The F800GS Seat

[duck]

-1,000,000 on Rich's

Rich's in Seattle (now Kingston) built me the shittiest seat I have ever ridden upon - and it only took $550 and two full days of my time.

A while back, after much hemming and hawing, I decided to plop down $550 to have Rich customize a seat for me. I figured he was in Seattle so if I needed any fine tuning it would be easy. So I went and spent a day there. A lot of waiting around all day bullshitting with other riders and reading magazines and then around 4pm or so he sends me out on the "customized" seat with plastic over foam. I guess the concept is good but a plastic sheet sticking to your riding pants isn't a good measure of what the end product will be like.

Anyhow, I do my little test ride and really couldn't tell what the end product will feel like. So they put the leather on and off I go at about 5pm. By the end of my 10-15 minute ride home it feels like a shitty K bike seat with some gel in it and a leather cover. Whoop-de-fucking-doo. I certainly didn't feel like I'd gotten my money's worth.

I took it off when I got home and put my Corbin back on immediately. But, I'm a mellow guy, I figured I'd call him up schedule another appointment (easy because he was still in Seattle so I could just go whenever a slot opened up.)

Like I said, I'm a pretty mellow guy. When I got there, I calmly explained that what I thought I needed was something a little more scooped out (like a Corbin Dual Tour and BMW comfort seat) and that it needed to be about an inch back.

I guess he wasn't listening because what I ended up with at the end of that long second day was a seat that was flatter and hadn't been moved back at all. (I suspect he didn't want to go through the time and expense of making another cover for it.)

After another ENTIRE DAY there, what I ended up with was a seat that was flatter and higher, not moved back or scooped out like I'd requested. I was less than a block from his shop when I realized how totally fucked the seat was. It was worse than the initial one and something I wouldn't do 20 miles on unless it were an emergency of some sort. If I'd left this seat on the bike it would motivate me to never ride again. Honestly.

When I got home, I immediately took it off of the bike and it's been on the shelf since that day. I saw it there on the shelf today (GRRRR!!!) and decided to try it again. It's FUCKING AWFUL. It's kind of like sitting on one of those 1" foam plastic pads they give away at football games but, since he raised it and didn't move it back, I now also have the added pleasure of the ridge between the rider and pillion section cutting into my ass half way up.

Why haven't I gone back? I figure why bother? He didn't listen to me the first time I went back so I have no expectation that he'd ever listen to me.

I'll give him this though, he actually took the incredibly shitty OEM factory seat and made it 10X worse. That, in itself, is quite a feat.

The irony of it is that his shop has signs like "Corbin support group meets every Saturday at 8am." I did a 50CC in 36 hours, slept 6 hours and put in another 8 hours the next day on a Corbin Dual Tour. My butt felt fine. I couldn't ride to Tacoma and back (60 miles) after he mutilated this seat.

BTW: I think Rich is a nice guy. It's just too bad that he can't fucking listen to his customers.

Bottom line : After $550 and two full days of my time, I ended up with a seat that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.

[push_bars]

Originally Posted by YetiGS

Looks good ... how about an update? Perhaps a 400-500 mile day? From what you describe (rally seat height, slightly more comfortable shape but still off road worthy) it sounds like a winner.

[YetiGS]

Originally Posted by push_bars

Looks good ... how about an update? Perhaps a 400-500 mile day? From what you describe (rally seat height, slightly more comfortable shape but still off road worthy) it sounds like a winner.

I did just over 750 miles in 4 days. But there were two 300 mile days, a 140 mile day (with about half off-road) and a 10 mile day. The seat was totally comfortable the entire time. Plenty of room to slide forward or back as needed and everything was good to go. Rode through rain, 93* heat and dirt. Seat still looks brand new.


I'd say it's a winner.

[rockinrog]

I'd like to hear from others riding 2 up, as to what seat they are using.
I have found the sargent to be a good seat for me (solo), but after a 300 mile day, I was hearing some complaining from the back
Looking at the pics on this thread, the corbin looks like it has more padding in the passenger area?

[RamblerTim]

I have the Touratech Breathable for my F800GS. It is also compatible with F650GS.

It is a big improvement over the stock seat, & has received rave reviews in the Touratech seat thread, but I would like to try something a little more cushy.

Would anyone be interested in trying my Touratech breathable?

I am interested in trying the Corbin, Sargent Cruising Seat, or Cee Bailey seat. If anyone has one of those seats & they do not want to keep it please contact me...

Or if you have a different seat not mentioned let me know about it...

Thanks

[F650Dakar_Norway]

Originally Posted by robhar54

Meanwhile, the BMW Rally Seat is MUCH better than stock for me...



Rob in Seattle

Same here. The BMW Rally seat fits me perfect. I'm 6'3" with a 36" inseam.
It's surprisingly comfortable and allows total, unrestricted freedom of movement back/forth whenever I feel for it.

[angrywhiteguy]

is the rallye seat any wider than stock? how iss it for comfort oon longer rides...say 700km/day range.

[Ducksbane]

Originally Posted by angrywhiteguy

is the rallye seat any wider than stock? how iss it for comfort oon longer rides...say 700km/day range.

I have a Rallye seat and I do find it more comfortable. Haven't been more than 400km (lots off bitumen) in a day yet, but was still comfortable.

It is actually narrower at the front, which helps reach the ground (only 5'11" )

[YetiGS]

Originally Posted by angrywhiteguy

is the rallye seat any wider than stock? how iss it for comfort oon longer rides...say 700km/day range.

It is not wider than stock. It is taller, flatter and more narrow at the front.

It is a huge improvement over stock but still not wide enough at the back for my tastes for long road rides.

I have both the XPC and the Rallye. I use the Rallye for local dirt rides (I don't want to unecessarily chance thrashing the XPC ) and the XPC for everything else.

[angrywhiteguy]

So how long before you get sore on the rallye seat? These are actually the two seats that i am considering...what do you think? I'd prefer to just have one seat that does it all.

[YetiGS]

Originally Posted by angrywhiteguy

So how long before you get sore on the rallye seat? These are actually the two seats that i am considering...what do you think? I'd prefer to just have one seat that does it all.

After two hours on the Rallye I was starting to squirm.

I've done 5 1/2 on the XPC with no problems.

[goldo]

I've owned more motorcycles than I can remember (age kicking in) and I have never been on a more UNcomfortable seat than the stock BMW f800gs seat. Total crap. Can't believe the so called engineers at factory put this thing on. I can ride my Trek rode bike for hours without discomfort but the gs seat hurts after 30 mins. I just put on a Corbin and tomorrow I'm off to test it for 3 days. Man I hope it still feels as good as it does after an hour of riding.

[F650Dakar_Norway]

Originally Posted by angrywhiteguy

So how long before you get sore on the rallye seat? These are actually the two seats that i am considering...what do you think? I'd prefer to just have one seat that does it all.

I've done 11 hours with no problems at all. But the Rally seat being 4cm higher and somewhat narrower than the OEM seat mandates a test ride before purchase. It requires a relatively delicate balance of rider weight and rider size to function. I'm 6'3" and relatively slim at 86kgs, while bigger blokes may truly suffer on such a high & slim perk.

[push_bars]

I have done multiple back to back 600 miles days and one long 750 (16 hours - Alaska/Yukon daylight ) on the stock seat.


Just thought I would throw that out there as some food for thought.


No it is not perfect and something like the Renazco would be a very nice option but... I ride all the time and I could not part with my seat. I was planning to do something before my Alaska trip (9000+ miles, 3 weeks of riding days out of a 4 week trip) but I did not get it done.


I won't be doing anything with the seat at all now. I did buy a sheep skin pad to support Barb who is incredibly cool but honestly it does not do much for me. For long rides I wear bike shorts under my Motoport kevlars.

Not that anyone in this thread would believe that I could feel a difference at this point but I seriously believe that the seat got better with a little age.

[rockinrog]

Originally Posted by push_bars

for me. For long rides I wear bike shorts under my Motoport kevlars.
.

I have been noticing/ thinking this lately. I wear cargo shorts under my mesh pants and sometimes butt doesn't bother me and sometimes it does... I think it is directly related to what i have on under the riding pants... been thinking about buying a pair of the bike shorts or a pair of compression shorts that I have seen made just for motorcycling.