999 seat height
 

Before you do any suspension mods to your bike, raise the height of the seat pad!!

Ive just done this, with the help of our Glyn, site seat expert, and what a cracking job hes done!!! :sing:

Seat pad raised 3/4" and covered in that nice suede look material, quality finish!

The effect it has had on the riding experience is nothing short of massive! From my uneducated perspective it has given so much more feel from the front end of the bike. It is so much more flickable.

Today at Silverstone most were taking a big swing at the stupis shicane. I was able to stop on the nose and turn in, before flicking over to exit. It is now as i remember my 998!

What did you have done, as I'm thinking of this mod myself. Several on here have said it improves the feel from the front.

:puzzled:

You mean just raise the seat without messing with the bike geometry and it improves the feeling of the front??? :puzzled:

Yup! as a rider YOU are part of the geometry, as in where your weight is biased to. Look at any race 999 seat, its raised, as in your bum finishes up higher which pushes you forward some.

As someone else said, speak to Protwins, its the first thing they recommend! (and charge for it!!)

Speak to Glynn, he should be getting very proficiant at this............and reasonably priced

Glyn, how much for this service?
And do you guarantee that I'll stay in my (nice, newly-covered) seat over The Mountain at Cadwell? Thanks.

Could you not achieve the same effect by lowering bars on the fork legs??,that would put more weight further forward in a similar way to raising seat. lifting your body up raises c of g, the opposite of what Ducati did with the FO5 999 race bike where they moved rear of fuel tank lower down. very confusing.

Yeah, in a way you can say you're part of the geometry, but all that great difference just because of that.......
Did you had alrady raised your forks thru the yokes?
Did you made any other changes to the bike this time, or just that seat height mod?

Isn't this the same as raising the ride height adjuster then?

:puzzled:

Perhaps geometry is the wrong word, and it would be better to treat the bike set up, ie where the forks sit in the yolk, the rear ride height as one thing, and where, in my case, you squat your gentle 15 stonnes.

I like to ask why also, or try to work out why proper race teams with all the expertise do things. In this case it works for me and is relatively cheap if you can persuade Glynn...

Will be one of the first things I do when I get a 999, as it will raise the C 0f G and push it forward for better feel from the front end, without raising the swingarm pivot point, dropping down the forks does move the C of G forward but in turn lowers it.

Thanks for that s/lids thats what i wanted to say.

It's what Aprilia did with the '04. Moved the engine forward and down. Moved the tank and seat forward so the rider has more weight over the front wheel. I had a 2000 model before the '04 and the difference was noticable.

Jumping onto the 999 you feel less attached to the front wheel relatively speaking. Moving your own weight forward should improve feedback.

Any chance you could post a nice piccie Andy?

Also, does Glyn do this professionally or was it a favour to you?

Was it more or less expensive than the Pro-twins one & how does the finish compare?

How long does the mod take to turn around?

Sooooo many questions!!

I seem to be having trouble posting pictures at the moment. Glynn is a professional upholsterer, I think if the going rates are correct, it would be about 25% of the cost!!!

You would have to u2u Glyn for a timescale!! he is very quick though.

Ah it worked. Mine is very much the same as that. Worth every penny!

Have you moved the seat/gas tank up front?

Looks nice :cool:
But it seems higher in the front than in the back of the seat, is that correct or is it just the perspective?

Its just the perspective. On mine the whole of the seat pad area, but not the sides, are raised around 3/4" so you keep the same shape seat but raised where you put ya ass.

Could you not just push the tank/seat assembly forward as close as you get the tank to the yokes (if you've got a mono) would this not move weight forward?

Movign seat/tank forward alters weight fore/aft distribution, it will put more weight further forward but doesn't alter riders position. I've been thinking about this since it came up and I'd say you can get the same effect by dropping the bars down the fork ( not the same as pushing forks up though yoke which actually alters head angle), the bars would end up the same amount lower than the seat as if you raised the seat pad and you'd push more weight onto the nose in exactly the same way. if you raise the seat height ( not ride height) it has to increase c of g and theres no way that can be beneficial. We've tested mountain bikes at pretty high DH speeds and i can guarantee anyone whos done it with different BB heights will prefer one thats lower. Add in the where it places your weight at high angles of lean and increases the distance from contact patch and once again it ain't good. Obviously theres some sideways and forces to consider in that one. I'm aware MTB doesn't relate to motorbikes in the same way as you've got much higher lean angles and the balance between machine/rider weight is vastly different but I'd take a bit of convincing that moving weight up is good

I'd say the benefit is the riders ergonomic preferences, most people prefer the race type position for fast road/track use which the 999 doesn't really have, its long and flat rather than arse up a la 998 etc, raising the seat height puts you back in that nose down/arse high position which means you can feel the front end and it feels more secure or planted hence the impression its better ( which it probably is).

Reading about Toselands F05 Ducati have moved a lot of weight down to lower c of g, the only reason to move seat up is if you can't get bars low enough as they might catch fairing. I'd think its the relationship between bars/seat which is the critical factor but hey, I'm just an armchair race engineer, Moto GP 2 on X box anyone :)

I,ve recently purchased a high level race seat from Protwins , with the tank and seat unit pushed completely forward, the difference at Rockingham was very noticable. Being around 6ft the bike turned better ...highly recommend

Had you tried lowering the handlebars on the fork legs before that?, I'd be interested to know if that had same effect. My bars are pushed up against the top crown so i think can be lowered.

When you say "it turned better" was that on the entry into the turn, through turn when bike is leant over, more stable or easier to get on gas out of turn or just because it flicked from one side to the other through an S bend easier??

Height might actually come into it, i'm quite small so sit a long way forward over the tank anyway, the taller you are the more you'll slide back in seat to get the most comfortable stretch to bars.

This one's really doing my head in trying to work it out.

For the reasoning on Why..? I'm no expert.

Give either Brett or Rob a call at Protwins with there race knowledge they have the experience ......on 01342 892888:burn::burn:

Can I ask what you paid?

Pro-twins quoted me £200 + vat a couple of weeks ago

[Edited on 27-5-2005 by Wylie1]