[madonna]

Maybe I've watched too many Monster Garage segments, but I've been looking at my 650 and wondering what it would take to put one of those old school style solo seats on. I'd be willing to give up some storage space, but figure the frame might have to be modified. I don't weld, so I'm figuring the $$ would be more than I'm willing to pay. Not to mention the hit on the resale value.

On the other side of the coin, my thoughts have wandered into thinking of taking the engine and transmission and slapping that onto a cruiser. Until I got the scoot, I'd always ridden a cruiser and I guess I have a weak spot for them.

One last extreme Burgman thought is to take all the plastic off and ride her nekked. I'd have to figure out how to handle the display and front fairing piece, but she might look kinda nice with a nicely painted frame and chrome fenders.

Anybody else ever consider mods to the body of the beast?

Madonna
Too much time to daydream about mods now that winter is here!

 

[Robert]

I'd buy a cosmetic total and build the seat on rather than stripping down a good one...

 

[Randy]

I have an extra seat from my BMW cruiser I often think about cutting the front of the 400 seat out and adding that, not to the frame but to the seat itself so it could still hinge and open the same way.
But I doubt it will ever go past dreaming.

 

[billmeek]

One last extreme Burgman thought is to take all the plastic off and ride her nekked.

Sure you want to ride something that looks like this? :

 

[Robert]

Hmmm - I think the Burgman 650 and I have something in common.

We look better when we are not nekked...

 

[pauljo]

Sure you want to ride something that looks like this? :

I'm thinkin' that could get you arrested for "indecent exposure". :lol:

 

[madonna]

Maybe with a few mods to the frame, she would look okay. Maybe we could out ugly the big rumpus Honda just came out with.

After posting my message, I was prepared for the joke of ME riding nekked instead of the bike being without her covering. Trust me, as ugly as she might be without plastic it ain't nuthin' compared to me. Mothers would be hiding their children and men would run in fright.

Thanks for being so polite!

Madonna

 

[billmeek]

Here's some pics of a Skywave (Burgman) 650 that's setup as a FF (Feet Forward) bike :

http://www.whouse.jp/topics_html/sky-wave650_1.html

 

[Wasquid]

Apparently, his elbows became paralyzed in the wreck.
I'm sure he was pleased that the bike was still rideable.

 

[pauljo]

Overall, it is pretty ugly. But those big dual exhausts have an aggressive flair to them.

 

[billmeek]

I bet it's just a work in progress. Notice the seat. Wish I could read what's on the pics. Anyone able to translate?

 

[billmeek]

Here's some more pics of a FF design based on a Burgman 650 :

http://www.bikeweb.com/image/tid/18

 

[Jim]

I don't know if you saw these pics. yet.

http://burgmanusa.com/gallery/album03

Espically made for Doug.

 

[NYBubba]

Sign me up.

Here's some pics of a Skywave (Burgman) 650 that's setup as a FF (Feet Forward) bike :

http://www.whouse.jp/topics_html/sky-wave650_1.html

If Suzuki put this into production I would be buy one, and so would a lot of other people. :wink:

 

[pauljo]

A feet forward design would drive me away. I've done the cruiser thing... You get all your weight concentrated on your tailbone, which can get very painful during a long ride. Being able to distribute your weight between your arms, feet, and butt, is far better for comfort. The current long floorboard design is excellent, because you can put your feet forward occasionally to stretch your legs, but slide them back down when you need to use them for support. When I look at the feet forward designs I see "poser", not "rider".

 

[Wes]

When I look at the feet forward designs I see "poser", not "rider".

I agree with you Paul but there are a great many folks riding Harley dressers who put huge amounts of touring miles on with their feet forward on floor boards and sitting on their tail bone. I did it with My '82 FLT and thought it was the way to go. I guess it depends on how tough your tail is, eh?

 

[khelton]

I really liked the seat Doug had made. Does it change the height of the seat? I just barely reach the ground now, I can't have it any higher. I do like the one seat option. I don't ever plan on carrying a passenger. How comfortable is it?

 

[billmeek]

Doug had that seat custom made by going to the Corbin site in California. Here is some of one of his posts :

it only looks like i am sitting higher but in fact it is the same height or maybe one half inch lower that the stock seat . the back seat is a little taller so i would have a taller back rest ,which comes about 6 inches higher than my belt and i am 6'3" .
<snip>
the thing that makes the corbin is the foam that they use , it comes out of a machine as a liquid and then sets up, and as the guy was doing my seat he was adjusting the foam density for different parts of the seat so unless you can find someone with one of these and not just cutting it out of a block of foam i do not think you will get the same seat .

 

[billmeek]

Another post by Doug (before Corbin released the 650 dual saddle seat) :

yes the seat was made in holister cal at the corbin factory , the reason you have to go there is because they do not have that seat base in there inventory, so they must strip your seat for the base. how it works there is you help them build the seat sort of ,you are with the guy doing it all day, deciding how much foam ,the shape ,the design , the leather used , and the test fittings on you bike ,the test rides before they are done to make sure it fits you etc. we put the seat, back on the bike 6 times that day test fitting it. , it took 8 hours to build my seat . the price was 500.00 usd and worth every penny of it . before i hade it done, a 10 hour day was a long day and to do it again the next day was torture ,but now i have done 2- 13 hour days and i was not even shuffling on the seat .the back seat is still there but that person would be sitting a little higher than on the stock seat ,i do not carry anyone so i built it, so i had max comfort, but i could carry someone across town if need be . you can design any style you want to if you carry someone you can make the seat great for both of you ,i just went for the solo style for myself.

 

[pauljo]

Texas Scooter Girl,

Doug was in Eureka Springs when we were there for Scootercade. I caught a glimpse of his scooter a couple of times. Possibly you did also. What I heard was that he declined to pay the registration fee, so he was barred from all events and the rally area at the motel. But I think he was in the area for several days. I wanted to meet him, but never had the opportunity to do so. He had a movie camera of some sort mounted to his windscreen too. It would have been interesting to get a closer look at that setup.