The great lowered stock seat mystery.

[Hondafarian]

Hello ST owners,
I wonder if anyone can positively help me decide whether my stock seat has been modified. I bought the '07 two months ago from a man who I would guess to be around 5'7" tall - I'm 6'3". He told me he had the seat sent off to Florida to be lowered but I have no basis of comparison to tell if this is true and if so, how much was it "lowered".
I can only guess that would mean some of the foam padding removed. On the center stand, it's 33" inches from the ground to the flat, lowest part of the seat with the height adjuster in the top position.

Here's some pics of the seat off the bike from various angles. Please let me know if there's any other measurements that would help make a determination.

 

[sirbike]

If there is only one set of staple holes currently occupied by staples, and it appears to be the original seat cover, then that would indicate no modification.
Are you aware of the built in 3 levels of height adjustment available?

 

[SMSW]

I had my seat Spencerized - he is a guy (now retired, I think) who was actively lowering and changing some of the foam in the seats a few years back. I had mine lowered the max - about 1". It made a difference when I was sitting on the bike, but I could not tell with a stock seat held side by side. I had bought an extra stock seat with the idea of shipping it off to someone like Russel for an RDL but never did that. Perhaps by measuring it will show up, but @sirbike's idea of checking the staples is the best one. BTW, Spencer used the OEM seat cover, so I would guess he used a softer foam that allowed me to sink farther compared to the OEM. One of his foams was some kind of honeycomb that he touted. My bike came with a Sargent seat that was surprisingly hard and comfortable. It was wider than an OEM thus it pushed your legs outward somewhat requiring longer legs to flat foot the bike. I could only tiptoe, and barely with that Sargent so it was sold.

Note comfort is in the mind of the fundament, and not all bottoms are created equal.

 

[Catmandu2]

Possibly,,,, a "spencer-ized" stock seat,,, which I remember reading about when I first got into ST's. I did enquire with him once,,, I and others found him to be difficult to connect with. Not sure if he is still in the bike biz. But he could replace, shave and add gel to the stock seat foams. You supplied him your original seat,,, and he returned one (eventually),,, that looked largely stock. I note the piece of foam weather seal,,, added near the tank,,, to close up that air gap. That could be effective for reducing hot air flow into the riders ,,, ah,,, zone,,, if ya know what I mean,,,, CAt'

 

[CruSTy]

Looking at the foam through holes on the bottom side of the pan Your seat appears to have been modified. Its likely “Spencerized”. He removes the monolithic stock foam an replaces with layers of hi tech foam. I believe he could reduce the seat height 1/2” or so.

 

[Bmacleod]

That looks modified to me. One thing I notice that others may confirm, I dont recall the foam in my stocker to be blue, but in those pics, there looks to be blue foam under the plastic. I dont have a stock seat anymore but i do have a spencerized seat and it has blue foam. I have a few seats and I am not that fond of the spencer seat, but, it wasnt built for me. I am on the big/tall side and find it not much better than stock, although it is lower.

 

[sdownichols]

Hello ST owners,
I wonder if anyone can positively help me decide whether my stock seat has been modified. I bought the '07 two months ago from a man who I would guess to be around 5'7" tall - I'm 6'3". He told me he had the seat sent off to Florida to be lowered but I have no basis of comparison to tell if this is true and if so, how much was it "lowered".
I can only guess that would mean some of the foam padding removed. On the center stand, it's 33" inches from the ground to the flat, lowest part of the seat with the height adjuster in the top position.

Here's some pics of the seat off the bike from various angles. Please let me know if there's any other measurements that would help make a determination.

@Hondafarian - PM sent earlier on your lowered seat.

 

[Hondafarian]

Thanks all for these helpful replies! Sirbike had a great suggestion to check for old staple holes and sure enough,
looking closely, there's a whole 'nother set of old staple holes running around the outside from the new staples. Did a little internet detective work and think I discovered that Spencer used to operate out of Florida so that kinda clinches the deal.