GS850GL Seat

[kjsamm]

Does anybody know where I would be able to find a solo seat, or something similar to a mustang seat- Wide Touring One-Piece Vintage Seat? 1983 GS850GLD. But I don't want to spend hundreds.

[old_skool]

unfortunately, I don't think many seat mods were made for the L series bikes, these have the key lock as you know from the rear, you may have to mod yours and get it recovered, or I've seen some customs where the owner just went and bought whatever caught his fancy and modded the seat to mount themselves. I always thought for our L's, Suzuki has a lot of V-twin style seats that might be worth modding, but as far as cost, nothing inexpensive, just have to watch ebay/craigs for a deal or buy an old seat pan for your bike and make one from scratch.
Others may know of a source, but I haven't seen any as of yet, and I want to mod mine as well, I'll probably use one of the fore mentioned ideas on mine.

[kjsamm]

I took the vinyl off and I shaved and reshaped the seat way down, so I sit low like I want. I just put the old vinyl on for now I will replace it later. I know it doesn't look much different in the picture, but its a big change. For the passenger area I shaved it down to just above the lock and made flat all accross, for the front I shaved it down to 7/8in with more of a Bobber seat curve.

[old_skool]

I took the vinyl off and I shaved and reshaped the seat way down, so I sit low like I want. I just put the old vinyl on for now I will replace it later. I know it doesn't look much different in the picture, but its a big change. For the passenger area I shaved it down to just above the lock and made flat all across, for the front I shaved it down to 7/8in with more of a Bobber seat curve.

I'm assuming you did this because you may be a shorter/smaller in stature kinda guy, (compared to us fat a$$e$) The only problem I see with this is the amount or original foam, I would not re-cover it with new vinyl until you've had a chance to get the bike to a riding condition and take it for a decent ride, even find some bumps. The oem foam or whats left of it may be a little rough as you might end up feeling a lot more of the pan on bumps. If that's the case, replace the entire front section of foam with firmer foam and reshape it again back to where you like it, the tired foam probably isn't going to give you much support/comfort at this time, might as well find out before re-covering it and having to take it off again. But otherwise, good job, also, try and re-cover on a hot sunny day, leaving the vinyl out in the sun awhile before reinstalling it, it will stretch easier, and when cooled down, will form a little tighter as you would have been able to stretch it easier.

[kjsamm]

Thanks, I already bought some more foam when I started just in case I did take to much off. And yeah the recovering wont be for some time now. I have already invested more into this then my wife wanted me to.

[kjsamm]

And yeah I am a smaller guy....short and topping out at 170lbs