betoney

Is it the camera angle, or will the rack support need to be disassembled anytime the wheel is removed?

I just returned from a 6 day trip - 2855 miles, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. During the trip I achieved the 10,000 milestone, then 11,000 and 12,000... Leftover '15 is 9 months old.

Why do you find it odd? It depends on where you ride... short shifting is a common way to change gears in city traffic, whether it's a car or a bike... or would you rather ride 1st gear at 6,000 rpm between lights? I think the OP is looking to calm things down in 1 and 2 for urban use. I guess its more of how you ride also, because whether its a car or bike, I dont short shift to third for city driving. I may end up in 3rd gear but I ride each gear out normally to get there. Around here, "city driving" is around 35mph, in 3rd gear I would consider that fairly low rpm's with stock gearing.

I too like -1 tooth upfront, it gets it into the meat of the powerband easier. I personally think 6th is geared too high and I rarely use it unless I am motoring at 80+mph for a longer distance. I just got back from an 1,100 mile ride through various type of roads, interstates, state highways, mountain twisties 2-lane country roads etc and I only used 6th a handful of times. I find it odd that you feel 1st and 2nd are too short, you must normally keep the engine at fairly low rpm's. I feel like I can use them forever around town because they pull forever, even with a 15T front sprocket. I guess it all comes down to how a person likes to ride, some dont like getting up to 5,000 rpm, while I rarely ever ride below 5,000 rpm. BTW, I believe you can fit a 17T but definitely not an 18T in front.

I discovered the exact same thing after adjusting the APS, the MCCruise was NOT happy! I had to return home and read through the setup instructions again. Live and learn.

Have Dave point out the differences between rebound and compression adjusters.

Just curious, why set the damping all the way closed? Put the bike in a tire chock, turn the adjusters fully closed and then press down on the handlebars or bounce the seat up and down and feel the effect. Maybe open 4-5 clicks from fully closed as a starting point then go for a test ride, and bring a straight slot screwdriver with you. As for rebound affecting compression, I will let Pattonme give you a professional answer.

Think of the word damping as "resistance". CCW is less resistance felt and CW is more resistance felt. Give it a try, open your shock rebound fully CCW and press the seat a few times to feel the level of resistance, now fully close the rebound CW and bounce the seat to feel a dramatic change of resistance.

Great news that you were able to get at least a partial resolution. I had a similar experience with Seat Concepts, I had a question prior to purchasing the standard foam and they never responded to my emails. My local Yamaha dealer is a Seat Concepts distributor so I had them purchase the foam and cover. When they finally shipped the cover it was obvious that one of the panels was stitched crooked as there was a large crease where the panels had bunched up in stitching. It was something that couldn't be stretched or steamed to be made to fit correctly. Seat Concepts claimed there was nothing wrong and insisted that the dealer ship the cover, foam and seat to them for inspection. A few weeks later the seat was returned with the cover installed and the panel had obviously been replaced since the bunched up panel was gone. However, Seat Concepts STILL insisted that there was nothing wrong with the original cover and it was the dealers installation error and charged them the installation fee. Their customer support and business practices are beyond terrible.

Prepare to be enlightened. Caution - once you see the light, you will forever be spoiled and will never look at "lesser components" again. Not exaggerating, once you have ridden a bike specifically set up for YOU its all rainbows and unicorns... blissful MAGIC!

Actually, 614km (about 380mi) is a very comfortable distance each day. Enough to get in a very good day of riding yet not too long to become tedious. Over the course of your trip do you have "off days" or a few shorter riding days planned? Good luck dealing with Seat Concepts, hopefully you can get a resolution on your seat.

***UPDATE*** I rode a little over 300 miles today and only stopped for a quick lunch and 2 gas stops. The sport touring foam is a definite improvement over the standard S/C foam, but still not perfect, though I dont know of ANY seat that will leave you 100% comfortable at the end of a longer ride. I frequently ride with a small group and everyone has aftermarket seats whether its Seat Concepts, Sargent or Corbin. We recently did a week-long road trip with consecutive 400+ mile days, after a few hours there was not one person who wasn't squirming, readjusting, briefly standing on the pegs or stopping to walk around. While I still needed to do all of the above, I did it much less frequently with the S/T foam and I felt much better at the end of the day.

I can sure understand your situation, fortunately (for me) I am a bit taller at 6'-1" and 34" inseam. The increased seat height might be a slight bit easier on the knees as well.

Well, I got the new Sport-Touring foam and cover installed today and I just got back from my first ride. As a comparison, I had the Seat Concepts standard foam, I call it their "sport" foam as it feels like it came straight from a sportbike. The first impression was it feels taller, quite a bit taller. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions but would guess that the middle and rear portion of the foam is at least 1/2 inch taller, like switching your seat to the higher position. The next immediate realization is that it is softer/squishier (less dense or firm) than their standard foam. Someone on here wrote that they moved around a bit more on the S/T foam and yes its true, if you rock your hips side to side, you move much more than the standard foam. Some may not like this, it took a while to adjust to it but I didn't mind it, I was able to hit some fast sweeping corners and tighter twisty roads and still felt firmly planted thanks to the gripper cover, but if you want a taught, dense feel for sportier riding then stick with their standard foam. I wasn't out very long, 2 hours at the most, but I didn't feel the need to stop for a break, re position or change anything for more comfort. Tomorrow I plan on a longer 300 mile ride to get a better evaluation, but between getting new tires(Pirelli Angel GT), upgraded suspension (Forks by Matt/Penske shock) and now this new Sport Touring foam, the ride today was definitely the most comfortable ride I have taken on this bike.

I got shipping notification on mine this morning, it should be here on Wednesday. Hopefully soon after I will get it installed and take it out for an evaluation ride.

I sure hope it is an improvement over their standard seat. I currently have the standard Seat Concepts foam and gripper cover, it is fine for a few hours, but definitely not all day comfort. I just got back from a 2-day ride, 10 hours each day and just short of 900 miles. My ass is killing me! I try to stop for a "walk around and stretch" break about every 90 minutes as well as stand up for a few seconds at a time while riding to get some blood flowing, but the standard seat foam is just not good for longer rides. When I get the S/T foam installed, I will sure let you know my impressions, though I'm sure Wordsmith will have a verdict before me.

I couldn't wait, I ordered one last week. I have several multi-day road trips coming up in the next 6-weeks and wanted it installed before the trips. On their website they claim a 10 to 14 business day lead time to get it made plus shipping time. "During our busy season, our production lead time is approximately 10-14 BUSINESS DAYS as most of our covers, kits, and complete seats are made to order. This does not include weekends or holidays as we are likely out testing our products to better serve our valued customers! The lead time is a bit longer during our busy season and we will do everything we can to get your order to you as quickly as possible."

Seat Concepts offers 2 different seat foams for the FJ, standard and Sport Touring. They recently reorganized their website listings, if you specifically search for Yamaha FJ-09, you will get the standard seat. If you just search Yamaha seats, you will find the sport touring version as well, but in the picture it says FJR. You want This One.

The bar diameter of most bars are 7/8", I think Harley's have 1". Grip thickness can vary a lot but the inside diamerer of the grip is the same.

Good job on the cover installation, looks good. I too just ordered their ST foam and cover. Looking forward to your riding impression on a day-long ride vs. their standard seat. Their website lists a 2-3 week backlog on orders.

I have had the Motion Pro version for many years. It works great for bleeding brakes.

Do you suspect a pinched or clogged vent line from the tank? When you opened the tank, was there pressure on the filler cap or a psshhht sound like opening a beer can? Just thinking out loud here. Glad you were able to get it started and weren't left stranded.

Those bars look nice, the bend is MUCH better than the stock bar. I have the MA005 on mine (no longer made) it is slightly lower than the MA009. The bars DO NOT come pre-threaded, you will have to do that yourself. I removed the handguards and use FZ1 weighted bar ends.

I am very interested to hear what you think after a full day ride. I have the standard-original version Seat Concepts seat and am not impressed at all concerning comfort, even after several thousand miles of break-in on the foam. Their foam is extremely firm. I rode a buddys FJ back-to-back with mine yesterday, he has the stock seat, I much preferred the feel of his stock seat at the end of the day. If they did in fact use a different density foam as well as make it taller, that might be the perfect fix. Keep us updated on your findings.

They offer a "Touring" version now? I just had them upgrade my seat 2 months ago... yours looks a bit taller.