My seat is tearing....

[vdaily89]

Just went out to clean up the Kat & I noticed the seat is tearning on both sides. It's at the bottom edge of the seat & I can see the metal. This really sucks. The bikes only 5 months old. Guess I may start to look for another seat or getting this recovered. What do you all think?

[The CyberPoet]

I think you need to take it back to the dealer under warrantee. A stock seat shouldn't give out within 4 years, much less 6 months...

You may also want to investigate why it's giving out -- too much weight, bad chemical exposures?

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[BraadaJim]

Torn edges are very, very common with the newer Kats. The primary cause of it is......the owner......

What typically happens is that the front edge (sides) gets caught in the bodywork right at the edge between your fairing and the tank. There is a nice little pocket where is all meets up and the fairing has a sharp enough edge that if you don't get it straight in line it hooks that edge and slices the seat where the cover wraps under. If your not careful when putting your seat on it only takes a couple of times to slice one.

[katman05]

I had the exact same thing happen on my seat. I have a 05 and the cause was from me, it was caused by me putting my seat on the ground every time I took it off. The lowest point of the seat rubbed on the ground and started to rip so I sewed the rips together and then after that I put a little dab of crazy glue on the stiches and voila problem solved. That was 2 months ago and the stiches are holding fine. Now when I take off my seat it never touches the ground.

[vdaily89]

I had the exact same thing happen on my seat. I have a 05 and the cause was from me, it was caused by me putting my seat on the ground every time I took it off. The lowest point of the seat rubbed on the ground and started to rip so I sewed the rips together and then after that I put a little dab of crazy glue on the stiches and voila problem solved. That was 2 months ago and the stiches are holding fine. Now when I take off my seat it never touches the ground.

That's what I think is happening to mine. I'm going to go back to the dealer and see what they can do, I have the Extended Service Contract. I hope it's not my weight, I only weigh 185 lbs.

[katman05]

vdaily89 wrote

That's what I think is happening to mine. I'm going to go back to the dealer and see what they can do, I have the Extended Service Contract. I hope it's not my weight, I only weigh 185 lbs.

Well I weigh in at 210lbs and I know it was caused by my own stupidity, hopefuly the dealership will replace it for you or they may have seen this problem before and refuse to replace the seat if it was caused by you putting it on the ground. Anyway good luck.

[Anonymous]

Re: My seat is tearing....

Just went out to clean up the Kat & I noticed the seat is tearning on both sides. It's at the bottom edge of the seat & I can see the metal. This really sucks. The bikes only 5 months old. Guess I may start to look for another seat or getting this recovered. What do you all think?

Yup, every Kat I've looked at so far has this disease....(mine did too )

[The CyberPoet]

That's what I think is happening to mine. I'm going to go back to the dealer and see what they can do, I have the Extended Service Contract. I hope it's not my weight, I only weigh 185 lbs.

If no happiness through the dealer (who get about $200 stock for it), here's four more options:
(A) Seats go cheap on eBay -- often more for shipping than for the OEM seat itself. '03 - '05 will fit no questions on an '05; I think 98 - 02 should fit as well.
(B) Seat cover material can be gotten at upholstry shop. Even with labor, it should be under $80 to get it recovered; doing it yourself, it would be about $20 or so...
(C) Walmart, auto parts stores and a number of other places carry those "As Seen on TV" vinyl repair kits. Tape the cover from the back side, apply the stuff and follow the instructions. I haven't tried it on a Kat seat, but did use something like it 20 years ago on a honda seat with good results.
(D) Bite the bullet and buy a Corbin saddle instead. Wider seat, leather, denser foam and slightly lower seating position are all big pluses, but it takes a while for it to break in properly (about 20 hours of ride time). Cost is $229 in basic black leather. www.corbin.com -- one caution though: the leather on a corbin seat will tear in the same place the vinyl did on your stock one if you make it take the same abuse (the leather being thicker, will hold up a bit longer, but the concept is the same).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[vdaily89]

I'm going to try and go to the dealer today. Regardless what happens, I won't be sitting the seat on the ground anymore.

[WildKat]

If the dealer wont replace it for you..dont give them the satisfaction of getting it replaced at your cost through them. There's usually some people getting rid of stock seats here on KR, and ebay is a great place for them.

[vdaily89]

The dealer won't do anything. The service manager was kind of a d*** about it. Looked at it and said nothing he could do especially since I owned more than 6 months. I said I haven't had it that long yet and he replied "well , 5 months and 24 days, whatever. Not a manufacturer defect" and he went back to the shop. I sent the owner an email, but I'm sure it won't do any good. I guess I'll just look on Ebay. I realize this is apparently mostly my fault, but the seat has only been"laid" on the ground a few times. Never dropped, and I still don't feel it should tear this soon or easy.

[DreKat]

i would go over his head and contact the head office for the dealer ship in your area.