Has anyone shaved their seat on the F4i? I did this mod before on my SV650 and gained quite a bit of seat height back (I am 5'4", every bit counts.) But there is a significantly less amount of foam to work with on the CBR seat. Just wondering how hard it would be to do myself as I cant find any vids or threads on shaving our seats.

Any help appreciated!

 

And even if I do cut it down alot, could I just replace it with one of those gel pads to make up for it? I get to start riding Monday and this would be a great project for this weekend while I take the BRC course. And while I wait on my lowering links.

 

I don't know if you have the banana seat version or the split seat but on the latter there really isn't much to work with. If you're planning on lowering the bike I would wait until that's done and see where that gets you. It might not be the case that you need to shave the seat..

 

I have the split seat, and after feeling it today it does seem like all I could really get out of it is a 1/2" or so, and thats being generous. I only want to drop it to get comfortable with the bike, and bring it back up. But I've shaved the seats on both my previous bikes.

 

I had been looking for a split seat F4i for a while and could always barely flatfoot whenever I mounted up on a split seat model (I have a 29" inseam). After much searching, I ended up buying an 06 with a banana seat but to my surprise, I was now on the ***** of my feet when mounted. I think the banana seat models have a little more girth to the seat which causes a wider stance and makes the bike feel taller.

As MattSD said, the spilt seat doesn't have much room for shaving down. But the banana seat has a decent amount of foam and I think you can easily shave 2" or more off of it. I had my banana seat shaved down about 1.5" by an upholster and now I can just flat foot after the suspension sags with my weight.

Personally, I would try to avoid lowering the bike as it does mess with the bike's geometry and ground clearance which would be a concern if you do any aggressive riding. Some other things you can do for free are to make sure your suspension sag is set correctly for your weight as well make sure you have adequate slack in your chain tension (e.g. 30mm). A tight chain will not only cause excessive wear to the chain and sprockets but also will restrict your rear shock movement and reaching proper sag. Lastly you can alter the way you sit when stopped by moving half a cheek off which will allow you to flat foot the one side.

Hope this helps.

 

Something I have done to my 02 which might help you. As mentioned earlier, the width of the seat also affects your stance and there isn't much foam to work with on top of the seat.

Pull the seat cover off and contour trim the sides of the plastic base so that you maintain the same profile but decrease the overall width. IIRC, I removed about 1/4"-3/8" from each side and I can't remember if I had to trim the foam or not. Finish trimming when the covered seat sides match up with the sides of the tail. You should pick up a little more leg extension which might help.

 

Went and rode a 250 Ninja today for the BRC course here in Alaska. All 250 bikes in the class, but I didnt get to grab the new CBR they had out there. Tippy Toed it all day, and it wasnt too bad. Only problem with tippy toe-ing it is trying to back it up, or if things get hairy on a stop and you need to plant your feet.

But I may try to trim the width as well, as we did that too on my SV seat before. Both depth and width were altered for me and I could flat foot on both sides almost.

Jumped on the CBR today after riding that Ninja and its definitely a heavier bike, but nothing I couldnt handle driving everyday on my tippy toes. Anchorage roads are HORRIBLE so I have to watch for potholes and uneven spots.