I'm in the middle of a 10,000 KM SE Asia trip and just got seat concepts seat and thought I'd give some quick feedback as well as ask a question.

- Seat comes with new foam and cover; you use your old pan
- while waiting for the seat to arrive I found an upholstery shop here in Chiang Mai Thailand so I took it straight there when I got it. The put it all together for me in 16 minutes - 10 of that being doing nothing while waiting for the contact adhesive to dry.
- My guess is the seat height is now lower but in reality it is like you lose about an inch of inseam length because it is wider.

- I'm going to say that with the EXCEPTION OF THE COVER, it is for me about 300% better on freeway type riding and 85% as good as stock off road.

When I say 300% better on the freeway I mean by butt feels about the same after 3 hours of straight riding on the new seat as opposed to 1 hour on the stock seat.
When I say 85% as good off road that is a more subjective number. Hard core I'd rather have the stock seat but it's not a huge difference. This one is bit harder to stand up and move around on.

By comparison I would rate my Renazco seat on my KTM as being 800% better on road and 120% better off road. (Meaning my butt hurts no more after 8 hours on the renazco than 1 hour on the stock and it actually is an improvement over stock off road.) I like dual sport bike mods that make either one element - on road or off road better without sacrificing the other. I LOVE dual sport mods that actually make BOTH aspects better!

There is one thing I hate about the new seat but wanted to get your guys feedback before I do something rash. I hate the seat cover and how sticky it is. I first rode it with my airmesh kevlar pants on and it was like I was glued to the seat. I thought maybe it was just the way the 2 materials interacted and so just rode it with some nylon pants. Same thing.
When I first try to slide back and for I can move at all. After a while I have some play but thats just my pants getting pulled down and the slack in my crotch getting taken up. It comes on slowly, but 1/2 an hour of riding like that when you get off it's just like some kicked you full bore in the *****!

So I was just going to scab the old seat cover back on, but I'm curious. With how sticky the seat cover is, I'm thinking it must be meant to be that way? And is there a reason for that that I don't know about? IE do some people like to stick to their seat? Either sitting down off road (of course I'm standing lots too) or twisty mountain roads I'm all over my seat and I like it to be easy. Is it me that has some funny/weird riding style?

 

hahaha, you could try a newbie move and use armor-all on the seat cover.

What material is your seat cover?

 

I think grippy is good, keeps the rider planted on seat. Just lift up a little to reposition yourself. I don't want to be sliding around on the seat.

 

This stuff is awesome protection that i use on all my vinly and plastic on my bike... it dries clear... you cant see it or slide around on it... i can only tell its on there cuz the water beads up on it lol

 

Does it help keep the dirt off? hahahaha....no really does it? Cause that would be cool.

 

It looks like that seat comes with different covers.
Seat Concepts - Products

 

Those choices in covers are a VERY recent change. I ordered a few days ago and the only option was "gripper center with vinyl sides".

 

Interesting perspectives guys! I honestly didn't know:

a.) there were intentionally grippy seat covers
b.) that people would like them

I kept my old seat cover and of course it is not big enough to cover the whole thing but I can run a strip from the front to the back.

I think though I'm going to give learnig a new riding style a whirl for at least a day So a question for you guys that like grippy seat covers;

I'm kind of a gym junkie - I like doing push ups and pull ups all day and when I'm riding with lots of mixed terrain, fast corners, deep sand pits I'm constantly pulling/pushing on the handlebars to be sitting in my ideal position which may change 3X in 5 seconds in some parts. Even on the asphalt I happen to be right next to a famous road here in the golden triangle at the moment known as the road of 1,800 curves.

So my question for you guys that like the grippy seat covers is do you avoid those situations or do you have another way of tackling them? I suppose if I was in better shape I'd be hovering my butt 6" off the seat and could really shift my weight around fast!

FWIW the new seat cover "LOOKS" cool!

 

Here's an excerpt from an email response to some questions I had and pictures.

Here is some pictures of the seat on a bike. It is wider in the seating area and our foam is a progressive type of foam. The different cover materials are gripper/carbon (good for aggressive riding and not sliding), gripper/plain ( same as gr/carbon but plain sides), plain which is a leather looking vinyl and all carbon looking material. All covers are black. We have no dealers in Sacramento for you to walk in and look at them. It does come with a instruction sheet.

 

Hi Ricky,
I installed a GUTS racing "tall" seat with grip cover. "Tall" because I'm 6'+ and wanted to get up there more. I'm new(er) to dirt, and wasn't sure if I wanted grip, but went with it at recommendation of other dirt riders. I love it. Much of time on dirt is standing or hovering, but when seated, I won't want to be sliding around, hence grip cover.

I'm guessing if I were doing lots of road riding, a grip cover wouldn't be as enjoyable.