Lookin for a seat for my 83

[Brianb]

Like it said, I have an 83 mk1 and the seat has started getting messed up from the heat and sun. Its almost like its melting and has gotten sticky. I like the stock seat but it really isn't too comfortable for a long ride. I'm a bigger guy, think 250ish so I was wondering if there is an aftermarket seat available for the first gen mk1s, would really like it to have the option for or come with a drivers back rest. Haven't been able to find any seat options so any ideas would be great, or any ideas about making stock seat more comfortable. Thanks for your time guys:bluesbrother:

[Snaggletooth]

Hi Brian,

 

I could guess your current seat is brown. It was a common problem with the brown seats on the older Ventures and Gold Wings as well that they eventually turned sticky. After a bit of research and talking to several shops that do recovers it seems the problem was caused by the dye in the material leeching out from exsposer. Not much you can do to fix it. It just is one of those things.

 

I ended up finding both the seat and passenger back rest, in black on eBay for about $40.00 for the seat and $15.00 for the backrest. Compared to recovering, real cheap.

 

There are other seats out there like the Corbin with a built in back rest but they are still holding a heavy price tag, and you may not like the feel of it. Some don't and say they feel hard or stiff.

 

There are the aftermarket backrests for the bike that you can find on eBay once in a while but you need to be sure you find one for a MKI (83-85) with the right mounting brackets. If it don't have the the brackets, don't buy it. Might take a long while to find the right ones to match. Prices can run from $50.00 to $150.00 depending on how complete it is and condition.

 

As far as making the stock seat more comfortable, the guy to talk to is Rick Butler here on the site. We call him the Butt Butler. He does magic making the seat fit your needs. I think he is on a bit of a break right now but you can touch base with him for more info on the mod. Search "Butt Butler" or "seat mod" and you can find more info also.

 

Mike

 

Edited May 31, 2011 by Snaggletooth

[Condor]

Corbin did make an after market replacement, and I bet there's at least 3 or 4 more company's out there that do too. They are all nose bleed pricy. One thing to remember is if you find an OEM, make sure it's off a MKI. MKII's will not fit as the passenger seat is wider.