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Seat Slope Mod


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Yeah, the stock seat isn't a great seat, but it's also not a bad seat, in as far as factory seats on these kinds of bikes go.  It's nowhere near a nice cruiser seat, but it's significantly better than the seats you'll find on most naked, sport, and competitive with most sport touring and adv bikes.  

Sadly, seats are super spendy.

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Going to try this. I'm surprised 4 mm is even noticeable. I had tried to lift the front but the tank bracket stopped me. Didn't even think of shimming the rear tank mounts.

My old FZ-07 had a plank as a seat. Nothing worse.

Edit: I just did this, I went with  6mm shim under tank and front seat posts. (this is on high position) about all you can lift tank without binding of plastic on sides. I think I'm going to get longer bolts for the gas tank. Only in there about 4 or 5 turns.

I can feel it just sitting on the bike, less forward lean. 👍

Got to wait for a ride till rain stops from Delta, probably tomorrow afternoon. 

Edited by peteinpa
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I got to wondering why I didn’t really have seat complaints. (Unless you put the seat in low, then it slants way too much) Caused me to investigate.  I had been using the adjustable spacer in the low position but hooking the front stem into the high position as well as high position in the rear.  As a result I could feel flex in the seat, and I think the rubber feet on the bottom of the seat were floating.  If I weighed more (150) something probably would have broken.  So I moved the adjustable spacer to the high position but I replaced the rubber feet that are located in the middle and rear of the seat with homemade rubber feet.  (Most forward feet, no change)  I sliced them down to about an eighth of an inch and so the middle (round) feet only touch when my weight is on the seat.  The rear rectangular feet sit on the bike, but the overall effect is that the back of the seat sits about 4-6 mm lower than before, and my measurements with a level indicate that to be the case.  Haven’t been able to test yet, but I’m thinking that I’ve leveled out the seat angle even more than it was before and made it more sturdy.  I’ll try to include pics.  They aren’t great, but I wanted to see if I could actually see a difference.  The picture from the side is with bike on center stand.  The pic from above is not on center stand but holding the bike level.   First pics are the after...

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21 hours ago, Yamajank said:

The OEM rubber feet vs new homemade feet

DC498E08-3345-4873-AF2F-D7C08026BBD8.jpeg

With a semi short test ride, I feel like I have flattened the seat but I’ve lost the flex that I used to feel when accelerating.  It’s probably better in the long run.  I’m not stressing the seat, and I can probably get more feedback from the more important areas of the suspension.  Might switch back and forth from time to time to see if I truly like the switch.

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On 10/11/2020 at 5:03 AM, 1moreroad said:

What's wrong with you? First you're ok with the suspension now you're ok with the seat. What's next - you like the stock windscreen? Don't you know that a motorcycle is only as good as its mods? 😋

The GT bike comes with a fully adjustable suspension and for factory is pretty good. I have no intentions to upgrade mine.

The seat slope still sucks.

Edited by roadwarrior
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8 hours ago, flyfifer said:

Wintersdark,

In my opinion the Yamaha seat on my GT was the least comfortable of any I have ever had on a motorcycle (and I have had several) and it is therefore a Bad Seat.!

 

I'll have to say its not a bad seat.  However seats fit different people differently and what is ok to one is bad to another.  IMO a CBR600RR or a BMW F800GT with a stock seat are both way worse than the Tracer GT.  I picked my Tracer GT up and immediately put 2,400 miles on it in 7 days.  That includes a 500 mile day all with the stock seat.  After reading so many comments about the seat was surprised that it wasn't bad - I had my AirHawk on it.  Would I would like a more comfortable seat yes but its not as high on my list as other things.  Will have to try some of the seat leveling mods.

Tracer GT is built to a price point and some things could be nicer but for the price its an incredible bike.  

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It took me 6,000 miles, a year, a reworking of the stock seat "innards" and hours fiddling with washers before I  decided to buy a Bagster Seat.

It has transformed my days out to truly enjoyable from barely tolerable.

Each to his own though.

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LOL not saying I'm in love with the seat, in fact just saw a post on a Bagster seat and thinking about it.  Had looked at them earlier but didn't see any for sale in the US, now this fella posted a link to one in the US!  I've always wanted a comfy seat but have never had one - closest was my BMW comfort seat with an AirHawk on top - I could ride that all day without much discomfort.  On the Tracer I could make it thru a tank of gas before needing to stop - 140 to 175 miles.  Thats why I say its not bad.  When I bought the bike I rode 110 miles back to where I was staying nonstop and without any difficulty.

Had a Sargant on my CBR600RR and it was not a lot better than stock but I still rode it 300 to 350 miles a day and a couple of times did 600 miles in a day.  Corbin seems to have some mixed reviews but the Bagster seems to have almost all great reviews.  

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I leveled my front seat with 4.75mm of front lift via washers under the gas tank mount and stick on wheel weights on the seat bracket.  It should help some.  I run my seat in the high position.

 

 

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Edited by whisperquiet
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I just did this the way Wintersdark did, thanks, and from being in the garage it is already a huge difference. I'm one of these who find the stock seat pretty darn comfortable. I'll give it a few years and see how the foam wears. But getting the seat more level will really help a ton. Thanks to all for the ideas here. 

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13 hours ago, Salish900 said:

I just did this the way Wintersdark did, thanks, and from being in the garage it is already a huge difference. I'm one of these who find the stock seat pretty darn comfortable. I'll give it a few years and see how the foam wears. But getting the seat more level will really help a ton. Thanks to all for the ideas here. 

What thickness and diameter washers are you guys using?

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17 minutes ago, Shizzle said:

What thickness and diameter washers are you guys using?

Hey @Shizzle, I honestly went to my local Ace and got their only thickness of stainless washers. I did happen to notice that the stack of 4 washers I placed UNDER the plastic thing, taped with Gorilla tape onto the bike, was a bit less than 5mm thick. I also placed two washers of that same thickness, so a smidge more than 2mm, under the rear of the tank bolts. When you do this, it is a bit more tricky to get your seat in, as you have to more carefully hook that front seat prong into the notch where it goes, and then without much force press down on the back of the seat to click it in. 

I'm going on a 4 hour ride this morning and when I get back I'll surely know more. But I rode for 30 minutes last night after posting here and it really makes a huge difference in making the WHOLE seat available for use, and no sliding forward. I've added bar risers and am 6'2", so my natural riding position is for my butt to be back on the widest part of the seat, which I can now do easily and stay there. And seat is not wobbly left to right. 

I could post pictures but they are more or less the same as @Wintersdark Good luck and let me now if you have any other questions. Riding up to Marrowstone Island today, one of my favorite local trips here in lovely WA. 

Edited by Salish900
mistake
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So I looked at doing this today and it's a no go for me. As soon as you start to lift up on the rear of the tank it starts to pull away and distort the side plastic pieces and creates an unsightly gap between the bottom of the tank and these side plastic pieces. I'm gonna wait and see how the new Bagster seat works by itself. 

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