WhereTheHellIsJames?
Explorer
New Seat: The Gripper...
More stuff! Motorcycle manufacturers spend countless thousands of hours tweaking little things here and there to give a bike more performance, lighter weight, more reliability, etc, etc, yet almost all of them insist on selling bikes with 2x6 planks wrapped in vinyl as a seat. This is not a dig on the TW or of Yamaha, but just about every manufacturer across the board- American, European, Japanese, Russian, all of 'em. Of the many, many motorcycles that I've owned, I can't think of a single one that had what one might call a comfortable seat as standard equipment, and the TW200 is no exception. There's not a whole lot of options out there for the TW200, but thankfully the folks at Seat Concepts offer a great replacement foam and cover setup.
In the box, there's a new seat foam, and a new cover (no pan- with this setup, one reuses their stock seat pan). Both the foam and cover are customizable to the owners liking- for the TW200, SeatConcepts offers 2 different seat foam densities and 4 different covers options. I chose the normal SC foam and gripper top and carbon sides seat cover for this bike.
Although slightly intimidating at first, installing a new seat foam and cover is really pretty easy- take your time, and flip the seat over to see where you're at a lot, and it'll look like a pro did it by the time you sink that last staple in. Start out by removing the old seat cover (pull all the staples). I did it with a tiny flathead screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and a Pacifico. Next, remove the foam. It might just fall off, or it might take a little strategic pulling. I've had it go both ways on different bikes, but with the TW, it just came off. Next up, test fit the new foam on your pan, make any adjustments that might be needed or desired, then glue te new seat foam to the pan. It works best to clean off your old pan with soap and water, then give it a good once over the mating surfaces of both the pan and foam with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any residue form soap or mold release. Spray both surfaces with whatever adhesive you choose (I've always used 3M Super77, but I'm sure other stuff works fine too), then carefully stick them together. I've found it useful to place index marks with a Sharpie on the foam and seat pan when I test fit, as well as go through a couple of dry-run installations before actually applying the glue to make it permanent.
Here's the old and new seat foams side by side (factory left, SC right), as well as the cleaned, prepped and ready to mate pan and foam:
Once the foam is secured to the seat pan, it's cover time. I always start from the middle of the front and work my way to the rear, evenly going down both sides at the same time when installing a seat cover. I'm sure it'd work from rear to front as well, but front to rear is how I've always done it. Either way, the key is to start at one end and work to the other. If you staple the front and back, then work towards the middle during your install, you'll have a wrinkly cover that looks like a 4 year old put it on, and all your friends will make fun of you... and your 4 year old.
Flipping it over a lot to check your progress during install is key. It'll give you a nice taught cover with straight seams and lines. I should also point out that different seat pans seem to have different densities. Sometimes I can get away with using the staple gun in the picture above, and other times not. With the TW, I had to use a pneumatic stapler. I bought one just like this one at Harbor Freight a long time ago, and it's worked very well... just keep the PSI's above around 90, and it'll do the trick perfectly. Speaking of stapler, you'll want to use 1/4" staples (or on rare occasion, shorter) for a seat cover install. Any longer, and you'll risk poking through the seat cover- which is neither aesthetically or physically pleasing.
Here's what the old (left) and new (right) seat covers look like when installed:
The perspective is a little off in the shots due to a different focal length before and after the install, and the new seat looks a LOT wider than it really is compared to the stock seat. The new one is definitely wider, but not to the distorted proportions that the above photos suggest. There is a bigger butt-platform on the new seat though, and I'm happy to report that it no longer has that "sitting on a 12/12 roof-cap" feeling like the factory seat had. Plus, there's no more super-slippery, plasticy-vinyly, "I'm gonna fly right off this bike" seat feeling.
Here's a bit more detailed shot of the covers themselves- Yamaha left, SC right:
This may be the best mod that I've made to the bike so far, as it makes the TW200 infinitely more comfortable to ride. Rider comfort (for my preferences, anyways) with the stock seat lasted about :30 minutes. With the new seat kit though, I have yet to really experience any discomfort. FWIW, I like to move around a lot on the bike, and had a hard time deciding to go with a gripper or other seat cover. After spending some time on the new seat, my $.02 is to go with the gripper, as it has just the right amount of friction, and isn't super "sticky" like some other manufacturers gripper seat covers.
More stuff! Motorcycle manufacturers spend countless thousands of hours tweaking little things here and there to give a bike more performance, lighter weight, more reliability, etc, etc, yet almost all of them insist on selling bikes with 2x6 planks wrapped in vinyl as a seat. This is not a dig on the TW or of Yamaha, but just about every manufacturer across the board- American, European, Japanese, Russian, all of 'em. Of the many, many motorcycles that I've owned, I can't think of a single one that had what one might call a comfortable seat as standard equipment, and the TW200 is no exception. There's not a whole lot of options out there for the TW200, but thankfully the folks at Seat Concepts offer a great replacement foam and cover setup.
In the box, there's a new seat foam, and a new cover (no pan- with this setup, one reuses their stock seat pan). Both the foam and cover are customizable to the owners liking- for the TW200, SeatConcepts offers 2 different seat foam densities and 4 different covers options. I chose the normal SC foam and gripper top and carbon sides seat cover for this bike.
Although slightly intimidating at first, installing a new seat foam and cover is really pretty easy- take your time, and flip the seat over to see where you're at a lot, and it'll look like a pro did it by the time you sink that last staple in. Start out by removing the old seat cover (pull all the staples). I did it with a tiny flathead screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and a Pacifico. Next, remove the foam. It might just fall off, or it might take a little strategic pulling. I've had it go both ways on different bikes, but with the TW, it just came off. Next up, test fit the new foam on your pan, make any adjustments that might be needed or desired, then glue te new seat foam to the pan. It works best to clean off your old pan with soap and water, then give it a good once over the mating surfaces of both the pan and foam with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any residue form soap or mold release. Spray both surfaces with whatever adhesive you choose (I've always used 3M Super77, but I'm sure other stuff works fine too), then carefully stick them together. I've found it useful to place index marks with a Sharpie on the foam and seat pan when I test fit, as well as go through a couple of dry-run installations before actually applying the glue to make it permanent.
Here's the old and new seat foams side by side (factory left, SC right), as well as the cleaned, prepped and ready to mate pan and foam:
Once the foam is secured to the seat pan, it's cover time. I always start from the middle of the front and work my way to the rear, evenly going down both sides at the same time when installing a seat cover. I'm sure it'd work from rear to front as well, but front to rear is how I've always done it. Either way, the key is to start at one end and work to the other. If you staple the front and back, then work towards the middle during your install, you'll have a wrinkly cover that looks like a 4 year old put it on, and all your friends will make fun of you... and your 4 year old.
Flipping it over a lot to check your progress during install is key. It'll give you a nice taught cover with straight seams and lines. I should also point out that different seat pans seem to have different densities. Sometimes I can get away with using the staple gun in the picture above, and other times not. With the TW, I had to use a pneumatic stapler. I bought one just like this one at Harbor Freight a long time ago, and it's worked very well... just keep the PSI's above around 90, and it'll do the trick perfectly. Speaking of stapler, you'll want to use 1/4" staples (or on rare occasion, shorter) for a seat cover install. Any longer, and you'll risk poking through the seat cover- which is neither aesthetically or physically pleasing.
Here's what the old (left) and new (right) seat covers look like when installed:
The perspective is a little off in the shots due to a different focal length before and after the install, and the new seat looks a LOT wider than it really is compared to the stock seat. The new one is definitely wider, but not to the distorted proportions that the above photos suggest. There is a bigger butt-platform on the new seat though, and I'm happy to report that it no longer has that "sitting on a 12/12 roof-cap" feeling like the factory seat had. Plus, there's no more super-slippery, plasticy-vinyly, "I'm gonna fly right off this bike" seat feeling.
Here's a bit more detailed shot of the covers themselves- Yamaha left, SC right:
This may be the best mod that I've made to the bike so far, as it makes the TW200 infinitely more comfortable to ride. Rider comfort (for my preferences, anyways) with the stock seat lasted about :30 minutes. With the new seat kit though, I have yet to really experience any discomfort. FWIW, I like to move around a lot on the bike, and had a hard time deciding to go with a gripper or other seat cover. After spending some time on the new seat, my $.02 is to go with the gripper, as it has just the right amount of friction, and isn't super "sticky" like some other manufacturers gripper seat covers.
or frequent and easy 65/70 from SF to Marin on the 101. Did you ever tune or jet your TW for your conditions/location/elevation, or did you just ride it around with whatever setup the dealer (or PO) sold it to you with? Either way, I agree with you that it'd be a silly choice for someone who's looking to do regular highway riding or anything resembling heavy off-road riding. The TW is perfect though for riding around town, keeping it pretty mellow, and exploring some 2-track or fire roads. Sounds like you were looking for something else though, and that the DR fit you better- glad to hear that you found something that works well for ya! 
