Lower Seat Height Please!

[WingMan71]

Hello, new member here.

Just recently sold my 1999 Kawasaki Concours ZG1000. Loved that bike, but the nearly 32" seat height and high center of gravity finally made me sell it. Been riding for 56 years but now that I'm in my 70s I'm not as strong as I was years ago. Dealing with the Connie in the mountain parking lots was getting to be kind of iffy! (I do have a Gold Wing CSC trike that the wife and I regularly use for two-up touring in the mountains, but I still want a good long-distance two-wheeler to ride.)

I'm seriously looking to buy an NT700V to replace the Connie, but the only thing stopping me is the 31.7" seat height. Rest of the bike specs are just what I'm looking for. Lighter, leaner, useable luggage, shaft drive, good wind protection, etc.

I've searched this "Aftermarket Seats" forum for information on finding an aftermarket seat for the NT that is at least an inch or more LOWER than stock, but am not finding much info. Most of the answers are about more comfortable aftermarket seats, but not about a lower seat.

So, is there an aftermarket seat that is an inch or more lower than stock, or am I going to have to get one made? (BTY, Corbin seats don't work for me. Too hard for my skinny butt!)

PS) I'm not afraid to pull the cover off of the stock seat and take a carving knife to the foam! Anyone tried that?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Woodaddict]

what about trying CanAm Spyder or Ryker? 2 wheels in front trike. Spyder is 1330cc triple, Ryker is 600 or 900cc

 

[Phil Tarman]

WingMan, I had your same issues. I rode two '99 Connies for 165K miles before I decided it was too tall and too heavy. I bought my 1st NT700V in March of '10 and rode it 139K miles before trading it in last July on my 2nd (slightly older...16 serial numbers lower but only 22K miles), my current ride, Horse:


Both bikes had been lowered (and sidestands lowered too, but I can't get the bike on it's centerstand). Both were equipped almost exactly the same. I had been used to a Russell DayLong which raised the seat height by almost as much as lowering the bike had lowered the seat height. But, Russell now has another saddle, the Russell Sport Seat, which omits the steel spring in Russells, and probably lowered the saddle to stock seat height. Since I've had six knee replacements, I couldn't bend the knees much more than I do with this setup. But it works for me. I'm 5'7" with about a 27-28" inseam.

I took my first NT on the 1st-ever in the whole Western Hemisphere IBA certificate ride at the end of April, '10. Then in '13, I took it on my 80-day, 21,000-mile Epic Post-Retirement Ride to Alaska, the Four Corners of the US, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. I've done two more SaddleSore1Ks, and a BunBurnerGold (1500 miles in under 24 hrs) since then. I've farkled it into a really good traveling machine for me too. I've got the National Cycle V-Stream screen, heated grips, Clearwater Darla driving lights, the OEM undercowl (impossible to find now), the Honda knuckle-duster air deflectors (also hard to find), big pannier lids, a Givi top box, a TPMS, and no doubt a few other things that I've forgotten. For me, the only real issue with the bike now is just getting on and off. It's tough being an old, fat, cripple!

The NT is great, AFAIC, on long rides, twisty rides, and around town (although I don't ride much around town these days since I'm in a bigger city).

BTW, I think Sargeant makes a lower-height saddle, probably for less than a Russell.

Fire away if you've got any questions!

 

[WingMan71]

what about trying CanAm Spyder or Ryker? 2 wheels in front trike. Spyder is 1330cc triple, Ryker is 600 or 900cc

I have a Gold Wing CSC Trike that is perfect for my wife and I to ride 2-up in the mountains and on long-distance trips.

I'm looking for a 2-wheeler to ride solo so that I can still have the thrill of counter steering and leaning in the corners.

 

[WingMan71]

....
Both bikes had been lowered (and sidestands lowered too, but I can't get the bike on it's centerstand). Both were equipped almost exactly the same. I had been used to a Russell DayLong which raised the seat height by almost as much as lowering the bike had lowered the seat height. But, Russell now has another saddle, the Russell Sport Seat, which omits the steel spring in Russells, and probably lowered the saddle to stock seat height. Since I've had six knee replacements, I couldn't bend the knees much more than I do with this setup. But it works for me. I'm 5'7" with about a 27-28" inseam.

I took my first NT on the 1st-ever in the whole Western Hemisphere IBA certificate ride at the end of April, '10. Then in '13, I took it on my 80-day, 21,000-mile Epic Post-Retirement Ride to Alaska, the Four Corners of the US, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. I've done two more SaddleSore1Ks, and a BunBurnerGold (1500 miles in under 24 hrs) since then. I've farkled it into a really good traveling machine for me too. I've got the National Cycle V-Stream screen, heated grips, Clearwater Darla driving lights, the OEM undercowl (impossible to find now), the Honda knuckle-duster air deflectors (also hard to find), big pannier lids, a Givi top box, a TPMS, and no doubt a few other things that I've forgotten. For me, the only real issue with the bike now is just getting on and off. It's tough being an old, fat, cripple!

The NT is great, AFAIC, on long rides, twisty rides, and around town (although I don't ride much around town these days since I'm in a bigger city).
BTW, I think Sargeant makes a lower-height saddle, probably for less than a Russell.
Fire away if you've got any questions!

Thanks Phil for the great detailed reply! Looks like you've got your NT decked out perfectly. I really think an NT would be a good replacement for my ZG1000 Concours, if I could just get the seat an inch or so lower. (Not interested in lowering the suspension, since to me that's just trying to fix one problem with another problem.)

I'll check with Sargeant and see if they offer a lower seat. Otherwise, I'm still thinking about pulling the cover off of an OEM Honda NT seat and carving an inch of foam off of the top where the rider sits. Do you think the stock NT seat has enough thickness to carve an inch of the foam padding off the top? I'm only 135 lbs and 5' 8", so I'm not concerned about removing some padding.

You'll notice in my avatar I've got my feet planted firmly on the ground with a bend in my knee! That's my recently restored 1983 Honda GL650I Silver Wing Interstate. Water cooled, shaft drive "Baby Wing" as they called them back then. Seat height is 30". Can be converted to a 2-seater with the trunk relocation kit and passenger seat that they came with. Right now that's my only remaining 2-wheeler.

Thanks again!

 

[Phil Tarman]

Hey, there WingMan! If you're not any heavier than that, you very likely will be fine to just carve some foam off the seat. I probably weighed 270 when I bought Dudley (NT#1). 2 1/2 years ago I was up to 295 on my birthday in February. I started Nutrisystem the next day and now I'm down under 230. I squished the bejabbers out of the stock seat. I rode about 14,000 miles on the stock seat before I got a cheap used seat and had Russell build me a heavy-duty leather Day Long saddle.

When I traded for Horse in July last year, I had kept some of my old stuff -- saddle, tankbag and windscreen for instance. On my way home I realized that getting "skinny" made the heavy-duty Day Long a little too supportive for me.

I'm glad you called my attention to your avatar! The first bike I ever owned was an '83 GL650i. Mine was the Candy Wineberry Red with Bramble Red Metallic and had a Markham kit that let you have 2 seats and the "massive" trunk like yours. Mine also had crash bars and foot boards and heel and toe shifter and rear brake instead of pegs and standard foot controls.

I had learned to ride on the woman who was my choir director's Honda Shadow 600. I rode it during the week and my wife and choir director rode it on weekends. I probably put at least 5000 miles on it during fall and winter of 97. But when my wife left me for my choir director, I quit riding the Shadow. The day after my wife moved out, I came home from church (where nobody knew what was going on) and got ready to take a 30-40 mile bicycle ride. As I walked out the door, I flipped open the classified section in the Rocky Mountain News to see if there were motorcycles I could afford. A short ad with a phone number from my little town said, "Honda GL650i Silverwing, $2500." I had no idea what a GL650i was and I had pictured myself as a cruiser kinda' guy, but the $2500 was the number I had decided was the most I could afford. I called the number and told the guy I was going for a 25-mile bicycle ride and would be out after that. I rode out and there was a small wooden garage with two bikes in it: the mother-of-pearl Pacific Coast and the Silverwing. We made the deal subject to my banker (a church member) making me a loan. The banker and my doctor got together and made me swear never to ride without a helmet and not to get killed and by Wednesday it was mine. I loved that bike. Mine had the fancy dash with the LEDs between the speakers. One of those showed outside air temp, another was the CB channel you were on (even though my CB didn't work), and I can't remember what the other one (or two??) showed. I sent my folks a picture of the bike and my dad, who was a retired pilot, wrote back that riding on "on that big bike must make you feel like a king." It did! I was happy as a clam until the day I was riding on Colorado 92 from Crawford to Blue Mesa Dam, a famous twisting road with a lot of elevation change. I could feel frame flex, I wished I had better brakes and a bit more power. About 90 miles east of the dam, I was riding through Salida when a coupler riding matching mint-green BMW R1200RTs pulled out of gas station. They passed me and stopped at a pullout. They passed me again and stopped again. By the time we got Colorado Springs, they'd passed me at least 19-20 times and I desperately needed a BMW RT. But then I found out much they cost and that ended that. A couple of months later I was riding home for lunch when I saw a green BMW parked a few blocks from home. Before I got home I realized that there was something odd about that bike and turned around and rode back to get another look. Part of what was odd was that it wasn't a BMW; it was a '98 Concours. I'd never even heard of Concours at the time, but the next day the new "Rider" magazine came out with an article about Bill Stermer picking one up at the factory in Lincoln, riding it to Amarillo, and then down to Corpus Christi. About a month after that, I told Joanne (then my fiancee and now my last wife) that we needed a new bike before we got married. She said, "OK!" Two days after that I bought my first Concours. 25 days later I sold the Silverwing for $2300. Only "losing" $200 bucks on a bike I'd ridden for 19,000 miles struck me then and now as a pretty darned good deal!

 

[DirtFlier]

Phil - your body will thank you for continuing to lose weight and you can always buy another motorcycle seat!

 

[Bear]

Wing Man, Sargent makes a seat for the NT 700 they call LoRider. I have one on my NT (Had it since 2011)) My inseam is 30" and I can flatfoot the NT. It is also a very comfortable seat.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Phil - your body will thank you for continuing to lose weight and you can always buy another motorcycle seat!

I think the Russell Sport Seat that I bought is going to work fine for me.

 

[WingMan71]

Wing Man, Sargent makes a seat for the NT 700 they call LoRider. I have one on my NT (Had it since 2011)) My inseam is 30" and I can flatfoot the NT. It is also a very comfortable seat.

Hello Bear,

Thanks for the info on the Sargent seat. Sounds like it will do the job for me. Hopefully they still make them. I'll check their web site.

Follow up: Checked the Sargent web site for NT700V seats and they only list one model, which is a seat cover and foam upgrade which actually adds foam to make the seat wider, so not lower. No mention of a LoRider option. I think I'll call them and ask about it.

Anyway, I think I'll still start a search for a well cared for second-hand NT. Have only seen one advertised so far anywhere near me, back near Atlanta GA where we lived before we retired and moved to Travelers Rest, SC.

Thanks!

 

[Bear]

I think that you will like the NT. It is by far the best touring machine I have owned. I did have a 250 NSU for ten years that was virtually indestructable and a 1957 BMW 500cc which lasted many years. I then got into performance--Triumph, Norton, Kawasaki Ninja, etc. Now, approaching age 80, I am very happy with the NT. You can lower the NT. A competent Honda Shop or independent can lower the bike for you. There have been a couple of people on this forum who have gone that route. You would have to have them alter your center stand and side stand as well. There is a gentleman on this forum who actually gives instruction on altering the center and side stands.

 

[ARKNT]

Have you sat on an NT with the original seat? The seat height number may be a little misleading. I don't think it "feels" that tall. I owned a 1000 Concours and it felt quite a bit taller than the NT.
Just a thought I had but if you were considering buying it would sure be nice to know a lower seat is available if you needed it.

Brad

 

[mikesim]

Good point Brad. I'm 5'-8" as well with a 32" inseam and have no trouble. I can't flatfoot both feet but both balls of my feet are planted very stable. The only thing I might add is that backing up an incline is pretty tricky. You have to plan in advance to avoid those situations.

Mike

 

[JQL]

I'm 5'8" with a 29½" inseam and have not real problems. I can't flat foot both feet at the same time but this has never posed a problem for me possibly due to the strength in my legs...

 

[WingMan71]

Have you sat on an NT with the original seat? The seat height number may be a little misleading. I don't think it "feels" that tall. I owned a 1000 Concours and it felt quite a bit taller than the NT.
Just a thought I had but if you were considering buying it would sure be nice to know a lower seat is available if you needed it.

Brad

I have not yet planted my butt on an NT with a stock seat. Still looking for one anywhere close enough to me to go take a look at. As soon as I find one, I'll do just that.

Thanks.