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BadX I am curious what you did to Jrudicel's 06' Heritage Classic stock seat. I have a 06' Heritage Classic, I am 6'4 245# with a bad back and looking for more comfort. I don't think I want to be any lower but a little further back might help. I need a wide seat to support my legs to reduce the strain on my lower back. Right now my ride to work ranges from 45min to 75min depending on stop and go traffic. Not too bad but my seat feels too hard. Do you have any suggestions on what I should do?
Actually going about a 1/2-1" lower will make the seat wider and doing this will also move you back about the same. I never heard anything from jrudicel so to answer you question...nothing.
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I've been upolstering for 20 years now and over the past two years have been modding stock seats to ride as good if not better than most after market seats out there. The big misconception is more foam is better or gel pads are better...That is BS. It's not how much foam or if you have a gel pad but its the shape of the seat itself. I've done Street Glides, Road Kings, Sportsters, Dyna's and countless metrics. By far the HD seats are the best seats stock and better made than the others. The only thing is they take a little more time to mod so the mod cost is a little more but still well below buying a after market seat. I can lower you, move you back or a combination of both. Here is a picture of my modded stock SG seat that I lowered my riding height 3 1/2"s and moved me back 1". You can PM me for more details and specific seat mod your interested in.
There are a lot of riders on this forum that will probably dis-agree with you about gel pads not being better than a stock Harley seat. My stock Fatboy seat was like sitting on a board until I had a "Pro Pad" (gel) installed and it made a huge improvement. It still gets a little un-comfortable on big rides but sitting in one spot for a long time will do that to you. When the seat was re-done, my upholsterer told me that the worst thing about my stock seat was the design. He said the combination of real leather and the man-made material were working against each other during expansion and contraction. His suggestion was to go to all man-made material because it was softer than leather in all temperatures. If you push your fingers into both materials on a cold day, you can see that he makes sense.
Since I've added new handlebars I'm now sitting a little too far forward and would like to make a change. If it's possible to move me back and re-style the seat to look good with a passenger pillion, I'm interested in talking to you about it. In the mean time, I'll check out your website.
There are a lot of riders on this forum that will probably dis-agree with you about gel pads not being better than a stock Harley seat. My stock Fatboy seat was like sitting on a board until I had a "Pro Pad" (gel) installed and it made a huge improvement. It still gets a little un-comfortable on big rides but sitting in one spot for a long time will do that to you. When the seat was re-done, my upholsterer told me that the worst thing about my stock seat was the design. He said the combination of real leather and the man-made material were working against each other during expansion and contraction. His suggestion was to go to all man-made material because it was softer than leather in all temperatures. If you push your fingers into both materials on a cold day, you can see that he makes sense.
Since I've added new handlebars I'm now sitting a little too far forward and would like to make a change. If it's possible to move me back and re-style the seat to look good with a passenger pillion, I'm interested in talking to you about it. In the mean time, I'll check out your website.
I am not going to debate the gel pad deal. I agree with your upholsterer, the worst thing about the stock seats are the design. Harley seats aren't as bad as Metric seats but they all have a similar sitting area shape that hurts most people after not riding for too long. But I disagree about the using real leather. The only seats I've seen with real leather from Harley is older police bikes, everything else is all man made from the plastic seat pan all the way to the vinyl cover.
To answer you question, it is very possible to move you back.
Up through the middle of the Fatboy seat (and others), there's a strip of material that's a lot stiffer than the outer edges. My upholstry guy said it was leather before the seat was taken apart so maybe he was wrong ? I looked at a street Glide the other day and its seat has an even bigger area of "leather" down the middle. I'm just trying to make people aware of what I've learned - that the fancy part of the seat is probably doing more harm than good.
Up through the middle of the Fatboy seat (and others), there's a strip of material that's a lot stiffer than the outer edges. My upholstry guy said it was leather before the seat was taken apart so maybe he was wrong ? I looked at a street Glide the other day and its seat has an even bigger area of "leather" down the middle. I'm just trying to make people aware of what I've learned - that the fancy part of the seat is probably doing more harm than good.
Thats just perferated vinyl that is thicker than the rest of it is all, its not leather. I've done several of these seats and own a SG so I am sure of what the cover is made of.
BadX I am curious what you did to Jrudicel's 06' Heritage Classic stock seat. I have a 06' Heritage Classic, I am 6'4 245# with a bad back and looking for more comfort. I don't think I want to be any lower but a little further back might help. I need a wide seat to support my legs to reduce the strain on my lower back. Right now my ride to work ranges from 45min to 75min depending on stop and go traffic. Not too bad but my seat feels too hard. Do you have any suggestions on what I should do?
Guys...and BadX... I had to stock Heritage 2006... I had inquired about modding the seat, then started thinking about a completely different bike and honestly, forgot all about PMing BadX!! Sorry dude. As far as the Heritages seat, mine was a base model 2006 Heritage, and not the classic. the seats are totally different with the classics being alot wider than mine was.
Now, on a different note, I was able to dump the 06 Heritage and took it in the a$$...lol...but now have a new 06 StreetGlide. Havent got to ride it but a time or two yet, so dont know how it will be on the long haul compared to the Heritage I had, but it seems so far a difference between night and day towards the good side. I absolutely love this SG and it seems to fit me so much better being the 300 lb big guy I am.
So, while we are at it, BadX, and since you have both bikes I have and had, any suggestions on the SG's seats? What improvements do you think the stock SG seats need? Like I said, I cant say now, but in a week or two after a few good rides, i can make a better accessment...just thinking ahead to some winter mods and you are still on my list!
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2009 FLHXI Street Glide - Red Hot Sunglow
Is there any way to fix the passenger part on the streetglide stock seat ? my gal can't hardly walk after a few hours on the bike.
I am in the final stages of a passenger seat mod that will rivel any after market seat out there. I don't want to go into much detail right now but it should be available in two weeks. I'll post pictures of the process once and final product once I have it all worked out.
Quote:
Guys...and BadX... I had to stock Heritage 2006... I had inquired about modding the seat, then started thinking about a completely different bike and honestly, forgot all about PMing BadX!! Sorry dude. As far as the Heritages seat, mine was a base model 2006 Heritage, and not the classic. the seats are totally different with the classics being alot wider than mine was.
Now, on a different note, I was able to dump the 06 Heritage and took it in the a$$...lol...but now have a new 06 StreetGlide. Havent got to ride it but a time or two yet, so dont know how it will be on the long haul compared to the Heritage I had, but it seems so far a difference between night and day towards the good side. I absolutely love this SG and it seems to fit me so much better being the 300 lb big guy I am.
So, while we are at it, BadX, and since you have both bikes I have and had, any suggestions on the SG's seats? What improvements do you think the stock SG seats need? Like I said, I cant say now, but in a week or two after a few good rides, i can make a better accessment...just thinking ahead to some winter mods and you are still on my list!
I personally thought the SG seat sat very well stock but I hated the fact that my head was sticking so high up above the windshield and got terrible buffeting. So the first think I did was lower me on my and reshaped it to give better lower support. I am also working on another mod for the stock SG seat that will super slam you on the bike. I am 5'11" and with this mod I am looking about an inch over the windshield and it sits great.
Is there any way to fix the passenger part on the streetglide stock seat ? my gal can't hardly walk after a few hours on the bike.
I am in the final stages of a passenger seat mod that will rivel any after market seat out there. I don't want to go into much detail right now but it should be available in two weeks. I'll post pictures of the process once and final product once I have it all worked out.
Quote:
Guys...and BadX... I had to stock Heritage 2006... I had inquired about modding the seat, then started thinking about a completely different bike and honestly, forgot all about PMing BadX!! Sorry dude. As far as the Heritages seat, mine was a base model 2006 Heritage, and not the classic. the seats are totally different with the classics being alot wider than mine was.
Now, on a different note, I was able to dump the 06 Heritage and took it in the a$$...lol...but now have a new 06 StreetGlide. Havent got to ride it but a time or two yet, so dont know how it will be on the long haul compared to the Heritage I had, but it seems so far a difference between night and day towards the good side. I absolutely love this SG and it seems to fit me so much better being the 300 lb big guy I am.
So, while we are at it, BadX, and since you have both bikes I have and had, any suggestions on the SG's seats? What improvements do you think the stock SG seats need? Like I said, I cant say now, but in a week or two after a few good rides, i can make a better accessment...just thinking ahead to some winter mods and you are still on my list!
I personally thought the SG seat sat very well stock but I hated the fact that my head was sticking so high up above the windshield and got terrible buffeting. So the first think I did was lower me on my and reshaped it to give better lower support. I am also working on another mod for the stock SG seat that will super slam you on the bike. I am 5'11" and with this mod I am looking about an inch over the windshield and it sits great.
BadX can you mod the passenger pillion on an 06 Heritage Classic so the wife can be more comfortable. She complains about her butt going numb. Is there anything you do, I noticed the aftermarket seats are about 2" wider.
BadX...Cool. Cant wait to see your upcoming improvements for the passenger.. Any pics of a SG seat you have done? I am 6' tall and I get the buffeting from the small shield too...
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2009 FLHXI Street Glide - Red Hot Sunglow