I bought a used seat with a rip on Ebay for $10.00 in order to make it more comfortable than stock seat because I didn’t want to mess with the only seat that I have. The whole mod was pretty easy. It took me about two hours total for the mod and about 15 min for my wife sew a new seat cover. The total cost $45.00 for a custom seat and it is very comfy. If I was going to reuse the seat cover it will be about $13.00 less. I started removing the staples that hold the seat cover. Placed the seat back on the bike and measured the seat height just for reference so that I’ll know how much lower the seat height is as you shave down the foam. (Set the bike on center stand) Sit on the bike with my riding position and trace around your buttocks on the foam with a marker pen so that I know where to shave the foam. I shaved one inch total of foam (I’m 5’9” 165Ibs and 32” in-seam but you might want to add foam depending on your height or in-seam and weight. It may not be a good idea if you weigh a lot more than 165lbs because I found my seat a little firm losing one inch of cushion. The goal is to get more surface contact on your buttocks to the seat rather than concentrating the body weight on the sitting bones. I shaved only in the area where my buttocks and tights contact the foam (note I did not shave any foam in the nose) You might want to read more about this at this web site DIYMotorcycleSeat.com - Home Page where I got all my info from. Also take a look at YouTube - Review of "Custom Seat Creations" Motorcycle Cowl Line Cover for the seat covering info. I started sanding the foam with a power sander but it took me about an hour to sand down ¼” of foam. Then I switch to a coarse wood rasp and in no time I managed to shave off ¾” of foam. I used a half round wood rasp (the only one that I have) and only the round side of the rasp. I have to get back on and off the seat as I shaved the foam until I was satisfied and comfortable with the shape. Finally I sanded the rough shaving surfaces (from the coarse wood rasp) down with the power sander to smooth it out. For the new seat cover, I bought two feet of marine vinyl from a local fabric shop. It comes in 54” width and it is long enough for the VFR seat. I set the ripped old seat cover over the new material and cut around it for the pattern. The VFR seat cover has a pocket in front of the seat (wrapped around under the tank and the nose) where you need to copy the pattern from the old seat cover and sew them together. If you are not fortunate as I am to have a wife who can sew, you might have an alteration shop do this for you. It took my wife about 15 minutes but the alteration shop should take less time sewing them up. Finally, attaching the seat cover to the seat where I worried the most due to the total lack of skill or experience it was actually pretty easy. It took extra hands (my wife’s) to help pull and stretch the vinyl as I stapled. I started with the front making sure the sewing seams didn’t expose by tacking under the seat pan and stapling it down and worked my way back or you may follow this Modify Seat as you wish.
I visit San Francisco occasionally and every visit I ride about 180 miles sitting in the saddle for most of time during the trip. At the end of the day my tail bone got sore. With the modified seat the soreness in my tail bone is considerably reduced. I don’t know how it will feel if I take a much longer trip. If you are looking for comfort on your seat, modifying your stock seat is a minimum effort and cost (before you commit a few hundred of dollars for the after market seats). I went with the minimum cost and effort possible for me but you may want to add foam or gel pad for more comfort depending on your weight and height. The main thing is to shape the seat to your buttock so that it gives you more contact or support.
