couple of questions - seat height/mod

[wehrd1]

I have a 2003 gl1800. stock suspension as far as I know. My husband has a 2010, again, stock suspension/springs as far as we know. We are both 2nd owers of our bikes. MY 2003 is taller than his 2010. i can flat foot his with suspension setting at 10+, when i'm on mine i have to drop it to 0 and then i'm still on the balls of my feet. We both have stock seats.

What gives? How can we tell if either one of our bikes has aftermarket suspension/springs on it? I would think MINE has higher suspension, because every other gw i sit on at dealerships seems to fit me like his does.

Is there a seat mod i can do to shave some foam off the sides of mine where my thighs touch, to slant it more down on the sides, to thin the leg width there? I love the way the seat feels, and don't want any foam out of any other place on the seat. Pictures of step by step? i'd HATE to muck up my seat, whacking away at it, not knowing what i'm doing.

I've looked into lowering with the lowerwing.com kit, but on the RARE occasion we two-up on mine, I don't want to bottom out..don't want to change the geometry of the bike, cuz i take the twisties hard, and don't want to have to mess with changing the center stand.

help?

[Fatwing Chris]

The 01 -10's all came with the same rear spring(900 lb.)and most likely the front is the same as well.In 2012 they went to a 1000 lb. rear spring and better valving in the shock.Some slight changes to the earlier shocks,but they don't hold the bike up they only dampen the spring action.If your 03 sits higher then I'd lay money that it's had work done to it.The ride height on the 1800's doesn't change a whole lot with the adjustment settings like the older ones with air shocks,but it's possible that the spring preload pump/shock assembly is not full of oil and you're not getting the full use of the adjustment.The majority of 1800's aren't full and probably came from the factory like that.

As far as shaving the seat it's not that hard to do with an electric carving knife and a disc grinder,but getting the original cover to fit the shape might be a bit trickier.Nothing that a good upolstery guy couldn't handle though.

[CMReynolds1]

Here is a copy of WingAdmin's info on seats. Thought it may help you.



I found this fantastic web site that has a lot of information on rebuilding motorcycle seats - everything from types of foam to use, to pressure points and design information. If you're thinking about rebuilding or replacing your seat, have a look here:

DIYMotorcycleSeat.com


Read more: viewtopic.php?t=735#ixzz3cl5Qo87d

[joeincalif]

As said in the other reply, The rear shocks on the wing will vary, some start to move at 1-5 and others don't move til about 10. The PO could have filled the shock on one.
As far as cutting the seat down, a good upholstery shop can probably do it or these guts are experts at it.
http://www.bikesolutionsllc.com/
Wingsoft small
http://www.bikesolutionsllc.com/wingsoft-small.html

[wehrd1]

As said in the other reply, The rear shocks on the wing will vary, some start to move at 1-5 and others don't move til about 10. The PO could have filled the shock on one.
As far as cutting the seat down, a good upholstery shop can probably do it or these guts are experts at it.
http://www.bikesolutionsllc.com/
Wingsoft small
http://www.bikesolutionsllc.com/wingsoft-small.html

Is it possible to to UNFILL (reset?) the shock? My wing is probably a good 1.5 to 2" taller than every other one I've ever sat on, and i have my shock setting on ZERO. I love the bike, but it gets really heavy, really fast tippy-toeing this beat around while in traffic

Thanks

[joeincalif]

As said in the other reply, The rear shocks on the wing will vary, some start to move at 1-5 and others don't move til about 10. The PO could have filled the shock on one.
As far as cutting the seat down, a good upholstery shop can probably do it or these guts are experts at it.
http://www.bikesolutionsllc.com/
Wingsoft small
http://www.bikesolutionsllc.com/wingsoft-small.html

Is it possible to to UNFILL (reset?) the shock? My wing is probably a good 1.5 to 2" taller than every other one I've ever sat on, and i have my shock setting on ZERO. I love the bike, but it gets really heavy, really fast tippy-toeing this beat around while in traffic

Thanks

Actually the shock when on ZERO should be the same height, the only thing filling it up with fluid will start the shock to raise at a lower number than a shock that the is not full of fluid. As I stated in my last post, I would contact wingsoft to have the wingsoft small mod done to the seat.
Also, have you checked the size of the rear tire? I put a 70 series on the back of my 08 wing to correct the speedometer error and that raised the back of the bike up some

[Ghostman]

What you could also do is measure from the bottom of the triple tree to the top of the fork seal on both bikes forks to see if possibly one of them has aftermarket springs in it. My trike with either Progressive or Traxxion was at least 1-1.5 inches taller with the aftermarket springs. I started with Progressive and now have Traxxion springs in it the last 4 years.