Front Seat Stuck on! R1200GS 2016

Hi All, bit of a weird one this. Went to clean the bike today as the weather was something other than rain, took the rear and front seat off to clean them and frame underneath them, put them back on in the way I normally do, went to remove the key from the seat lock and it wouldn't budge! Spent ages pushing and pulling seat, twiddling and pushing and pulling the key with no success. Eventually after prodding stuff under the gap between the rear seat/bike, the rear seat came off. Key still stuck firm in the lock though. Went for a quick "dry the bike" spin, got home, did some searching online (most results suggested banging the seat very hard or poking stuff under it), did that. Found if I turned the key to unlock the back seat, the back of the front seat moved upwards a bit. Tried lifting the front seat really hard and turning key, nothing. Eventually I opted to turn the key as hard as I dared without breaking it and I eventually got the lock to the position to release the key. How it didn't snap I dunno, coz I twisted it bleddy hard - got this from an online search! Anyway, the front seat is stuck on and the key won't go back in the lock (no bad thing seeing what a shit afternoon I had). So, does anyone have any ideas to sort this please? I don't really want to go to a dealer for a fix if I can help of it.

Seat is in the low position and I used a lot of GT85 in and around the lock barrel. Many thanks in advance of replies

Try WD40 in the lock, which is a penetrating oil, rather than a lubricant like GT85
Cheers
Dave

What's the temperature like there today - could it have iced up? If so, maybe a hair dryer & some lock lube.

Or don't use either of those spawn of Satan. Try graphite powder or rub a 2b pencil up and down the key then insert.

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A similar thing happened to a friend of mine's 1200 GS, he had just put his front seat back on as usual and somehow strained the 2 plastic locking arms forward and jammed the front seat. An old fashioned type wire coat hanger had to be used bent into a hook shape to assist the 2 plastic arms to move in a rearward arc whilst turning the key anti-clockwise (ie the way you would normally remove the front seat but with hook pulling assistance on the arms to stop the key from snapping whilst another person tries to lift the rear edge of the front seat) Ever since then when replacing my front seat I use the key
(as if I'm removing the seat) so I can't trap the plastic locking arms. If you see what I mean !

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Release position.

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This 'flip flop' arm thing is worked by the key for front/rear seat removal and may be on the 'wrong side' , it should look this this.

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This is a better photo, when the key is turned anti clockwise to release the front seat the letter 'V' shaped piece presses ON TOP of the back of the plastic arm to arc them rearwards and release the front seat. Ofcourse you won't see any of this as your front seat is still on and in the low position to make it even worse. He pulled the arms back with the coat hanger got the seat off , then made sure the flip- flop
'V' thing in photo was on top of the arm. Sorry for all the separate photos, must up grade to VIP for multiple images.

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Thanks all for the replies. Sorry, my post should have been clearer, something in the mechanism under the seat is at fault, not the lock barrel.

@Miccko123 - this is exactly the issue I have! Thanks for your post and photos, if I get chance today (unlikely, work) I'll go and have a tinker, otherwise it'll be the weekend. As it is the front seat is jammed on, key is out and I dare not put the back seat back on. This looks really helpful, thanks for taking the time to reply and include pics

The very same thing happened to me recently and was also caused by the mechanism under the seat. The plastic lever that is connected to the key barrel can swing clockwise and connect with the rear seat mechanism to release the rear seat. Turn the key anti-clockwise and the plastic lever connects with the front seat mechanism to release the front seat.

If the plastic lever overextends it comes to rest on the wrong side of the plastic tab of the front seat release mechanism. As a result the barrel cannot return to its neutral position and the key won't come out.

I sorted the problem by undoing all of the bolts which attach the undertray to the subframe. Only takes a few mins and then you can remove seats and undertray as one complete item. Then it's easy to tackle the problem from the underside and set the mechanism back to the way it should be.

Hope this helps...

I telephoned my friend just to double check exactly what happened with his front seat. He said he put his front seat on in the usual way and had to press down on it 'to settle it in' as it was occasionally a little difficult to lock in, (The Missenden Flyer struggles with his too on some of his videos). He then put the rear seat on which wasn't difficult at all to engage. Sat on the riders seat and heard a 'really positive click' and thought that's sorted the fucker !
The next time he tried to remove the seats he couldn't get either one off and the key was 'stiff and just didn't feel right'.
The 'wave of panic' slowly descended through him as he recalled the previous faffing about to get the front seat to engage and thought this is going to be expensive ! Through brute force and frustration he managed to raunch the rear seat off as it's only secured with the button mushroom type thing in the centre of the seat. The back of his front seat also lifted slightly when he turned the key clockwise (which is the direction you turn the key for rear seat removal). Now with the rear seat removed by the above mentioned 'raunching method'
he formed the stiff coat hanger into 2 separate hooks to grab the locking arms and applied considerable force in a rearward direction to arc the arms and release the front seat. When he looked the 'letter V shaped' tab which is attached to the key shaft was UNDER the extension on the rear locking arm instead of on TOP of it. This is why the key shaft was all working 'arse about face' , the whole mechanism is made of cheesy plastic and if care isn't taken fitting the front seat and then sat on by a fat tosser this the result. All he had to do then was get a screw driver and prise the V shaped tab onto the TOP of the extension on rear of the locking arm. Phew... hope that all makes sense...
it's difficult to explain in words but obvious if you look at it... When fitting my front seat now I always twist the key anti clockwise to move the locking arms out of the way, let the seat locate, and realise the key to neutral position and gently lift back edge of front seat to make sure locking arms have engaged. .

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A most timely and helpful thread for me as my 2018GS suffered the stuck key problem over the weekend.
My riders seat was in the high position and, having read this thread, I managed to get a long screwdriver in under the seat from the lock side of the bike and lever gently against the tip of the locking arm on the opposite side. Both lock arms moved quite easily and by lifting the seat at the same time it came loose. I too had the V shaped tab in the wrong position as Mick describes, but that was quite easy to fix with the seat out.
This thread saved me a 90 mile round trip to the dealer tomorrow, so many thanks to all who contributed. Dave

I still haven't had the chance to look at this and it's driving me nuts as I've got too much other stuff going on. Hopefully over the next few days/next weekend!

Hi All,

Well today was the first chance I've had to look a the bike with the front seat stuck on, and I managed to get it off! I managed to get some thin-nose pliers on one of the arms and pulled it back enough for the seat to release (for some reason the right hand arm - when sat on the bike - released easily, the other needed a bit more of a pull). So seat off, smiles all round. Next, I noticed the V-shaped piece mentioned in Micko123's post above with the photos showing it, was below the plastic arm. I managed to bend the top of the arm to fit into the recess above the V-shaped bit in Micko123's photo, which allowed to it rotate further than it normally does, and I could rotate the v-shaped bit to where it needed to be, on top of the plastic arm. So, the fornt seat goes back on and it all looks like this:

Seat arm in forward position, with the V-piece showing:




As above, but with arm in rearward position, i.e. key turned anti-clockwise all the way:




Not a very good close up showing the v-piece:





I still have problems though. The front seat seems sorted, but the key won't turn clockwise at all to allow for the rear seat. Moving the mechanism the mushroom of the rear seat goes into makes no difference to the key turning so I am unable to put the rear seat on in case it gets jammed again. So it seems the mechanism is still stuck somewhere, does anyone have any ideas? I'm still hoping this is an easy fix! ;-)

Thanks once again for all the help here, sorry it's taken a while for me to get to work on it.

TBH the mechanism is just cheap plastic shite, my 1250 is the same and it would be very easy to over rotate the key anti clockwise and have it end up below the plastic lever rather than above it. This thread has pointed out the problem and i now know it can happen i will be very carefull when turning that key

Well, I'm at the point where the key won't turn beyond the 12 o'clock position (approx), so I haven't put the back seat back on yet. Will have another tinker, otherwise it'll be a visit to the dealers :-(

arealhuman said:

Well, I'm at the point where the key won't turn beyond the 12 o'clock position (approx), so I haven't put the back seat back on yet. Will have another tinker, otherwise it'll be a visit to the dealers :-(

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Check that it hasn't "gone over the cam" as it were.. Its cheap plastic shite and its very easy to twist the key too far and jam it.

Delboy777 said:

Check that it hasn't "gone over the cam" as it were.. Its cheap plastic shite and its very easy to twist the key too far and jam it.

Click to expand...

That's what it feels like for the back seat, but I can't see how to get it back over the cam. I managed to find a parts list for the seat mechanism online with an exploded diagram, but nothing jumps out as obvious to me.

arealhuman said:

That's what it feels like for the back seat, but I can't see how to get it back over the cam. I managed to find a parts list for the seat mechanism online with an exploded diagram, but nothing jumps out as obvious to me.

View attachment 438993

Click to expand...

Part 14 the small offshoot on the left hand side of it is what unhooks the front seat it will have dropped down to far and gone under the latch mechanism that tilts part 7 back to release the seat.

If you considerably force the hooking arm towards the front of the bike with your thumb and simultaneously turn the key clockwise the little 'v' shaped tab (that you won't be able to see yet because it is still under the hooking arm) will pop onto the top like mine is in the photo, all should work ok after.

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