re-re-shaped seat

Last August, I spent an evening removing the factory seat's vinyl covering, and carving up the foam in an attempt to increase comfort. Since I'm way too cheap to lay down 450 smackers for an aftermarket Corbin or Sargent seat (yes, they cost that much here in Canada) I decided I would do it myself. I had already spent $200 on Suzuki's gel seat, but it didn't provide the comfort I was hoping for. My D-I-Y chop job was a big improvement but after riding on it for the remainder of the season last year, and now for a couple of months this season, I thought I might be able to improve it even more.

Last weekend, I removed the vinyl covering once again and used a big, sharp kitchen knife in another attempt to re-shape the foam. I ended up cutting out most of the foam I added last year, and adding another layer of foam (the black closed cell foam I used before), then re-shaping it some more. My main goal was to flatten out (level off) the seat because I've always felt that my butt is sliding forward, into the gas tank. This feeling has been somewhat intensified recently following my rear suspension upgrade (stiffer, so it doesn't compress as much when my fat arse sits on the bike). So essentially I wanted to remove the forward sloping shape of the seat to prevent me from sliding into the gas tank, and I wanted to build up the outer edges that curled downward at the rear corners, basically to widen the rear part of the seat a little bit for better support.

Here's a couple of photos following last year's seat modification:

The first chop had rounded off edges at the widest point of the seat (the rear). Comfort was a little better, but it didn't look quite as nice as I would have liked. This time, I wanted to make full use of the wide part by padding it up and flattening it out.

It's actually hard to tell from the last year's photos, but the main part of the seat where my buttocks rest is now much more level with the ground rather than a forward-sloping wedge shape. Also, I managed to make the rear part of the seat wider and flatter.

I find the new shape to be almost Sargent-esque.

For comparison, here's a photo I swiped from SVRider which shows a side-by-side shot of both the Corbin and Sargent models for the SV650:

Corbin (left) - Sargent (right)

Preliminary findings are very convincing. First, the aesthetic qualities of this 2nd chop job are far superior. Second, it just feels far more comfortable. Previously, I frequently found myself adjusting my seating position. Although I've not ridden for more than an hour at a time in the 6 days since I hacked it up again, I have noticed a remarkable improvement in the comfort department. I'm planning a ~ 5-hour trip into NY state this Saturday, plus a ride to Calabogie for the Parts Canada Superbike Race Championship on Sunday. Update to follow.

*** UPDATE: I've logged about 1,200Km since hacking up the seat foam again 7 days ago, with about 600Km of that in the last 2 days. Very pleased with the results. No butt ache whatsoever. In fact, I never thought about my butt all weekend!