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TW Seat Dynamics

5K views 28 replies 15 participants last post by  qwerty 
#1 ·
Hello everyone! I am very new to the Forum and to my 2001 TW, I love it! Great little bike and great forum.



I am going to ask a VERY loaded question and I am only looking for some general answers, I know that everyone has a diffeerent riding style and everyone has a different shaped butt and body. But I am reading alot about how uncomfortable the seat on the TW is, and I would like a few suggestions.



I only ride the bike about 6 miles a day back and forth to work and have not found it painful. YET.



I raced motocross when I was a kid and was taught how to "Saddle up" up on the tank when going into turns, now I know after the few short rides on my TW, that this isn't going to happen alot and it is not needed much, it is just a fun little trail bike. Once I slide up into the crotch of the seat, I find that the foot controls are too far back. So I end up sitting way back on the seat.



I can have an experienced seat builder friend re-work the seat (tradework), but I honestly just don't know enough about what is causing all of the butt pain in the other riders.



Is it the general shape? Is it a foam issue, too hard, too soft? Is it too wide with squared edges? should it be made narrower?

I am positive that one fix wont work for everyone, I am just looking for a few suggestions...Thank you.
 
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#2 ·
My opinion is the foam has to be more dense and the the seat should be a bit wider. I tend to stay back on the seat as well and don't have a problem with the seat shape near the tank as others have mentioned. I am good for about 3 hours ride time before I start to squirm even with a homemade seat pad.
 
#4 ·
Gun Ship- EXACTLY. I went seven hours yesterday and the last 4 were solid. For an hour and a half I was miserable. Im glad this topic was here because I was going to start it myself.



I would like to hear from those of you who have reworked their seat (I know Lizrd said he did) and those who went with the seat concepts seat, does it fix the problem? Unlimited hours or just extend the riding time before the pain sets in like the coleman seat pad does?



Toolbox Guy, if your not riding any further than that- ever- then I'd say your fine. Otherwise, I get about an hour out of stock seat; two to three out of seat after the coleman seat cover.
 
#6 ·
I think we're sorta neighbors. You can ride mine sometime and get a feel for what needs to be done.



A guy in Apple Valley does my upholstery. Tell him how and where you want the foam, hand him 40 bucks or so and yer done.
 
#7 ·
I have the Seat Concepts seat and love it. I run out of gas before any discomfort. In fact since the switch I can never recall any time I though about seat comfort. With the stock seat I could maybe ride a half hour or so, with the stearns pad another half hour. The Seat Concepts foam is wider, deeper, firmer and the not slip top is great. For the price, it is a good deal compared to the cost of a one off custom seat. Ymmv!
 
#8 ·
Since group buy for those is done I guess back up to $160?



We apparently have no upholstery shops in Fort Payne for cryin out loud. A couple show up on google but they're shut down. Guess seat concepts or goin out of town on this one. My butt demands action!
 
#11 ·
I wonder how difficult it would be to find a dense piece of foam and carve it into the required shape and use it to replace the stock piece. I've seen guys use an electric meat carving knife to shape the foam, works real good. I went on a long motorcycle trip some years ago and was in quite a bit of bottom end pain for most of the trip due to the seat on the bike. I bought a bicycle seat gel pad from one of the stores and in the motel room that night took my seat apart with a screw driver and slipped the gel pad between the foam and vinyl. I didn't have a stapler so I used very short dome head screws to reinstall the vinyl which worked very well. The seat was alot more comfortable but had a hump where the pad was because I didn't remove any seat foam. I've thought about doing the same thing with the TW seat but this time carving out the seat foam in the butt area to accept a similarly shaped piece of dense foam which could be glued in place. I think the density of the foam is more important that the width of the seat, for me anyway.Just a thought.
 
#10 ·
+1 on the seat concepts. When the seat foam arrived and I compare it to the tw foam, I laughed out loud. The seat concept foam is not only wider toward the rear cruising position, the foam is more dense--almost like a good quality visco-elastic foam. As others have said, I was fed-up with the seat on my TW, and the cost of the seat concepts is fair compared to the custom seat builders. In fact, I was on the waiting list at Renazco when the I joined the other forum members and did the group buy.



Dusty
 
#16 ·
IMO....it has alot to do with how the rider is "built".I had a Honda xr650L....alot of folks complained on how horrorable the seat was....I never had any comfort issues with it?.The TW though is a different story.I can ride about 1-1.5 hours ,then time for a break.I put a Coleman ATV seat cover on....bingo!...did the trick.BUT,I'm not to happy with how it mounts up...I'lll have to work on this.....the pain,so far, is gone though!!!!!.The Stearns and the Coleman covers are the EXACT same unit!....If you can not find the one,then look for the other brand.
 
#18 ·
Is it the general shape? Is it a foam issue, too hard, too soft? Is it too wide with squared edges? should it be made narrower?

I am positive that one fix wont work for everyone, I am just looking for a few suggestions...Thank you.


It can be an "all the above" issue, depending on the individual.



As I see it the main culprit is the forward pitch of the stocker combined with the "hooptie" in the middle.



I leveled mine out front to rear and that made all the difference. My foam happens to be a lot thicker, but if you're short of leg I think instead you could vary the density of the foam and get as much comfort without the added seat height.



The other little sniggling comfort issue that usually doesn't become apparent until you've done a couple of hundred continuous miles is the fact that a Tw's left peg is just a bit short of an inch further rearward than the right, forcing some to adopt a goofy riding posture to compensate or forcing one's heel to rest on the left peg while the right foot remains centered. It also contributes to the sensation that the pegs are too far rearward. In reality only the left one is. If you're squirmy and swapping buttcheeks on a long ride or if the bike never quite feels "right" in the technical stuff, this is the culprit.



Mine is a splice of the TW and XT seats. It's hard to tell from this perspective but it's dead flat relative to the stock seat. The foam in the rear 1/3 of the seat is of two densities so it flattens and widens as I move rearward with my full weight on the seat yet isn't in my way when standing, as some of the single-density "spoon" types can be.

 
#22 ·
It can be an "all the above" issue, depending on the individual.



As I see it the main culprit is the forward pitch of the stocker combined with the "hooptie" in the middle.



I leveled mine out front to rear and that made all the



difference. My foam happens to be a lot thicker, but if

you're short of leg I think instead you could vary the density

of the foam and get as much comfort without the added

seat height.

The other little sniggling comfort issue that usually doesn't become apparent until you've done a couple of hundred continuous miles is the fact that a Tw's left peg is just a bit short of an inch further rearward than the right, forcing some to adopt a goofy riding posture to compensate or forcing one's heel to rest on the left peg while the right foot remains centered. It also contributes to the sensation that the pegs are too far rearward. In reality only the left one is. If you're squirmy and swapping buttcheeks on a long ride or if the bike never quite feels "right" in the technical stuff, this is the culprit.



Mine is a splice of the TW and XT seats. It's hard to tell from this perspective but it's dead flat relative to the stock seat. The foam in the rear 1/3 of the seat is of two densities so it flattens and widens as I move rearward with my full weight on the seat yet isn't in my way when standing, as some of the single-density "spoon" types can be.








That seems to be about how i would modify my seat. I may take you up on the offer to check yours out, Thank You.
 
#20 ·
Gripper on top and carbon fiber on the sides. I retired my stearns/coleman seat pad to my bw80 and never looked back. I also haven't really used my airhawk since. Kind of sad. I tried to use it and realized that it is actually more comfortable without it now.
 
#21 ·
Has anybody got any details of the foam type that may work well or links to a foam supplier? My seat is shortened and bent to match the Clarke XT tank so I guess that rules out the Seat Concepts route. Besides, I always prefer to do it myself whenever possible.
 
#23 ·
We should all thank Yamaha for saving us 100.00 off the retail price of the TW. They did us a favor by using the cheap foam!



I wonder how many of us would have paid the extra 100.00 for a less fatigued arse.



I really like the seat concepts seat, I have ridden 650 miles since putting it on in November, no issues at all - feels like riding in my dad's impala from the 70s.
 
#24 ·
Well giving this a shot. Had an old seat lying around from a Polaris 4 wheeler (R.I.P.) and decided why not. The seat was much wider, thicker, and higher quality.







I dissasembled it and sat it next to the TDub seat.







I fully intended to take tons of pics, turns out it was infuriating! I suggest to anyone cutting down foam and reshaping/recovering to take some nerve pills and/or alcohol. I dont do pills and dont drink so stuck with cussing and throwing crap.




So a ton of all that later I got it shaped and covered in two layers of vinyl. I have to say the quality difference was absurd. The foam from the TDub was one step up from styrofoam. Only time will tell if its enough to solve the arse problem or not.







 
#25 ·
That is pretty funny. When I wanted to install my seat myself, my GF said, no f'in way. You'll be throwing stuff and swearing all day. She was right and it was worth the $25 I paid the local seat shop to put it together. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm betting your ride will be greatly improved, don't think you could make it any worse.
 
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