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Sargent seat warning


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So this happened to my Sargent seat in one summer on my 2015.

Their plastic is inferior to OEM. My OEM seat isn't doing this.  I'm getting it back from Sargent today with a new seat base and foam changes. It still cost me $22 to send it back and $130 to Sargent for the foam changes and return shipping.

If you look at it, there IS a lot of weight placed on 4 little rubber bumpers, with most on the 2 rear ones.

I'm going to come up with a way to spread the load more with more weight supporting areas. This happened in the high setting with a slope mod in place.  which places more load on the rear 2 bumpers. 

I believe in the low setting, weight is spread to the body work more, that's why the trim pieces break.

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Edited by peteinpa
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My Sargent is about 5 years old.  It was customised for me including raising the nose.  I noticed just recently that the two front bumpers (their term for the rubber bearing supports) were damaged, with the right significantly more so.  I called Sargent and asked and was told they'd send me 4 new bumpers.  A couple weeks go by, nothing.  I call again, same answer, two more weeks, nada.

I then emailed an old contact and the next day Dane Higgins in Sales/Customer Service replies and says my old contact has left Sargent but that he'd send me four new bumpers.  A week or so later they arrive.

However, when I finally find time to replace the bumpers (I haven't ridden in +2 months due to lumbar surgery) I discover the front right bumper seat pan "socket" was deformed inward on about half of its diameter, with a crack eminating from the hole radially outward about 1 cm.  Being the do-it-yourself, I can fix almost anything type of engineer guy I am, I didn't think to contact Sargent.  Instead I cleaned the bumper socket and  took a 35 mm round x 2.5 mm thick fiberglass washer I happened to have and adhered it to the socket with 1.5 mm thick urethane double-sided tape (I also just happen to keep in stock) only in the depressed portion of the circumference to level the bumper bearing surface when I installed the new bumper.  The washer bridges over the damaged seat pan socket and expands the bearing surface area under the bumper.  Hypothetically job done but I have not test ridden it yet but may today if I'm finally up to riding.

Now that I've seen someone else had a similar issue with the Sargent seat pan and that they are at least partially standing behind there product, I will contact Mr. Higgins forth with and send him the photos I of course took of the damaged bumper socket when I discovered it.

Thanks for your post and I will report back on hopefully a satisfactory resolution to this matter for me.

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I got my seat back from Sargent. I noticed that their 4 rubber bumpers are smaller in diameter than the OEM ones so I swapped them. More surface area to spread the weight.

I also fabbed 3 more areas to spread the weight load.

Got back from a test ride and wish I didn't get greedy and tell them 1.5 inch higher foam, just 1 inch. I'm a little high now. more sitting on the bike, not in.

Is more comfortable, got to do more testing, rain chased me home.

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I had a sergeant seat on my FZ1 that I had to send back because the seat base cracked where the bumpers were also. Cost me more then $150 cdn in shipping but work was done on warranty. Less then two seasons later the base cracked again. IMO super cheap quality used for their bases. Sold the bike so didn’t bother making a big deal about it.

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14 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Good idea about swapping bumpers from OEM.  Did the OEM go into the Sargent the same/easily?

Where did you add the 3 additional bumpers?  Can you please provide photos & dimensions?

Just carefully pull them out, then apply silicone lube and they go back in with a push.

my seat is in the low setting.  I had some rubber car bushings in my junk drawer.  I trimmed them and attached to the High setting area to push on the seat base.

One at the rear also.

Just going to have to see what you have lying around and make it work.

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1 hour ago, tclhb said:

Reading all this if Sargent is the first with a seat for the ‘21 I think I’ll wait for the 2nd manufacturer. 

 I'm not a big fan of Corbin but there are others out there

 Corbin's weigh a ton  And even more expensive

 My sergeant seat despite the one bumper location is still very serviceable after my fix and very comfortable for me anyway

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My first one did I it. Sargent swapped it for me. Noticed the second one doing the same. I replaced the Sargent bumpers with some cut down jeep grill bumpers. They’ve been working fine for a year. It is disappointing considering what the seats cost. 

Let’s go Brandon

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  • 10 months later...
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6 hours ago, afineAmerican said:

I've had the sargeant seat for about 6 months now and I still find it slightly uncomfortable. Kind of regretting not getting a Corbin. Any tips?

Funny, I have a Corbin on my VFR and find the same as your Sargent, very firm and supportive but not what I would ever consider "all-day comfortable". 

I have a custom seat from a local builder on my FJ and can ride all day long.  I just got back from an overnight trip, back-to-back 500 mile days, I had to stand up a few times to stretch but that was mostly for my knees and back.

If you are considering an alternate seat, I highly recommend getting a custom built seat, measured, shaped and contoured just for you.

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***2015 Candy Red FJ-09***

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On 10/18/2021 at 2:00 PM, peteinpa said:

I got my seat back from Sargent. I noticed that their 4 rubber bumpers are smaller in diameter than the OEM ones so I swapped them. More surface area to spread the weight.

I also fabbed 3 more areas to spread the weight load.

Got back from a test ride and wish I didn't get greedy and tell them 1.5 inch higher foam, just 1 inch. I'm a little high now. more sitting on the bike, not in.

Is more comfortable, got to do more testing, rain chased me home.

It's been a while!  I did have Sargent replace the seat pan earlier this year and tried to add some surface area at the bumpers.

I don't think it helped much because I still feel the saddle shift and move a bit, particularly on the right side when I mount up.

Where did you add additional support?

Some photos would be great.

HNY! 

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Had the same problem during my last year trip in Alps. Managed to make holes under these plastic pads. Then lifted up fallen plastic to place and  srewed in some M6 bolts through these holes. Done about 4000 km's after that mod. No problems.

20221229_062520.jpg

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35 minutes ago, Windster said:

Had the same problem during my last year trip in Alps. Managed to make holes under these plastic pads. Then lifted up fallen plastic to place and  srewed in some M6 bolts through these holes. Done about 4000 km's after that mod. No problems.

20221229_062520.jpg

Good to know.  My Sargent has started doing the same thing, and I’ve been debating on what to do about it. 

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