1987 XL600R Seat Rebuild

[Goshawk]

Getting back to my XL600R build after a long hiatus. Did a Subaru Forester project over the winter that is 97% complete. Just needs some bodywork and car audio to make it 100% but that doesn’t keep me from daily driving it.

Back to the XL…

After much searching and no success, I’ve found that nobody make a replacement seat for the XL. Stock foam is non-existent but there are eBay seat covers available.

Using the stock seat pan, any suggestions to vendors who can do a good dual purpose seat foam in the stock profile? The stock seat foam was too soft to begin with but I’m not going for wooden plank hard either.

Thanks,

P.

[Captain 80s]

XR400R foam might be close enough for the seat shape (I own both). If your are height challenged on the bike, it would help too. I bought Moose Racing foam for my 400 years ago and love it.

Luckily my XL foam was pretty low mileage, so a cover is all it needed.

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[Goshawk]

I flatfoot with knees bent on the original config. The suspension was old though. Much more ride height now with the XR-L swingarm swap, XR600R shock, and XR650R front end. Might need the XR’s Only lower link to drop it an inch…it’s an option. The foam is low mileage but original circa 1987…time has a funny way of breaking down foam all by itself.

Which shock did you swap into your XL?

I’ll look into the XR400R.

Thanks

-P.

[69Falcon]

Pete, I know of someone in CT, she’s pricy but does good work. Doug introduced me to her. www.via-meccanica.com

[ricksax]

Have you tried Seat Concepts? They sell foam and covers for many models. You just staple them on.

[Captain 80s]

Which shock did you swap into your XL?

Re-valved / rebuilt XR500R with the XL spring. Routing the hose for the res was interesting. but ended up working nicely.

resize_XL-1.jpg

I wouldn't have necessarily sought out that path, but I had a whole 83 XR500R parts bike and a suspension guy that owed me a favor. Front wheel is the XR500R rear rim mounted to the XL hub using XR200R spokes.

[Goshawk]

Re-valved / rebuilt XR500R with the XL spring. Routing the hose for the res was interesting. but ended up working nicely.

Do you recall how long the hose was? I presume you swapped in a fresh length of hose. My 1988 XR600R shock’s stock spring was way under sprung. I expect the 1” longer, aluminum XR650L swingarm will exacerbate the situation, so I installed the heavier, stock XL spring for now. Cannon Racecraft makes a spring in that diameter and has done custom rates in the past. Factory Connection did do rebuilds and re-valvings on the narrow body XR shocks when I first started this project, but now I’m not so sure. It’s on my list of things to do…

More pics of your remote reservoir hose routing available?

-P.

[Goshawk]

Have you tried Seat Concepts? They sell foam and covers for many models. You just staple them on.

Seat Concepts supports the XR models, but no love for the XL. The tank profile is different, along with the seat.

-P.

[Goshawk]

Pete, I know of someone in CT, she’s pricy but does good work. Doug introduced me to her. www.via-meccanica.com

Thanks Chuck, I’ll give her a ring.

-P.

[riot]

Sargent Seats has a custom department, they’ll do pretty much anything:

https://www.sargentcycle.com

[Goshawk]

Sargent Seats has a custom department, they’ll do pretty much anything:

https://www.sargentcycle.com

Every Sargent product I’ve seen a has been a street-type product. Never seen an off-road seat. I’ll inquire.

Thx.

-P.

[riot]

Every Sargent product I’ve seen a has been a street-type product. Never seen an off-road seat. I’ll inquire.

Thx.

-P.

I've never used them for dirt either, and frankly it has been quite a while since I used their service at all. That said, they handled some odd ball stuff for me back in the day.

Let us know how it goes!