Newly Reworked Seats

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scottolds
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Newly Reworked Seats

Post by scottolds »

Yesterday I finished putting on my new driver and passenger seats and then went for a test drive. I rode up toward Daytona only to then find out Biketoberfest was starting. I did not feel like paying to park my bike and walk around crowded areas so I turned around and left. My purpose was to test out the new seats.

Since I got my Voyager in April 2016, I have put about 22000 miles on it with stock seats. My longest mileage day was 986 and my normal average when traveling is 500-650 miles per day. (I take long trips) :lol:

After the first 12,000 butt numbing miles, I figured out that if I combined an Alaska Leather gel pad and Air Hawk, I could do my long riding days in relative comfort. I just didn't care for the solution. What it taught me was that for me to be comfortable, I needed a bit more height in the seat and some more support.

I stopped at Carl Leo's house in July while on my way for a 2000 mile trip up to Front Royal, VA to ride Skyline Drive and the entire Blue Ridge to pick up a part and he showed me his new seat. I sat on it and it felt very promising. So I finally decided to just get my stock seats reworked to my specifications and am now in process of testing it out.

The seats were done by Terry's Custom Seats. https://www.terryscustomseats.com/

The price in my opinion is very reasonable starting at $250 per bucket. I was originally going to only have my driver seat done to save money, but my wife said she would like a more comfortable seat for those rare occasions when she rides with me :!! Since I wanted mine raised up, there was an reasonable extra charge for it. So, here are the pictures of both seats on the bike.

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My first 120 mile solo ride seems promising. Still getting used to the new height, width and extra support. Previously, I had to sit all the way back in the seat where the foam was so thin my tailbone pretty much was riding on the seat tray (which is why I had to use 2 pads to help.

I plan to do more test rides and maybe a longer riding day to see if I can now retire the Air Hawk.

I left the Markland backrest off for now. Having it on seems to hold me a bit more forward than I like. I may have to either modify it or sell it and get a Utopia backrest or just do like I did before the Markland and use my duffle bag on the seat.

If interested, feel free to check out Terry's website and send him an email for more information. If you have other questions for me I will do my best to answer.

One thing to note, because I had my driver seat raised about 1.5 inches, I had to get a little creative with the rear seat since I would not be able to slide the rear seat forward over the driver seat. I ended up putting some short studs in the rear seat mounting holes and got nut to secure the seat. I also locked the seat adjuster in the rear most position. I can now get the rear seat off pretty easily, but I need a 10mm wrench instead of a socket. I put the front holders in place and lower the seat mount holes over the studs and then using two fingers get the nut started. Then a few turns with the 10mm wrench and all is well. I will be experimenting with raising the rear seat a bit as well to retain the adjustment feature. If you don't have your driver seat raised, it should not be an issue if you choose getting your seat done.

Thanks

Scott
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by JHD »

Your seats look great. I feel mine needs to be taller also. I'm always trying to scooch back as far as possible and my knees seem to be up to high. Not sure if I would need as much as you, maybe 1/2" - 1" would probably work. I have a 32 inseam, not sure how that compares to yours.

My thoughts on the Markland backrest is that is built all wrong. The frame mounts need to be cut off and welded to the rail so you can push the backrest further back. It would probably be easier and less exspensive to use a thinner pad and mount it in place of the thicker stock pad.
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cranky
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by cranky »

.. very interested in your further thoughts.... I use an Airhawk with beads on top
of it to cool it down... it's a warm little sucka!!! GBG That and I've always ridden on
beads....

I'm interested in the front only, I have a Utopia backrest mounted in the passenger and
do NOT want to muck with it! That and I do NOT ride passengers.....

I have no need for height, just put in Progressive springs and boy howdy!!!
do they raise the front end up!!! Had to trim my shield again!!!!

Will be watching your posts... Thanks for this!!!!
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by scottolds »

So far only about 100 or so miles on it.

What I notice most is I no longer bottom out in the seat and my weight is carried more evenly across my backside.

With the weather here finally getting out of the 90's I will be doing more riding and will report on the progress.

I did put the Markland backrest back on. The downside is I can't slide the backrest in or out without removing the passenger and driver seat because of the height and width of the new seat. At first I thought it was holding me farther forward than I wanted, but after making sure it was as far back as it would go with a hammer, I think I have it in the right spot. Might have to take the advice of a thinner pad, but will wait and see how it feels like it is.
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cranky
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by cranky »

I'd also like your opinion on "heat", is it hot / make you sweat...
I've always ridden with wooden beads to stop that / monkey butt.....

I put an Airhawk under my beads to make the stock seat quite nice, I might add...
I've ridden 11 - 12 hour days and no problem! I'd really be interested if I
could do away with all pads, etc.... Thanks again!!!!
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Cranky - Bill Snodgrass AVA # 6544. VROC # 16804
Cranked >128K miles, Mtn bike-no motor!!!
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scottolds
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by scottolds »

Took the bike on a 1000 mile round trip ride this weekend.

Did 500 miles the first day.

I didn't use any extra cushions or other padding.

Was wearing my LD comfort underwear and my riding pants.

No pain or discomfort issues. I was able to ride tank to tank without needing to stop and stretch. :woohoo:

The temperature ranged from 50-80 on the ride.

I didn't have any heat issues, but if it were warmer I might have wanted a sheepskin or something for a little airflow between me and the seat. My underwear are moisture wicking so I don't have those type of issues typically.

Unfortunately, my fun ground to a halt when the bike make a horrible grinding noise while cruising at 80. I pulled over to the side of the road and was not going any further. Ended up getting the bike towed 170 miles to a friends house. Then rented a car to drive the last 275 miles home. Hooked up my trailer and drove the 550 mile round trip to pick it up today. At this point the bike won't move and even holding in the clutch lever, it grinds bad if you shift it into gear.

Going to see Carl Leo soon.
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by cushman eagle »

scottolds wrote:Took the bike on a 1000 mile round trip ride this weekend.

Did 500 miles the first day.

I didn't use any extra cushions or other padding.

Was wearing my LD comfort underwear and my riding pants.

No pain or discomfort issues. I was able to ride tank to tank without needing to stop and stretch. :woohoo:

The temperature ranged from 50-80 on the ride.

I didn't have any heat issues, but if it were warmer I might have wanted a sheepskin or something for a little airflow between me and the seat. My underwear are moisture wicking so I don't have those type of issues typically.

Unfortunately, my fun ground to a halt when the bike make a horrible grinding noise while cruising at 80. I pulled over to the side of the road and was not going any further. Ended up getting the bike towed 170 miles to a friends house. Then rented a car to drive the last 275 miles home. Hooked up my trailer and drove the 550 mile round trip to pick it up today. At this point the bike won't move and even holding in the clutch lever, it grinds bad if you shift it into gear.

Going to see Carl Leo soon.
THAT does NOT sound like a pleasant way to end a ride :cry2: Please let us know what you find out. :hmm:
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scottolds
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by scottolds »

Well the verdict is in......

Bevel Drive bearing disintegrated :shock:

Not a common problem, thank goodness.

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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by cranky »

scottolds wrote:Took the bike on a 1000 mile round trip ride this weekend.

Did 500 miles the first day.

I didn't use any extra cushions or other padding.

Was wearing my LD comfort underwear and my riding pants.

No pain or discomfort issues. I was able to ride tank to tank without needing to stop and stretch. :woohoo:

The temperature ranged from 50-80 on the ride.

I didn't have any heat issues, but if it were warmer I might have wanted a sheepskin or something for a little airflow between me and the seat. My underwear are moisture wicking so I don't have those type of issues typically.

Unfortunately, my fun ground to a halt when the bike make a horrible grinding noise while cruising at 80. I pulled over to the side of the road and was not going any further. Ended up getting the bike towed 170 miles to a friends house. Then rented a car to drive the last 275 miles home. Hooked up my trailer and drove the 550 mile round trip to pick it up today. At this point the bike won't move and even holding in the clutch lever, it grinds bad if you shift it into gear.

Going to see Carl Leo soon.
Did you have ANY forewarning that this was about to occur? Any sensations at all? TIA
'03 Voyager - http://tinyurl.com/mqtgpwp VROC pics of Gina
Cranky - Bill Snodgrass AVA # 6544. VROC # 16804
Cranked >128K miles, Mtn bike-no motor!!!
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scottolds
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by scottolds »

crankyb wrote:
Did you have ANY forewarning that this was about to occur? Any sensations at all? TIA
At the time, all seemed normal. I had just put in the replacement driveshaft to take care a noise and vibration I had on my Blue Ridge trip in July.

It was running great at the time and the vibration that I had over 75 was gone.

Basically in my opinion, it was running the best it had since I got it 25,000 miles and 19 months ago.

With that said, Carl Leo had commented that my Voyager made noises he had not heard from one before. When I first got it, he fixed some improper clutch work to make it better. Then earlier this year I was replacing leaking o-rings and seals and found out my water pump bearings were totally shot. There was at least an 1/8 of side to side play in the shaft which would cause a knocking sound at times. Fixing that made it even quieter.

The driveshaft replacement made it better yet to where even cruising along at 85 was now smooth and effortless.

It always had what I considered a weird rattle in the transmission if you downshifted and it would sometimes not get the gear and make a rattling type of noise from the transmission area. I figured that was not normal, but was easily prevented by doing positive down shifts.

I guess the long drawn out point I am trying to make is that from my perspective of being the only Voyager I have ever owned/ridden it seemed mostly normal because it has basically always behaved that way. I felt the improvements that were done made things better each time so I felt good about things.

In hindsight I can now say that there probably was some abnormal bearing noise occasionally (like gravel rolling in a glass jar) and after riding distances that were not always that far (15 miles) I would get that ticking noise of something hot cooling down coming from the bevel drive area. It has always done that too so it might be normal. Since I never used a stethoscope to pin point it, I always figured it was the exhaust cooling down after riding.

Since that bearing failure also snapped the output shaft from the engine, I am replacing the whole engine/transmission. I decided I have had too many high mileage/neglect type of issues to trust the current engine/transmission much more. I can say that the motorcycle has way more than the 48,000 miles I was told by the PO.

I will update once I get the replacement engine back in to see how different it is from what I had before the bearing failure. I expect it will be a big difference.

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scottolds
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by scottolds »

Got the donor bike motor running and was in shock at how quiet it was compared to mine.

My guess is that bearing has been going bad since before I got the Voyager.

It also shifts much smoother.

Can't wait to get everything back together and go for a ride.
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Re: Newly Reworked Seats

Post by Mr Jensee »

I cant wait for Carl to tear into my Voyager in another week. I miss riding and having a bike with only 35,000 miles on it and to have the transmission not shifting is disheartening. Thanks for the story.
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