Anyone tried a different seat and tail on their SH?

I'm 5'10" and when riding solo the stock seat is OK because I sit close to the tank. I can't be using half the seat. The problem is when I put someone on the back. When sitting on pillion seat there's a big gap between me and them and the only thing for them to hold onto is that joke of a grab strap or the back of my riding jacket. Hitting the brakes is a sure way to have 2 in the front seat with me jammed into the tank. Letting the wife sneak into my seat keeps her safely on the bike but kills your wrists after awhile.

Has anyone tried fitting something like the seat & tail from a 954 or something similar? Shorter front seat with a closer back seat. I've got access to the fab equipment but am looking for the benefit of someones experience before giving it a try. Comments are welcome.

Thanks.

 

Hmmm....... I'm not so sure you need to go this far, but it can be done. I have seen a VTR with a Ducati tail unit.

My suggestion for you is to get a custom seat made up. This would be a far simpler solution, and much cheaper as well. Personally, I like the VTR tail section so I didn't want to change it on my bike. I have a custom made seat, which is far better than the stock one, and I am 5'10" as well.

Mine was made by using the stock seat, and then changing it to suit me. Better than buying a Corbin I think. Pics are in my signature below.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I'd thought about going the custom seat route but hadn't seen many examples in the different forums. Using a different tail and seat off another bike seemed less work as they could be had off of Ebay. Assuming they didn't get hacked up to make it fit, if the didn't work out, they could be resold.

Might be worth buying another stock seat, fitting up some foam on it to get the basic look & shape and bringing it to a local upholstery shop. Probably need to put a seat cowl on to make it look right.

Your bike came out great. Nice pics.

 

Actually there is a small and cheap "fix" that might help a bit...

I had similar problems and bought this... http://cgi.ebay.com/HONDA-VTR-1000-F...QQcmdZViewItem

It helps more than you might believe... according to the gf it becomes a lot easier to keep the balance and hold on as you aren't slipping anymore...

The downside is that it becomes an alsolute bitch to get the rear cowl of as it won't slide...

 

There is member on stutlife that went by "twolane" that did a gixxer tail/seat on a streetfighter SH. It was a sharp bike with all the work and mods done to it!

 

Tweety:
Looked at that seat cover you mentioned. For the price it was worth a shot. Ordered it today.

haknslash:
Thanks for posting the pic. If the seat cover doesn't solve the problem I'm likely to try the different tail route like you've shown though I doubt I'd get it done before the summer is over.

Thanks again for the response.

 

That was my thinking too... And it turned out to be worth it in my case...

 

So until you change it helps if the wife puts a hand around you and onto the tank for braking. I know when I first got my SH riding two up was a chore to hold her weight and mine when braking. When someone else told us this trick it helped us alot. You probably already do this just worth a mention...maybe

 

Put the Triboseat cover on (per Tweety's suggestion). Noticed a big difference in that people stay put on the rear seat under braking now. I'd say it's well worth the money and would recommend it.

Think I'll still keep an eye out for an R1 or GSXR seat/tail for a long term solution as the seat cover doesn't make up the front seat being so long. I've got to say the more I look at pics of bikes with the super bike bars the more I like them.

 

my storm has a r1 **** end

 

>fishface
Any Pics of your bike posted?

 

 

You can see pics of bdizzles R1 tail mod in this thread https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=15524

 

corbin(sometimes a bad word around here) makes one that has a backrest option. i think it is called a gunfighter&lady or something. the passenger then has something to prevent them from sliding off the back. add to this a harness belt(kind of like a kidney belt on the outside with handles to grab onto) and the passenger will have more control. this is the setup i have although i cant get my wife within 5 feet of the bike couple drawbacks that i have found is the weight(heavy) and the fit takes a bit of tweekin' in
cheers

 

oops! and that last bit did not refer to my better half

 

My current project









05 R1 seat unit no where near finished but gives you an idea of the look.

 

so is that tail a bolt on or do i have to weld and bend to fit?? (R1 tail)