GS850G Seat modification

[mattd1205]

I decided tonight I'm not a really big fan of the stepped seat on my 1980 GS850G. I was thinking of taking an electric carving knife to the stepped portion of the foam. Has anyone done this on their bike? any pics?

[Steve]

If you have a stepped seat, you probably don't have an 850G, you have an 850GL.

Other tip-offs:
leading-axle front fork
chrome front fender
6" headlight in a chrome bucket
individual gauges, rather than a large, rubberized cluster
taller, pull-back handlebars
smaller, tear drop-shaped fuel tank
stepped seat
shorter mufflers that end squarely (not tapered)
chrome rear fender with tail light mounted on it

A picture of your bike will do very nicely here.

But, to answer your question, yes, many GL seats have been modified, with varying results.

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[mattd1205]

Heres a pic of my bike.

[Steve]

OK, you do NOT have an L, and that seat is virtually flat, not stepped.

However, if you feel you need to customize it, go for it. Your electric carving knife is the perfect tool for the job.

By the way, that seat (which is the same as the one on the 1000G) was voted "most comfortable stock seat" by many of the magazines back in the day.

When you said "stepped seat", this is what I thought you were talking about:



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[BluePlateSpecial]

People who don't own suzuki's joke about my 1000G seat but I can attest to the fact that it is comfortable.

It is pretty huge though...

[nejeff]

How much flatter do you need it and why?

[Mursell14]

im looking to lower the profile of my 550ez seat, so any info or pics of what peeps have done in the past would be helpful

[850 Combat]

That one appears to have already seen the carving knife. I cut down an RD350 seat for my wife, and the electric knife I used didn't work as well as I had hoped.

[gert du prez]

If you have a stepped seat, you probably don't have an 850G, you have an 850GL.

But, to answer your question, yes, many GL seats have been modified, with varying results.

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Steve, when saying 'with varying results'...by any chance, can you point me into the direction of a good result ?

I'm in the process of considering the same modification, but I would like to see some results before wasting a comfortable saddle...

[tkent02]

Go easy on it. When you cut it lower, it becomes wider, gets very uncomfortable quickly.

[Gorminrider]

I sliced this stepped seat down to equal foam thickness along the whole length and made my first DIY seat cover just to try. I liked it to ride, though it's not super pretty yet.

I will do a better job when I find a bike to use that seat. I will maybe build it up another 1/2" on it's length and be more careful to square the back a bit...plus, now that I know how, I'll do the "texture padding" on its top too.
The slight swoop is built into this pan- it's never going to look like a cb350's seat...? Anyone hoping to just mod the original seat need take this into account. An " L"'s pan might do better with getting rid of the rear pillion altogether but I'm just speculating...


But the bike (GSX400T) has Collector plates and needs the original seat. It's not exactly uncomfortable but I don't like feeling the bump ridge. (I wish I had a better side-on picture handy as comparison)