Fredettes' Taller / firmer seat foam - question and answers with pix

[MoonStomper]

Does anyone have pictures of their KDX with the Fredette Taller / firmer seat foam installed? Can it be installed reusing the seat cover you already have? Thanks!

[MoonStomper]

OKAY - got no answers so I just dove right in and tackled her head-on...

BACKSTORY: So after having my suspension tuner check out me riding my '03 KDX 200 a few weeks ago I had a new homework assignment. He said that the couch-like qualities of my OEM seat foam were holding me back. He says that the taller foam will make it easier for me to achieve a standing position the thousand times you stand up during a hare-scramble and that it will also be easier to slide back and forth on the seat. I knew this was true from time spent on my son's KTM. He recommended I call Jeff Fredette and get him to send me his taller/firmer seat foam for my model year KDX (he keeps them in-stock). So I called Jeff - these aren't listed on his website - and placed the order. I asked him if I needed a new cover, which he does sell a nice selection of on his website, but he said "no, the old one will work fine."

I also had him throw in some black FRP deflectors for my Christmas present to my bike while I had him on the phone. Everything arrived on my door step in a few days.

Yesterday evening with a glass of 1800 tequila on the rocks with a lime I got to work. I was a bit anxious about the old cover, I can't lie. It was newly installed by an upholsterer according to the previous owner, but who knew how much trimming was done? I didn't bother washing it off, just set to work...

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The old foam and the tools I used.

After carefully pulling the multitude of staples with a small flat head screwdriver I shook it out. I also pulled the metal rear mounts and the rubber feet from the seat pan to get better access to the plastic form when I re-stapled. I pulled off the old foam, and swapped in the new one. BIG difference!!! I flipped on my air compressor and hooked up my new Arrow T50 air-staple gun with T50 1/4" staples. Then after warming up the cover with my heat gun till it was feeling nice and pliable, I just followed Jeff's very detailed instructions:

"Center seat cover side to side. Stretch front to back and staple front and back. Then work each side in the center and stretch and staple. Then just work it down and staple the rest."

Sipping the tequila, listening to my favorite political podcast, following the instructions and frequently adding a little heat allowed magic to happen. Damn that was easy. Time for a first look, is it right?...

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First attempt

My first crack at fitting the seat went pretty well, but I noticed the nose of the seat seemed a bit high and away from the tank. Seemed like I could do a bit better there so I pulled her off and removed the front staples at the nose. I made sure the lip of the foam was pulled down evenly over the plastic pan nose (it actually wasn't somehow), then I heated up the cover a bit and re-pulled and and carefully re-stapled. This worked and when I refit the seat all looked perfect...

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For $40 in additional tools, that I've now used twice (put a new cover on my son's KTM last week) and $65 plus shipping I have a really nice racing seat for my KDX. It was manufactured by CEET by the way. It feels so much more legit than the old foam, which really was too dang soft. I prefer to stand when I ride and all that additional effort needed to stand on this bike was making my old battered knees sore. Like the next day I would be really stiff in the joints which I'm not used too. I noticed this never happened after riding just the KTM. Can't wait to test this baby out and give her a review!

[KDXGarage]

MAN! You did a great job.

[MoonStomper]

Thanks! Maybe I should advertise my services? LOL - Will work for tequila.

[MoonStomper]

The weather improved during the day while I was at work so when I got off I hustled home to take advantage of the remaining 15 minutes of light. I ended up riding for better than 30 minutes (thanks KDX headlight!) and got a good feel for the new seat. I came away very impressed. First off I'm 5'9" and even with the taller seat can still touch the balls of my feet to the ground when standing over the bike on the flat. With the old seat my heels were solidly on the ground.

Getting on the bike it feels like you are climbing on a KTM. You are sitting 'on' the bike, not 'in' it. The improvement in seated riding position alone was appreciated. The higher seat combined with the additional firmness instantly changes the angle of attack from your elbows to the grips. This made it a LOT EASIER to keep your elbows up which makes the bike turn much better.

The firmer seat is also much easier to slide back and forth on than the old couch cushion which makes seated maneuvering so much easier. I like to stand in the single track as much as possible. This taller sitting position made rising from the seat smoother with less stress on my knees. I noticed the firmer seat gave me a 'boost up' when coming out of corners and standing - I don't have to pull my self up by the bars near as much which along with the higher elbow position, improved my throttle control.

One last thing I noticed was the knee braces. I pulled my Leatt Z-Braces on over my jeans so the plastic wasn't insulated by my riding pants like usual. I noticed that I can squeeze the taller foam with my knees which really helped my grip on the bike.

So far I have to say, everything you hear about this change appears to be true. I'm looking forward to some longer rides where I can see how it affects my endurance on the bike when ridden in full-on attack mode for a couple hours.

[KDXGarage]

Thanks for the ride report!

[G22inSC]

Looks great...awesome work!

[doakley]

That really looks like a nice mod. I had been wanting to do something like this for a long time. Thanks for showing me the way!

[MoonStomper]

Sunday afternoon we got the boys together and got some riding in on the farm. The dirt was perfect, no dust and just amazing grip, even on my mostly worn out tires.

I really got to wring her out good and spent a bunch of time riding this short course we cut into a pasture field on the side of a big hill. It has some good hard accelerations into some hard braking - sharp and quick turns. Each lap takes about 4 minutes if you are cooking, its got WOT on the pipe at full song into fifth gear, and slow throttle control sections in second/third. This is the kind of stuff that really has you moving around a lot on the bike and working all of your controls to the max at a fast pace. The idea is to be fast but smooth because smooth is fast. The trick is to start off slow and deliberate and then try to pick up a couple seconds each lap until you are flat getting after it. It's very challenging with some off camber turns and soft dirt. Super fun though. If you don't eat **** (no literally you are - it's a cow pasture) every once in awhile you aren't learning much or going hard enough by the end. I usually get some pretty good braking slides whoa-ing down from 50+ into off camber uphill and downhill or flat turns, and sometimes I wash out the front end by turning into 270 degree corners before releasing the front brake pressure enough. This is good though, it's teaching me to do it right on race day. I'm definitely getting better and it's super fun.

This circuit is where the benefit of the seat was immediately noticeable. Being able to straddle on the corners of the foam while being fully supported instead of mushing down, gave a lot more control at the foot brake and made shifting more controlled when leaning the bike for hard corners. This firm shape allows me to lean the bike over more and have confidence I can bring it back. It was also easier to keep my elbows up and to move back and forth on the seat quickly. The higher, firmer position of the seat really helped with rising up to a standing position - that motion took much less energy and today my knees aren't sore like usual. The firmness forces you to stand through the fast rough sections which I know makes me faster because I'm more stable on the bike. Sometimes on the softer seat you are so comfortable you don't realize you should be standing until you hit a bump or depression that unsettles the bike and can cause a problem if you aren't already standing. The smaller bumps force you to stand more where you should have been on the pegs anyway. It requires you to be more active and punishes passivity.

The seat is really firm, but even after a couple hours of riding I had no complaints, this may be due to the fact I'm used to a very firm mountain bike racing seat on my Trek Slash. So far, this may be the best performance per dollar upgrade I have done.