'07 B1250 Seat Adjustment

[ZenMan]

Drilling a couple holes is no big deal, and whether you use bars or risers, you'll need to change the hoses/wires depending on how far up and back you go regardless.

I'm really curious about your new MRA Vario windscreen... I'll be awaiting your review on that when you get it installed. I'm considering the one-piece MRA Touring screen myself...

[Frisk Fisk]

Notice how I shamelessly use the above title to stay on a seat discussion while talking about windscreens.  This is mostly for Zenman but others may benefit.  I already have an MRA Vario screen on my V Strom and there are many variations one can make on how the wind passes over or through it because of the adjustable spoiler.  It works great on the V Strom, but it's a crapshoot as to how it will work on the smaller and lower area it will cover on the Bandit 1250S.  I'm hoping for a higher stream of wind over my head, so that MAYBE I can raise the seat.  But then there's still the reach to the bars to contend with. I think the plain Touring MRA would provide less flexibility in terms of adjustments.  Okay, I'm done here.

[ZenMan]

http://forums.banditalley.net/viewtopic.php?p=70283#70283

[Ray Mooney]

I've ridden with the higher seat position for a week now. Moderately more room for my long legs, but the seat shifts back and forth now when I shift my weight. I do NOT like this. I'm switching back this weekend. I'm going to install engine guards with highway pegs to tackle the leg room issue.

[Ves]

For what it's worth.  In general I find that just about all motorcycles have a design issue, and that is, that the seats slope forward.  I guess that's ok if its a crotch rocket and you spend all your time on the track, snuggling up against the tank.  Heck, you could be sitting on a piece of wood and it wouldn't make much difference on the track... You're just not in one position long enough for it to matter.  I've also heard that the seats are designed with a slope to keep you from sliding back when you're accelerating hard.  But honestly, I don't buy that, because most bikes have a hump between the front seat and the rear, which will do a lot more to prevent you from sliding back, than the slope of the seat.   The only thing I can say for sure is that the front of a seat is narrow to allow your thighs to sit more comfortably when you're at a stop, but as for the sloping, it seems to be strictly a styling thing. 

For the average street rider, sloping just causes two problems; 1) you slide toward the front, narrow section, so you get less support for your butt, and 2) the actual sliding action of the forward tilt will stretch the skin on your butt... I kid you not...  Actually, stretching of your skin is a major cause of monkey butt... I'll get to that... 

Anyway, the Bandit 1250 seat is no different; When you look at it from the side, it has a slight tilt forward; the seating area is not flat. Also, because the front is narrower than the back, the front actually compresses more which just adds to the slope.

One of the things you can do to increase your long range comfort on any motorcycle is get rid of the slope in the seat.  One way to do that is customize your seat foam.  Basically you figure out how it's sloped and then cut and/or add foam to level it.  I did it on one of my R1150R's here: http://www.vesware.com/R1150RSeat/RealManSeatR1150R.htm (leveled and added more foam to make it thicker and wider in the front).  But, with the Bandit there is a much easier approach...   You can actually use the Bandit seat height adjustment to level the seat.

Basically you use the height adjusters, and a little modification of the rubber pads, to raise the front of the seat, but not the back.  If you haven't yet, go look at the seat height adjustment thread in the FAQ's so you understand the basic adjustment procedure: http://forums.banditalley.net/index.php?topic=9058.0  then come back here.

Given the basic procedure, here's what you do:
1. You DO NOT change the height location of the bracket that holds the front section of the seat to the back section.  Leave the bracket in it's original position.  Because you want the back of the operator seat to stay low.

2. DO change the location of the screws at the front of the seat.  This will raise the front of the seat.


3. DO Swap the rubber blocks around.
4. TRIM THE RUBBER BLOCKS AT THE BACK OF THE SEAT SO THEY ARE JUST SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN THE SEAT SUPPORT PAN.



The end result is rear blocks are short, front are long.  When you mount the seat on the bike this puts the seat level.



One final thing.  As I mentioned earlier, sliding on the seat stretches your skin and adds to the Monkey Butt problem.  Fact is, even on a flat seat, you will still get stretching.  Actually, it's not just your skin that stretches, it's the vinyl on the seat and your jeans, and your undies, and since your skin is next to all that, it stretches too. 

So, if you want to minimize Monkey Butt, put something on that doesn't stretch.  To date, I've only found one piece of clothing that seems to solve the problem.  I have a pair of Tour Master rain pants that have a reinforced nylon panel in the butt and crotch area.  When ever I put those on, Monkey Butt is gone.  I kid you not.  Now of course we can't go riding around with rain pants on the whole time, and they will not all have the thick reinforced panel... but, this points to a solution.  Maybe some of those Kevlar reinforced jeans that are available would be strong enough to resist the stretching.  Or maybe reinforced leather pants.  I've never worn my full leather suit off the track, but maybe it would be worth a shot to see if leather would work.  Maybe this is why sheep skin covers work, the sheep skin doesn't stretch.

There you go.  Judge for yourself.

Oh yeah, and I haven't been on here in a couple years... sold a bandit... bought another one... keep coming back to a good thing...