DIY Seat Modification

I was not completely satisfied with the comfort level of my Sargent Modular seat, and decided to have it modified, I contacted the folks at Mean City Cycles, and they won't work on a Sargent seat due to the storage box that intrudes into the seating area. Spencer at Spencer's Seat Modifications, won't work on a Sargent heated seat, due to Sargent gluing the element directly to the foam. 

Since no-one at the Concours forums was interested in buying a heated seat, or even trading a non-heated seat for a heated one, I decided to modify the seat myself...

Here is what the seat looks like once the staples are pulled, and the cover is removed. You can see a foam lined fabric cover over the heating element., and a very nice shrink-wrap type covering over that to keep the foam from sucking in water, 

I peeled off all the nice layer of shrink-wrap type plastic, then proceeded to carefully peel the heating element and its foam lined fabric cover off.  With all this stuff glued to the seat foam, the seat barely "gave", resulting in an overly firm seat. Simply separating the element and backing from the seat made a big difference in how comfy the seat was. Not able to really test the seat like this, I decided to really modify the seat while I had it like this. I marked the locations of where my Ischial bones made contact with the seat and started shaving out the foam.

I used a large cutting wheel on a Dremel tool, to grind away the foam. I started with two small depressions at the X's I had marked, then took the seat out to the bike for a test fit. Then I would bring the seat in for a little more grinding, then back out for a test fit. After many trips to the garage, I ended up with the large excavations you see here.  

View from a different angle. I ground out more that I would have expected, but the result is extremely comfortable. Of course, I won't know for sure until I can take the bike for a decent ride. All I need are some dry roads, and I'll find out how well the mod worked.

Unless your wife is extremely understanding, I would not recommend doing the modifications to the seat on the dining room table like I did.... it makes a pretty good mess...<G>

Here's the seat with the cover back on. You can't see the depressions, but you can definitely feel them. I did not glue the heating element back in place, I can't imagine that it will go anywhere. All in all, the mod was much easier than I had thought it would be, and for the cost of an electric stapler, I think I have a seat I'll be much happier with. I'll know shortly!