SEAT HEIGHT

[ELIMINATOR]

I was in Lyme Regis today & had to turn into a car park with a very steep access road, put my foot down & the road wasn't there!! My shoulder is somewhere between pain & agony, which is good because it masks the pain in my hip!
Question has anyone had the seat restuffed & made lower? Is there one available to buy? Is there an alternative method, I believe that on some bikes different lenght linkage bars that are fitted to the rear suspension can be altered to reduce the ride height. Is this an option on a gs1150?

 

[Steve]

Question has anyone had the seat restuffed & made lower?

Is there one available to buy?

Yes, and yes. BMW and other companies, including Touratech and Wunderlich, make a lower seat option.

You can also have your seat re-upholstered to suit.

 

[rdover]

You clearly fogot the traillie rider's incantation

"go go gadget leg"

Remember that for the next time, Happenend to me twice on Friday!

 

[guitarman]

Some Gsers have used modified suspension to lower the bike. Try a search.

I'd avoid getting a lowered seat as generally it means it's got less padding and will prove a real pain in the butt.

Also, be very aware of road cambers

Cheers

Dick

 

[Jimb]

You could have used the other foot on the uphill side.

 

[JOP]

Eliminator:
Do you have a black original seat in good condition?
Perhaps we could trade seats. When I bought my GS it was fitted with brand new front & rear seats. The problem is that the previous owner had bought a lowered seat instead of original height. This was perfect for him. but an agony for me who is 10 cm taller and 40 kg heavier.
I´m currently driving with a really shitty looking wunderlich seat, but I would prefer to have an original seat in good shape.

/JOP

 

[Colt]

Hi Elim by linkage bars you mean the kouba links??not a gs1150 option
you could use an adjustable paralever torque arm,recently some for sale on this lovely site.
or spend out for a lower ohlin shock.=£.

 

[nleader]

Sorry to hear it hurts, Eliminator.

Please don't take offence at this, but I wonder if a cheaper solution might be to work on improving your slow speed control technique so you don't need to put your feet down when riding/turning slowly and your forward observation skills so you know the road camber is making the surface too far away for your foot to go down properly.

For what it's worth, I'm leg-length challenged. I can just about put my left foot down flat (right foot on rear brake pedal, obviously!), but if I need to put both feet down I can only get the toes down, not the heels. Yet I still ride with the seat on the high position to give me a more comfortable leg position for long rides. When I stop, I always put the bike onto the sidestand to get off even if I then use the centre stand afterwards.

Again, no offence meant and my advice may not apply to you because I don't know you or your riding/training experience. But there are lots of people out there who can't ride a bike slowly and keep it balanced nicely. They flap both feet about (and lose access to the rear brake for control) and grab at the front brake (making the bikes CofG change dramamtically). It isn't hard to fix and costs nothing.

Norman

I was in Lyme Regis today & had to turn into a car park with a very steep access road, put my foot down & the road wasn't there!!

 

[miconone]

Seat height

Ditto nleader, but still there but for the grace go I!

 

[ELIMINATOR]

Seat height

nleader, no offence taken. I ride 12-13000 miles a year,.allweather. I can ride a uni-cycle, & ride my bikes almost to a standstill without flapping the bars. The road in question has a 25-30 exit, with a 20-30 degree slope on the right. The visibility uphill to the left is poor. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

jop, I have wound the preload to the softest setting, so that my 90Kg arse drops the bike lower

 

[ANIMO]

May I suggest that you try some options out, even if they are temp. home made ideas before spending money out on a custom seat.

If you are riding an 1150 I would guess that you are not particularly short, if my attempts to combine a 5'6 frame to a Demonstrator 1200 is anything to go by.

Lower seat options are pretty commonplace for the BM, and are no cost options (for most) when new. I recently had a loan R850 Classic while my 650 GS was being fettled. This had a low seat which allowed me to touch the ground, but the price paid was a reduced seat to foot peg measurement.

This tightened the angle at my knee, and reduced the ability to ride this bike drastically. MY 04 650 was greeted so warmly upon its return.

I would suggest an alternative path, that of lowering the suspension height. This might sound drastic but it will keep the designed rider dynamics while allowing a safer feet down position.

Animo
650 GS TwinSpark