It seems to me that the main comfort problem on the SH is that the seat slopes forward, necesitating the rider support his upper body weight with his arms, and if one were to level out the seat by adding more and firmer foam to the front part it would take the strain off the upper body. (I found this to be the case on my bicycle, and have been able to comfortably achieve a very low position by leveling my new anatomic seat, but I digress.) Anyway, with Sargent being so proud of their products I ran across these folks on ebay.
http://knoplace.com/Gel_Pad_Installation.html. They say they can modify a stock seat to my specifications with the original cover and ship it back to me for $165 bones. Sounds pretty tempting, wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this.

 

I've had two experiences with gels. I added my own to a stock seat by cutting out the gel inserts from a bell bicycle seat cover and on a Suzuki Bandit I bought their factory accessory gel seat. I didn't like either; too squishy basically. For me firm is the key.

If you only want it reshaped, any auto upholstery shop can fix you up; most for under $100. I also "roll my own" with sargent seat foam. They'll sell you a 12x12 inch blank for about $25. You'll need a staple gun and an electric knife to carve the foam with.

If you put any kind of serious seat time in, Corbin and Sargent seats are worth the money. Remember, you can easily resell the used seat for 1/2 price when you're done.

 

I don't know that particular product, but the idea is good. It used to be fairly common on older japanese bikes to carve the seat and rebuild the foam or customize it. I would try it yourself if you have the stock seat - you can NOT make it less comfortable and trying to decrease the sliding into the tank would help some. If you botch it up there are always replacements people are unloading cheap.

In the long run I agree with the corbin or sargent seats option. I know there are always mixed reviews on corbin, I personally have always had good experience with them including modifying things, seat shapes etc. They are very heavy - which has kept me from putting one on the SH (I have a sargent now), but I still find them to be the most comfortable seat out there and any other bike I'm spending many hours on I would use a corbin. Either is a good long term investment.

 

I removed the seat cover and cut about an inch out of the seat padding where my butt is and leveled out the foam so I don't slide. I then took the seat to a local auto upholsterer and for $50 they smoothed out the foam and attached a vented black seat cover (like the material Corbin uses.) I'm more comfortable on the bike since I'm sitting more flat on the bike instead of perched up and the bike handles better with my weight's lower center of gravity.

 

A place that mods your seat affordably (ref $75 + S&H for an ST1100 long distance mod)

Spenser Saddle.
><www.GreatDayToRide.com>

and a friends approach to eliminate forward slide on a BMW
http://rides.webshots.com/album/468370347DSLuds

I'm trying the second item right now.

Miles of Smiles
Tom

 

Thanks everyone!

 

My wife's family decided they would get my SHawk seat reupholstered for me over Christmas. The guy replaced the fabric with some kind of marine vinyl that he uses on jetski seats that is super sticky so I don't slide around as easy, and he added some REALLY good but thin foam padding on the main seating areas.

He charged us $65 for the whole thing, and the seat feels GREAT!
So check out the local upholstery shops if you don't want to spend $400+ on a new seat.

 

I just got my seat back from Spenser Saddle as per Tom Blum's post. 3 feet of snow (and counting) so not much riding right now, but from sitting on the bike leveled out on the stands I think it's gonna work really well. Level, firm, a little wider, just what I had in mind. Great people to deal with too, fast turnaround and $75 (plus shipping to Florida and back) for the deluxe seat mod. I actually had him add a bit of height, and with my completed Buell footpeg conversion (from the Forum) https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...=buell+footpeg my SH is more comfortable than I ever thought it would be. Thank you Tom!