Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Homebrew Triboseat Rider Proof of Concept

The other day I removed the wood blocks placed in Maria, my 2004 R1150RT, to elevate by 1/4 inch the seat mounting mechanism under the rider's seat front edge.

Lowering it 1/4 inch does not sound like much but it now allows me to more firmly flatfoot my feet at stops and such while riding Maria. I hope for a more secure footing which should render less likely my dropping the bike during unplanned hard stops such as the other night.

However, removing the blocks also made it easier for me to slide forward on the seat while riding and of course while stopping which can be a bit hard on the knees. I found myself, during a short test ride, sliding forward more than usual and did not like it.

A bit of internet research later, I found this product made in Great Britain: LINK

Triboseat Rider

While it's only $32 with shipping, I wanted to see how well the concept worked since I had some leftover material which seemed similar in look and properties to the Triboseat product.



A closeup of the material I used, pretty sure its similar to the triboseat stuff

So far, it works as expected, my butt remains firmly anchored where it contacts the material. Narrow as it is cut now, I can slide forward in preparation for stops and such so that I am not fighting the material's grip while positioning myself for stops.

A few more rides, of longer duration are now needed to get the full effect.

Update: 22SEP08: Close to 200 miles of riding now using the above "proof of concept", it works just fine. In fact, not sure I actually need to buy the Triboseat Rider item itself. YMMV.

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