Seat Position Gear

[Spaghetti]

Keeping the crotch away from the tank before entering the corners can be a strenuous exercise for our legs. The body tends to slid towards the tank all the time. Sure tightening the legs around the tank when breaking helps, but I was wondering if there is any gear designed for correct body position. All sport bike seats I've tried are too long and "slippery", probably to compromise between track and street riding and to accomodate different rider builds/height. I remember one of the coaches saying that pro riders use modified tank shapes to fit their body type.

 

Is there any gear to help keep the correct seat position? All seat customizations I've seen are mainly for comfort.

[ScrmnDuc]

Having a seat customized for comfort is a two way street. Comfort for touring is different than comfort for track riding. There are materials that are more grippy than others. For instance, the stock vinyl seat on my GT is slicker than owl poop. I replaced it with the Ducati "comfort seat" which is contoured different and covered in a different material. I do not know what the material is but it has a lot more grip and sliding all over the place was redused greatly. Once upon a time MV Augsta covered their seats in suede for the extra grip it provided.

 

Gluing or velcroing foam in the front ( around the pointy area of the tank, you know; "That Area" ) and the back where you butt slides too can help with body positioning. The front maybe questionable because that could affect your ability to hang off.

 

Look around and you should be able to find an upolstry shop or a company like Corbin, Sargent, etc... that can modify a seat to your liking.

Some shops will even ask you to try the seat in an uncovered state to ensure that the padding is correct for you. Comunication will be a big deal when doing this.

 

Stomp Grip ( on the tank) helps a lot for keeping certain body parts happy too

[rchase]

I fought this battle with my FZR for a while. The stock seat was super slick and I slid around like crazy especially under hard braking. I eventually made my own seat but it was not without it's problems. I started with a stock seat base and stripped it down to the plastic pan. I then put thick race seat foam on the seat. It's far from pretty but it made some decent improvements.

 

The only problem is the race seat foam grips leather like velcro. It took a lot more energy to move around on the bike because of the super grippy seat.

 

The foam could be used to build up an area near the tank if desired. I placed foam on the rear tail of my bike because in the "locked in" position my butt was right up against the hard plastic. The only other problem with the foam that I have seen is it's not really very durable. Based on the visual wear I saw with just one trackday you probably would have to redo the seat every couple of seasons.

[Cobie Fair]

Stomp Grip is a pretty solid solution. There have been different types of it over the years and this winter we did a bunch of testing for them (different bikes, different riders, different kinds of construction). The normal grip is pretty good overall, but we wanted more aggressive for the track and the word is we are going to get it soon.

 

With good traction on the tank (which works very well under braking) and using the tank as the primary locking point, this helps a lot. Doesn't work on all bikes equally well, but same concept.

 

A few years ago there was a picture of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner's bikes, covered with Stomp.

 

CF

[tmckeen]

If you get a Superbike Tail with your race body work you have to use a custom seat pad as your stock seat will no longer fit, Armor Bodies sells custom seat pads for all their kits, the material is quite grippy and a significant improvement over a stock seat.

 

also double thumbs up for Stomp Grip

 

Tyler