Gel In Original Seat vs New Seat?

gsbiker

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Went to NEC bike show and saw at least 2 places who can rebuild part of your original seat with gel and refit the cover. Average cost was about £130 per single seat with a 1-2 week wait. But how would approx 1cm thick of gel in seat compare with lets say a new Sargent seat that people seem to rave about on this website? Which is the best way to go? Is Gel replacement as good as new custom seat?

These are the choices I have seen...

Sargent seat
Touratech seat
Gel replacement in original seat
 
I had the seats on my 06 1200 GS rebuilt by Melvyn Hunter but it was not just a case of fitting gel inserts the stock foam was replaced and re-sculpted, gel inserts were fitted and anew covers were made and fitted.

Seats were a massive improvement for me compared to stock for approximetly half the cost of a pair of Sargents.

I used Sargents on the 08 1200 and really liked them but Melvyns' seats were equally as good.
 
Baglux

I went to the nec yesterday and ordered a replacement seat with baglux. You can do it all on there website but I wanted to see the materials and colours. About £230 and you can have any mix of colours at no extra cost. Was advised not to bother with the gel insert. It may not be as good as a Corbin or Seargent but I'm sure it will be loads better than the stock one piece seat on my 1150 ADV. Bloody cold on the way home at -2 last night! Thank god for mr Gerbing!

ps You can specify heights of both the front part and rear part. Worth a look on the website. They take your old seat and there is around a four week turn around at this time of year(i have a spare).
 
Gel

I had a gel pad put into my original seat its great looking at the seat you wouldnt know its there,but the comfort is great.I considered the sargent or corbin route but they are big money and to be honest i paid 60quid locally to have the work done and have a really comfy ride now so seems my money was better spent on the gel.
 
I had a gel pad put into my original seat its great looking at the seat you wouldnt know its there,but the comfort is great.I considered the sargent or corbin route but they are big money and to be honest i paid 60quid locally to have the work done and have a really comfy ride now so seems my money was better spent on the gel.

Do you have any pictures? Where did you go locally? Is this something a local non seat specialist can do? £60 is a good price! I'm happy to have my seat sculpted and gel inserted but I would want my original red and black seat cover reused to keep the bike standard looking. I saw the gel insert and it's only about 1cm thick - surely this can't be as good as a £300 new sargent seat?

More feedback please!

Cheers
Paul
 
I went to the nec yesterday and ordered a replacement seat with baglux. You can do it all on there website but I wanted to see the materials and colours. About £230 and you can have any mix of colours at no extra cost. Was advised not to bother with the gel insert. It may not be as good as a Corbin or Seargent but I'm sure it will be loads better than the stock one piece seat on my 1150 ADV. Bloody cold on the way home at -2 last night! Thank god for mr Gerbing!

ps You can specify heights of both the front part and rear part. Worth a look on the website. They take your old seat and there is around a four week turn around at this time of year(i have a spare).

Why would http://www.baglux.co.uk/seats.php advise against gel insert when they sell it? And if they did why? There's no mention of a BMW seat either?
 
Why would http://www.baglux.co.uk/seats.php advise against gel insert when they sell it? And if they did why? There's no mention of a BMW seat either?

Well, this was just the opinion of someone who had used both versions. They did say they would not pay the extra themselves as it, in there opinion, was no better. You , however....
As far as BMW seat? You select make and model in the scroll down list I think....not been on the site for months!!??
 
When do you get yours? Can you post pictures when it's on? The seat looks good or at the single seat shown where you can configure your colours. What was the seat like in reality?
 
When do you get yours? Can you post pictures when it's on? The seat looks good or at the single seat shown where you can configure your colours. What was the seat like in reality?


Will be sending mine away on saturday. I saw plenty on the stand at the show and they looked good, very good.
 
these guys copied the shape of my sargent (with some requested mods) onto pikey dave's base for £90.

so if you can borrow one....
 
Have you considered an Airhawk:

http://www.bykebitz.co.uk/acatalog/PREMIUM_NEOPRENE_SEATING_SYSTEM.html

I have a 'cruiser medium' and am still in the process of getting the inflation level just right - I'm advised that next to no air is the way to go.

Big improvement in comfort already though ...

Thats alot of money for an add on :eek: You could have your original seat reformed with gel for that without the hassle of putting the cover on all the time. For me this would be a waste of money.
 
I find the standard seat is fine most of the time. I'm not convinced that Gel will provide comfort for long trips ... there's some discussion, which I found helpful, here:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158090

See Steptoe's post (a chap who seems to know what he's talking about).

Anyway, I was persuaded that the Airhawk was the way to go and so far I'm not dissatisfied ... but it does need some further fine tuning.
 
The airhawk has has some good feedback from what I have read but I also see the niggles that will come from using this add on. Take getting on and off the bike for example this will keep moving the pad all the time not to mention it won't add anything to the style of the bike - well not in my opinion anyway. If it wasn't so expensive I might have considered taking a chance but not at £145 that seem rediculas!!!! Up to £50 maybe!
 
The airhawk has has some good feedback from what I have read but I also see the niggles that will come from using this add on. Take getting on and off the bike for example this will keep moving the pad all the time not to mention it won't add anything to the style of the bike - well not in my opinion anyway. If it wasn't so expensive I might have considered taking a chance but not at £145 that seem rediculas!!!! Up to £50 maybe!

think i got my airhawk medium from US ebay for about £60 including the post.
 


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