850L 1000L stepped seats

[Anonymous]

Just a big FYI, I have learned the hard way that the 79-80 stepped seat and the 81-82 step seat are very different seat pans. Having studied the pics here on the galley page more carefully it's obvious to me now of course......

Picked up a 81L seat with a torn seat cover to try my hand at forming a flatter seat. My stock stepped seat is in such near mint condition didn't have the heart to rip into it. Anyways with some significant mods I'm still hoping to get the 81 pan to fit on the 80 bike. It's currently a work in progress.

Also as I now have a 80 1000GL and a 80 850G, welcome to try and help answer any other questions on the bike differences.

mike

[chris myers]

I have a really good 79 1000l seat I would be willing to part with at a very reasonable price(read cheap). Email me if you're interested.
Chris

[bgk]

Hey mikeymike and chris meyers,

Mikeymike: I can?t figure out from your post, exactly which seat/model year you are looking for.

I have a seat off a 1980 GS1000GL parts bike that is (honestly, really, truly!) in near-mint condition (I can send you digital pics). I have no use for it.

Chris Meyers: I?m interested in your 1979 GS1000L seat, so I can have it as a stock spare seat for my 1979 GS1000L, which has a custom seat on it now. (I?ve advertised my bike for sale here on the GSR, and it would be nice to have a stock seat for a prospective buyer who may prefer the stock seat profile).

If my 1980 GS1000GL seat is exactly what mikeymike needs, can we arrange a three-way deal, based on mutual GSR member trust?:

I ship my seat to mikeymike.

Chris ships his seat to me.

You two agree on a price for mikeymike to pay Chris.

[Anonymous]

GS1000L seats

Hmm brion are you saying the actual seats pans are different between a 1980 GS1000GL and a 1979 GS1000GL? I thought they were the same. So you cannot put your 80 seat on the 79 bike?

My existing stepped seat on my GS1000GL is in mint condition and that's the problem, don't have the heart to rip it up and redo it just cause the step is painful to me after 1 hour of riding. So looking for a cheap ripped seat with a good pan I could then have redone.

Poor seats on ebay seem to go in the $30-40 range, so that's what I had in mind. Not worth it to me to spend more. I've ping'ed Chris but no reply so far. For now the plan is still to make the 81 850GL seat I got on ebay work, it's just a bit of extra work.

By the way brion I'm here in CA by way of "Wist ta", so I know how to truly mess up saying MA town names....

[bgk]

Mikeymike,

I can?t answer your question for sure, but I believe that all the 1979 ?L? seats were unique to that year. I do know for absolutely, positively, 100% sure that a 1979 GS1000L (chain drive) seat and a 1980 GS1000GL (shaft drive) seat are different, because I own both bikes. The 1979L seat pan is wider and has different mount pads and ?hook? locations, than the 1980GL seat pan.

But, I do not know anything about the 1979 GS1000GL. My guess is that it has the same frame and seat as the chain drive 19789 GS1000L.

But most importantly, what I learned from your most recent post, is that you have a mint-condition 1980 GS1000GL seat; which is exactly what I have to offer you, so what I have to offer you doesn?t improve your dilemma.

If it makes you feel any better, what you are proposing to do (hack-up and re-configure a perfectly good seat) is exactly what I did with my 1979 GS1000L seat a year ago. Like you, I couldn?t ride for more than an hour with the stock stepped-seat profile.

So, I took it to an upholstery shop and had them increase both the seat height and the seat length, and move the ?step? 2-inches further back. I?m now much, much more comfortable on long rides, but the seat looks a little unusual, and one of my New England region GS riding buddies (Keith Black, KGB) has christened my seat with the name ?Tucks Seat? (after a hemorrhoid medicine!).

Best wishes for your project!

I?m still interested in Chris? seat as a spare, but the three-way trade scenario no longer makes sense.