Question about Rick Mayer seat......

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Hello everyone. I'm looking at possibly picking up a 05 1300. I test rode it the other day, and found that I would slide towards the tank. It has a very nice seat, leather wrapped, and is a Rick Mayer seat. I had the owner put the seat in it's lowest position, as I'm 5'10" and thought I may be able to flat foot it, but still could not. He had it in the middle position in the front, and he's shorter than I by at least 2".

I was poking around on the forums here, and found that it may be possible to put the front adjuster in the middle, and put the rear in a bottom spot, to perhaps level out the seat. Can this also be done with this aftermarket seat? I also saw mention of going to a MCL bracket, but after looking at that, i'm not really sure how that would help with making the seat level out, just go higher.

If I could get this Rick Mayer seat to level out, I think i'd be pretty happy with it.

Thanks for the tips.
 
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If the seat is built on a standard, OEM seat pan, then you should be able to mix the front and rear adjuster levels, you will have to play with your seat a bit. I've found it quite difficult to install my seat in anything other than the same level front and rear (stock OEM seat). Custom seats (RDL, Rick Mayer, etc) tend to be wider than the stock seat, and also add an inch or more in height. The wider seat effectively adds some height and the extra padding that makes the aftermarket seat more comfortable exacerbates usage of these bikes for us shorter inseam guys. Someone posted recently that his RDL was a bit tall for him and he was going to return it for a height adjustment. If you decide to buy the bike and order a custom seat, inquire about the minimum thickness of padding.

Btw, because of people's differences, overall height is not a good determining factor in whether you can flat foot the bike or not. Inseam is the important dimension here. A 6'4" tall guy with an inseam of 29" would have the same trouble with an ST that I have (and he might look a bit unusual with such a long trunk).
 
OP
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Sun Prairie, WI
If the seat is built on a standard, OEM seat pan, then you should be able to mix the front and rear adjuster levels, you will have to play with your seat a bit. I've found it quite difficult to install my seat in anything other than the same level front and rear (stock OEM seat). Custom seats (RDL, Rick Mayer, etc) tend to be wider than the stock seat, and also add an inch or more in height. The wider seat effectively adds some height and the extra padding that makes the aftermarket seat more comfortable exacerbates usage of these bikes for us shorter inseam guys. Someone posted recently that his RDL was a bit tall for him and he was going to return it for a height adjustment. If you decide to buy the bike and order a custom seat, inquire about the minimum thickness of padding.

Btw, because of people's differences, overall height is not a good determining factor in whether you can flat foot the bike or not. Inseam is the important dimension here. A 6'4" tall guy with an inseam of 29" would have the same trouble with an ST that I have (and he might look a bit unusual with such a long trunk).
im unsure if it's built on the stock seat pan or not. I don't know much about the Rick Mayer seat at all, other than it has me crotch hug the tank when I ride on it. :(
 

Mellow

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im unsure if it's built on the stock seat pan or not. I don't know much about the Rick Mayer seat at all, other than it has me crotch hug the tank when I ride on it. :(
Post a picture of the seat for us, top/side/bottom and we'll be able to tell you... most aftermarket seats are built on a stock seat pan with the exception of sargent and maybe some others.
 

T_C

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Ricks' are built on the OEM pan. As such you can adjust it to different heights front/back, it just takes some elbow grease on the rear adjuster. I did add the MCL raising brackets on mine, so that might help some.

One of the reasons I have one is that it doesn't have the big wings like the RDL's do so you don't have it digging into your thighs when you are sitting still and it shouldn't mess with your height too much.
 
OP
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Ricks' are built on the OEM pan. As such you can adjust it to different heights front/back, it just takes some elbow grease on the rear adjuster. I did add the MCL raising brackets on mine, so that might help some.

One of the reasons I have one is that it doesn't have the big wings like the RDL's do so you don't have it digging into your thighs when you are sitting still and it shouldn't mess with your height too much.
I took a look at the Mcl brackets, but didn't see what advantage they would give with adjusting the front and back of the seat other than they would allow a higher adjustment of the seat . Can you explain why they would give easier adjustment of the back? Thanks.

im taking the wife to see the bike today. If it feels more comfortable for her than on the nighthawk, I may make an offer. It does have the Honda trunk, but she thinks the back rest will push her back out forward too much like when she sat on a concourse with the givi box and pad. I don't know, we'll see.
 
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If your concerned with height the MCL brackets are not needed. The Rick Mayer seat on the stock pan will provide you with ample adjustment and with a simple bracket modification even more adjustment. https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?147548-Seat-Height-Adjustment&p=1879835&viewfull=1#post1879835. I will say that, myself 32 inch inseam, thought the ST was too tall when I first got it now even with a Russell day long saddle I have no problem. Its a matter of figuring out where to slide to when stopping. You didn't mention if the passenger seat was also modified. My wife did not like riding on the ST for more than a hour until I had the rear modified and now she's good for multiple 600 mile days with no problem.

These are my experiences your mileage may vary :D:03biker:

Good luck with your purchase
Jeff
 
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My Rick Mayer seat has been a great upgrade. My wife is very comfy with her seat now too. I set my front adjuster to allow the seat to be as high as possible and the rear adjustment is as low as it can go. It is just a matter of finding the right combination that works for you.
 

T_C

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If your concerned with height the MCL brackets are not needed. The Rick Mayer seat on the stock pan will provide you with ample adjustment and with a simple bracket modification even more adjustment.
You mentioned this too me when we met at the tech day in Indiana. I did it.. a year later I was shopping for a new seat bracket on ebay. It eventually bowed out the side of my bracket and wasted it. Guess I was using a different combination then you did and put forces on it along a different vector.




My wife is very comfy with her seat now too.
Yep... :plus1:
She ain't my wife but the lady on the pillion is mucho happier with the Rick Meyer replacing the OEM.
 
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New Paris, IN
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You mentioned this too me when we met at the tech day in Indiana. I did it.. a year later I was shopping for a new seat bracket on ebay. It eventually bowed out the side of my bracket and wasted it. Guess I was using a different combination then you did and put forces on it along a different vector.

Not sure what went wrong Ive used mine like that for 12 years and 120,000 miles. Ive see that some do not modify the bracket and just place the front saddle hook on top of the cross bar. They say the front of the seat can come up but its never been a issue.
 

v8-7

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I have mine in the lowest front setting and the middle rear. It helps, but there is still a forward cant.

Rick said he could add some height ( more padding ) to the front to level it off, but my legs would need to be lengthened :)
 

ST_Jim

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I have mine in the lowest front setting and the middle rear. It helps, but there is still a forward cant.

Rick said he could add some height ( more padding ) to the front to level it off, but my legs would need to be lengthened :)

The lowest setting in front? You must mean the highest and it still isn't enough. Otherwise just move the front to the middle setting?

I've always run mine the same for and aft. Never could jam it in with the front higher than the back, but my Sargent saddle doesn't seem to tilt very much. I do find on the lowest setting that the pan bottoms on the frame going over bumps. One of the reasons I use the mid setting is to have a slight suspension effect as the seat pan flexes.
 
OP
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I'm struggling with the seat. I put the front of the seat in the middle, and attempted to put the back in the lowest. The problem I found is the seat would need to be moved backwards to get the seat to sit in the lowest hoop. I can do this, but then there is a big gap between the fuel tank and the front of the seat. So I had to bend the rear hoops forward about 3/8" to the point they would go into the lowest setting of the seat. Being the hoops are now bent forward, and do not go straight up and down, the back of the seat isn't going all the way down. So I really didn't accomplish anything. I don't really care if it looks a bit ugly under the seat, as long as the seat will get flat so I'm comfortable. Right now, I always feel like i'm sitting on the back 1/3 of my butt, and using my arms to keep me from sliding forward.

Am I doing something wrong?
 

ST Gui

240Robert
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Am I doing something wrong?
The Honda Owner's Manual shows three mounting positions for the front of the seat and one for the rear. If the front is set to Middle or Low the gap between the tank and the seat widens. To me it looks like a proper fit only when set to the High position.

If you can brute force the back of the seat there are one maybe two more positions available. These are not shown in the manual and obviously not recommended by Honda.

With the stock seat (and any seat with the stock pan?) I put the front of the seat in the High position and brute forced the metal loops in the back to the next lower step so as to both lower the seat and reduce the forward slide. This worked but caused the seat to bow slightly and start eating into the top of both side panels on my bike. The damage was slight and apparently took a few thousand mile to occur. So now I just use the High position as shown in the manual. I also saw the same damage on one other bike where the seat had been in the same position.

Mathematically there are several positions but practically speaking I'd say only four can really work. With the front of the seat in the Low position I don't think it's really possible to put the rear of it any lower than stock. At least not fit properly.
 
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I determined last night that I had actually bent the rear loops the wrong direction. They need to go backwards. I understand it wasn't hondas intention to make the different adjustments, but the seat slanting forward is just silly. I ended up putting the front adjustment in the middle, and the back in the lowest. I'm going to try that and also the combination of highest front, middle rear. With my Rick Mayer seat, the front of the seat is snug to the tank. I'll have to see if that is going to rub the paint off or not.
 

ST Gui

240Robert
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I ended up putting the front adjustment in the middle, and the back in the lowest.
This is what I did for awhile. It both lowered the seat and stopped the forward slide— perfect. But it started wearing into the plastic. Keep an eye on it to see if you have the same problem. Maybe you won't.
 

ST Gui

240Robert
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No pic. It was at the top of the middle Tup panel on each side approximately midway between the front and back of the seat. It was a small semi-circular wear spot on each side of the bike. On the other bike it was a little deeper.

It's possible that over time the encroachment would have stopped with no further damage. But I was concerned that beyond wearing the Tup it might crack.
 
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