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As many who have ridden a passenger have heard from riders the passenger seat is not always heaped with praise for its comfort. I too have heard these complaints from my wife and my son who both said the seat was too hard for anything other than very short rides. 
I decided to try some experimenting. :idea:
I began by removing the seat cover by pulling out the staples on three sides. I left the staples in the rear on because there are some under the mounting bracket. I figured the only way to get them back in was to drill out the rivets holding the bracket on and that was more work than I wanted to get into. Leaving one side still attached keeps it in a semi original position when its time to reattach it.
I found the seat cushion is one solid piece of molded foam. I went to the local fabric store with the wife and we found some foam padding there. They have two different types and I bought the green higher density foam, which is a little firmer. The other stuff was very easy to compress so I didn’t think it would work very well for this sort of thing.
I bought a one-yard length of the two-inch thick foam. My idea was to cut a piece of foam and add it to the top of the existing foam pad without having to get a whole new cover made. I actually experimented several times with different styles and sizes of foam pads. The one that finally worked best was when I flipped the seat upside down on the foam and cut around it. This gave me a 2 inch thick piece of foam that was the same size as the top of the seat cushion. Next I took an electric carving knife and beveled the top edge all the way around this new top pad. From my other ‘test’ pads I had learned doing this made the pad fit better under the cover. It also made it so the new padding didn’t show under the cover.
I now tucked the pad into the cover and then pulled it back over the seat cushion. This took several tries, as the new pad tends to move around or bunch up as you stretch the cover over it. I found the best way to get it in is to start the new pad so it’s back edge is hanging over the back edge of the seat. This way when you stretch the cover on and pull it over the front of the seat it moves it into correct position.
I started reattaching the cover up one a few inches and then doing the same on the opposite side to keep it aligned properly. I decided to use very small screws in place of the staples and that worked out really well. The cushion is thick enough so the screws will not hit anything. Once the holes were made in the seats plastic base and the cover by the screws, each succeeding time I had it off it was really easy to align them back up! The finished product came out very nice! Appearance wise it’s a little taller and has a more rounded appearance but not very much.
So far the only problem I encountered was the strip of leather (vinyl?) that the passenger can hold on to doesn’t fit over the seat as well now. I think that can be lengthened without too much hassle though.
The final verdict by the riders? :?: They love it!! Both the wife and my son have given it the big thumbs up for comfort! Both say it is a huge improvement over the stock padding!! Both originally said it would be nice to have a wider and softer seat but it’s not such a big deal now that the seat is so cushioned.
Total cost of the project? Under $15.00 The foam set me back $12.99 for one yard. I also used about a dollar’s worth of small screws. I have about three hours of time invested in all the ‘test’ pads and the final pad design. No it’s probably not as comfortable as an aftermarket seat but it is a lot cheaper! (And not back ordered either!) One note here, I actually purchased another spare seat to do this little experiment on in case it went bad. I was too chicken to mess up my original seat and didn’t want any down time.
I decided to try some experimenting. :idea: I began by removing the seat cover by pulling out the staples on three sides. I left the staples in the rear on because there are some under the mounting bracket. I figured the only way to get them back in was to drill out the rivets holding the bracket on and that was more work than I wanted to get into. Leaving one side still attached keeps it in a semi original position when its time to reattach it.
I found the seat cushion is one solid piece of molded foam. I went to the local fabric store with the wife and we found some foam padding there. They have two different types and I bought the green higher density foam, which is a little firmer. The other stuff was very easy to compress so I didn’t think it would work very well for this sort of thing.
I bought a one-yard length of the two-inch thick foam. My idea was to cut a piece of foam and add it to the top of the existing foam pad without having to get a whole new cover made. I actually experimented several times with different styles and sizes of foam pads. The one that finally worked best was when I flipped the seat upside down on the foam and cut around it. This gave me a 2 inch thick piece of foam that was the same size as the top of the seat cushion. Next I took an electric carving knife and beveled the top edge all the way around this new top pad. From my other ‘test’ pads I had learned doing this made the pad fit better under the cover. It also made it so the new padding didn’t show under the cover.
I now tucked the pad into the cover and then pulled it back over the seat cushion. This took several tries, as the new pad tends to move around or bunch up as you stretch the cover over it. I found the best way to get it in is to start the new pad so it’s back edge is hanging over the back edge of the seat. This way when you stretch the cover on and pull it over the front of the seat it moves it into correct position.
I started reattaching the cover up one a few inches and then doing the same on the opposite side to keep it aligned properly. I decided to use very small screws in place of the staples and that worked out really well. The cushion is thick enough so the screws will not hit anything. Once the holes were made in the seats plastic base and the cover by the screws, each succeeding time I had it off it was really easy to align them back up! The finished product came out very nice!
Appearance wise it’s a little taller and has a more rounded appearance but not very much. So far the only problem I encountered was the strip of leather (vinyl?) that the passenger can hold on to doesn’t fit over the seat as well now. I think that can be lengthened without too much hassle though.
The final verdict by the riders? :?: They love it!! Both the wife
and my son have given it the big thumbs up for comfort! Both say it is a huge improvement over the stock padding!! Both originally said it would be nice to have a wider and softer seat but it’s not such a big deal now that the seat is so cushioned. Total cost of the project? Under $15.00 The foam set me back $12.99 for one yard. I also used about a dollar’s worth of small screws. I have about three hours of time invested in all the ‘test’ pads and the final pad design. No it’s probably not as comfortable as an aftermarket seat but it is a lot cheaper! (And not back ordered either!) One note here, I actually purchased another spare seat to do this little experiment on in case it went bad. I was too chicken to mess up my original seat and didn’t want any down time.
