.
I have the Sargent with a top box also. The wife reports that it is much better than stock, however I did have her try an Airhawk this year and she likes this the best with the top box. So you might give that a try first.
I see this is on a 1200GS, on my 1150 I added a Sargent pillion seat and raised the pass. foot pegs 1.5". My wife is 5'5" tall. This combined with a bit of a back rest on the Givi top box was all she needed for 9 hr. days. Some times a sheep skin as well.
I went from a GSA pillion seat to a GS because it was a better shape. I have a Sargent front and am thinking of adding a Sargent pillion, but the wife likes the combo of the GS pillion and a sheepskin just fine. So for now I'll save the money.
We do the Airhawk ting already and it does help. I had it on the front and decided to make a bead cover from a 6$ Wally World seat cover and it worked so good that the Airhawk lives on the back seat now. Backrest helps too, I've tried a small generic top case, not bad. We have a BMW Softbag 2 which is great as a back rest too as long as you keep it stuffed somewhat full. Still think that narrower seat will help her out the most. Gotta get through the stupid holidays and then I'll pull the trigger on it in the spring.
Brought home the rear seat when I picked up mine. Wife didn't like the hump so I sent it back. She likes to keep her knees in close and felt like it was restricting her. She is happy on the stock seat with an Airhawk and back rest on the top case.
First time my wife sat on the Sargent seat she said she hated it and wanted the stock GSA seat back on. After we went for a ride she said forget about going back to the stocker. Says the Sargent is much more comfortable, especially with the heated seat option. She is 5'2" . For the front seat I found that raising the front mounts up about 5/8" keeps my rear in the sweet spot in the seat, where it seemed I was always sliding forward a little before the mod. I'm 6'3". Doug
My 5'5" wife likes the Sargent heated pillion much better than the OEM for reasons stated above. The only thing she doesn't like (besides me) is there are no arm rests on the padded Jesse top-box like our old Harley had. After being married for 44 years, we hit on the perfect compromise: She doesn't ride with me much anymore. "I'm so miserable without you it's like having you here." Mike
My 5' 6" wife has tried numerous seats on my GSA, including the stocker, Sargent, Corbin and a custom built Rick Mayer. She never cared much for any of them for various reasons, and has ended up with a standard GS (not GSA) passenger seat with an Airhawk wrapped in slip-proof shelf liner. Worked great for her on our 5,100 mile cross country trip last June as well as all of our more local riding. Obviously no one-size-fits-all answer here, and good luck in your search.
I've a Sargent on me DL1000 and my small sized wife rides comfortably with a H&B top case and passenger back pad.
