My 7-year-old Royal Enfield Continental GT 535: Seat upgrade

The higher seat height means that the seating position has become sportier. But the trade off is worth it. It feels like I am sitting on a sofa.

BHPian neil.jericho recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

For quite a while now, I had plans of replacing the padding on the OEM double seat of the Continental GT 535 and replacing it with an aftermarket one. Even when it was new, the padding wasn't all that great and on full-day rides, the cushioning was rather inadequate. Even though the OEM double seat hasn't been used extensively by me over the last 7 years, the cushioning is now not sufficient for long rides.

I like to think that Royal Enfield learnt a big trick, or two, with this seat before they realized the error of their ways and course-corrected themselves. The touring seat of the 650 twins, is a must buy and it took their mistakes of the GT 535 and other bikes, for Royal Enfield to arrive at the right combination with the 650 twins.

Anyways, I thought I will get the seat upgrade done when I ride down to Bangalore but thanks to Covid, all those plans got shelved. I saw a recommendation of Classic Seat Makers on this forum and after asking around in the local riding community, I got good feedback on their work. It is located opposite the KSRTC garage in Aluva and the easy landmark is the metro pillar number 90. If you are heading into town, it is just before the huge IOCL pump.

Long story short

Positives:

• Work is good
• Prices aren't cheap but they aren't too expensive either

Negatives:

• Wishy-washy communication
• Zero adherence to committed timelines

Thanks to the information-packed Royal Enfield 650 thread, I had shortlisted a few seat design options and after discussing with fellow TBHPians, I eventually narrowed it down to what nasirkaka had done on his Interceptor.

I visited Classic Seat Makers earlier in the week and told them what I wanted to be done. However, I was very particular that I wanted the stitching to be in yellow, to match the colour of my bike. They said that they will have to procure the thread but they weren't too keen on putting it on the seat. They asked me to come in the morning at 9 so that I would be the first customer of the day. The time they committed was a maximum of 3 hours. Even on an earlier visit to them, they said that it would take a total of 3 hours.

Here are some pictures of other seats that they have done.

Seat upgrade time

I reached Classic Seat Makers by 9:20 AM or so and I was the first customer of the day. Two types of cushions are available. One is a preset mould and the other is thick padding that is cut and shaped. In all my previous visits, they said either one can be used. But when I went there, they said only the mould can be used. I was indifferent to which was taken, as it would anyways be an improvement over the OEM seat, but I found it unusual that they had u-turned so quickly. There was more to come.

On the yellow stitching, they said that they have to go into town to get the thread and that it wasn't going to look nice at all. They even went so far as to mention that it will fade very quickly and that it won't be a good choice, etc. Finally, I had to pull up pictures of the upgraded single seat with yellow stitching from this thread and show it to them, for them to move on. Now if you are not aware of these things, it is easy to get carried away by their "expert" opinion but I was insistent that they get the thread. They even tried convincing me that the upgraded single-seat used a golden thread and not a yellow thread and I had to insist that it was yellow. Finally, they agreed to go and procure the yellow thread. All so unnecessary.

The seat is removed and taken in

The old seat cushioning side by side with the new one

An "Interceptor" seat that is pretty close to what nasirkaka has done

The same seat placed on top of the GT 535 to see how it looks

I told them that I wanted some padding to be added to the sides, similar to nasirkaka's seat. I was told that the padding can be added and two minutes later, the same guy told me that the mould is preset and that they can't add padding to the side. Which one is true? God alone knows. Again, so unnecessary.

I planned to watch the work being done but after getting the seat in their hands, the completion time suddenly became 2 PM! When I asked how come 3 hours of work time magically became 4.5 hours, they started beating around the bush. Another strike.

Annoyed, I took the metro and came back to town. When I returned at 2:30 PM, unsurprisingly, the work was still not done. I was finally out only by 3:15 PM which was almost 6 hours after they collected the seat.

Here is the seat cover getting the first line of yellow stitches

And now the second line

Getting stapled onto the seat tray

And finally installed on the bike

Cost

I paid a total of Rs 2,800 for the seat, which is what they had told me earlier as well. Whether you take the moulded cushion with a cover or opt for the thick padding that they shape, the cost is the same. For the type of work they do, I won't complain.

Initial impressions of the seat

The seat height has been raised by a fair bit. I cant flat foot like I used to be able to do earlier. And the higher seat height means that the seating position has become a lot sportier, as it puts more pressure on my arms. I need to get adjusted to this position. But the trade-off is well worth it. It feels like I am sitting on a sofa.

One nitpick that I have is that the stitching on the side for the rider is a lot lower than what it is on the model that I showed and the one that is hanging in their store. I would have preferred it to match what was promised. But this is aesthetic and not functional. The funny part is that the same guys at the store who were trying to convince me that yellow will not look good for the stitching were telling me that the final output is very good!

Final thoughts about Classic Seat Makers

It helps if you do your research and go prepared with what you want, before dealing with them. The workmanship is good. The guy who does the fitting work was apparently working in a store in JC Road for a very long time. But all this flimsy communication and no respect for timelines are things that have to be improved. Just being transparent from the beginning will help make the whole experience so much better. Why not say it will take 5 hours? Why say 3 hours and then make it 6 hours? Why say side padding can be added and then 2 minutes later say that it can't?

Right now, Classic Seat Makers is one of the preferred places to go to in Cochin and as things stand, I will recommend them solely based on the output. If only the quality of their customer interactions matched the quality of their work.

P.S. - There is a side room with a stool where I found other customers waiting in the afternoon. They didn't tell me about this in the morning when I told them that I will be waiting for them to do the work. If you are going there and want to wait while your bike is being worked on, ensure that you get to sit in the room.

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