Stelvio seat lowered! Do it yourself

[Archangel]

I know I'm not the only one that has found the Stelvio a bit high for my 31 inseam and not been thrilled about the cost and worry of getting a new seat or having someone alter mine, and hoping it works out.  Anyway, after reading lots of online advice about reshaping your own seat, I screwed up my courage and did it myself. Surprise, it wasn't that hard to do. Using an electric carving knife and some 40 grit sandpaper I was able to lower the seat 1 1/4 inch up front(where I stand), and about 1/2 inch in the rear (where I sit).  I can know flat foot the bike when stopped and even paddle the bike backwards with minimal effort and no foot skidding
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How I did it:

1 Carefully remove staples from seat cover and protective felt strip
2 Use marker on side of foam to approximate cut. Mark where you actually sit so you'll know where to start lowering front section
3 In small slices carefully remove foam with electric knife. Stop before getting all the way to your marks.
4 Use sandpaper on wood block to finish removing foam and smooth surface. Take your time.
5 I used a small piece of loose sandpaper to finish smoothing and rounding foam
6 I also sanded down the sides of the front part of the seat and tapered to make seat narrower up front
7 Try it out and keep tweaking until you have plenty of room to sit, but when you slide forward you are able to get feet on ground(yay!)
8 Replace cover, stretch into place and restaple. Beware, a hand stapler will not get through the seat pan! I bought a $30 Surebonder 9600 pneumatic stapler, and used 1/4" T50 staples. If carefully stretched cover will fit flush and seat will look factory.

From the photo you can also see I removed some foam from the front of the back seat so foam was flush with stiiches and I could slide back farther on the seat. You can also see that by taking about 1/2" off the back part of the seat where I sit, that I widened the seat about 1"! (dished it out a bit too)

Anyway, the foam is actually pretty easy to shape and I probably could have done all of it just with the sandpaper block if I hadn't had an old electric knife. I am much happier and feel a lot safer now that might feet are flat on the ground  instead of balancing on the balls of my feet and wondering how to back up in a parking lot.

[youcanrunnaked]

Would like to see pictures, but I think you forgot to add the url's.

[Archangel]

Fixed problem with URL.  I have pictures from other angles too if anyone's interested

[Demar]

Arch....

Fantastic job! Thanks for the info. About 6 months ago I bought a second Stelvio seat to try this but haven't had the courage yet.

Cheers  :BEER:

[normzone]

Thank you very much.

I've been playing with - No, make that butchering my stock Bassa pillion. I figured since it was an implement of torture if I destroyed it little would be lost.

I'm loathe to post pictures of my efforts since the resulting time spent laughing could impact the tenuous recovery of our national economy. But it's nice to see that somebody else dares slice and dice.

[pyoungbl]

Now, that solution (cutting down the fwd part of the seat so you can slide up and reach the ground) makes perfect sense.  Even with my 32" inseam I have to be very careful about where I stop...Oh, but I also have a Russell Day Long which seems to add about 1" to the seat height.  At any rate, I applaud your solution.

Peter Y.

[rdbandkab]

Awesome!

I think I may get brave someday and also try to flatten out and lower the seat from the middle to back section.  Right now I feel like I have to sit towards the front in a pocket.  And when I try to move back, it feels like I'm sitting on a slant.

Thanks for the post.

richy

[RinkRat II]

 Great job Archangel !!! I just did my V11 Sport seat to give it more Saddle effect and it's wonderful. Only needed a 4" angle grinder on mine to carve out the saddle area but basically step by step as you so well described.  Pneumatic stapler only way to fly!
 Paul

[yogidozer]

Good job  ;-T

[Winder]

hey Archangel, nice job and write up.... i have a question related to seat height....  i guess i know the answer, but thought i would ask.  Would't there be some sort of seat settling, compression after a while that would have done the job for you?

curious, Winder

[cwiseman]

Here is a easy way to reduce some seat height. Remove rubber blocks seat sit on, take blocks to band saw and remove the desired amount of material, reinstall blocks onto frame then put seat Into place. Total time if saw is sitting near by and your fast at it, 5 minutes. It does help get your feet to the ground and also helps to lower the front part of the seat so your crotch isn't pressed into the tank.
Bingo I think it's a winner to all who I've done it to!

[Archangel]

Seat settling would really never happen since most of thefoam removal was upfront where you stand. You don't spend enough time there to compress it.

hey Archangel, nice job and write up.... i have a question related to seat height....  i guess i know the answer, but thought i would ask.  Would't there be some sort of seat settling, compression after a while that would have done the job for you?

curious, Winder

[Archangel]

Wait, wouldn't that misalign the rear pillion seat with the front seat.The tabs that connect the two?

Here is a easy way to reduce some seat height. Remove rubber blocks seat sit on, take blocks to band saw and remove the desired amount of material, reinstall blocks onto frame then put seat Into place. Total time if saw is sitting near by and your fast at it, 5 minutes. It does help get your feet to the ground and also helps to lower the front part of the seat so your crotch isn't pressed into the tank.
Bingo I think it's a winner to all who I've done it to!

[tonyduc]

Archangel, how is the comfort (especially after a long ride) now that you removed some of the cushing?

[Archangel]

Actually I like the seat much better now that I have removed some padding from the rear where I actually sit. Reasoning being that when I lowered the seat it actually widened it back there plus I used my sanding pad to dish it out a bit to better fit me. The original seat with more padding seemed way more uncomfortable to me. The good part about dishing out the seat yourself is that you can keep getting on and off the bike to keep adjusting until it feels just right.

Archangel, how is the comfort (especially after a long ride) now that you removed some of the cushing?

[cwiseman]

Here is a easy way to reduce some seat height. Remove rubber blocks seat sit on, take blocks to band saw and remove the desired amount of material, reinstall blocks onto frame then put seat Into place. Total time if saw is sitting near by and your fast at it, 5 minutes. It does help get your feet to the ground and also helps to lower the front part of the seat so your crotch isn't pressed into the tank.
Bingo I think it's a winner to all who I've done it to!

I've only done about 3/4" to the front and it had no I'll effect, I probably wouldn't take too much off the back for that reason but you could easily make some wood blocks to see how it would effect the back of the seat.
By the way a customer showed this to me so the glory is his!

[andrewdonald1]

I've only done about 3/4" to the front and it had no I'll effect, I probably wouldn't take too much off the back for that reason but you could easily make some wood blocks to see how it would effect the back of the seat.
By the way a customer showed this to me so the glory is his!

Do you have a pic of the blocks that I can see?

[AZRider]

I found this ptopic useful, so I thought I'd revive it. Below are some pictures from how I did mine.

I did the cutting of the front notch with a hacksaw, and the shaping of the back into a "tractor style" with an an angle grinder spinning a 60 grit flap wheel. You'll notice some places where the angle grinder caught and dug deep into the foam. It's EASY to grind away a lot in the blink of an eye. When I've used this technque before, I've clamped the seats in my Black & Decker Workmate, but I don't have it accessible in our current apartment, so I had to hold the seat in one hand and run the grinder one-handed. NOT recommended.

Once I had the foam shaped, I laid down a layer of very soft foam that really exists just to puff up the upholstery when I'm not sitting on the bike. I prefer half inch thick but Michael's Crafts was the only local choice today and they only had 1" thick. Not a problem, since it just squashes flat. 3M Super 77 spray adhesive is the way to stick it down. Be sure to mask off from overspray or you'll make a nasty mess.