So, back in February I put my name on the list and sent Robert at Seat Concepts my weight & $132 bucks. This would include the new seat foam and seat cover of my choosing, I decided on the black standard height with center gripper section and carbon fiber vinyl sides. You still use the stock WR seat pan with the new foam and cover. Or you can send them your stock seat pan and have them install the foam & cover for you.. but I choose to do it myself…

I removed the stock seat cover from the pan using a flathead screw driver and needle nose pliers. It was very easy to remove! Here you can see both foams…

Side by side seat foams

The Seat Concepts seat came with some tips on how to install the new foam and cover. I used some 3M Super 77 Multipurpose Adhesive spray adhesive as instructed on the stock seat pan, then put the new foam on. Allowing it plenty of time to dry.

The biggest issue I had was finding the right stapler to do the job. I first started with a hand stapler.. no good, it didn’t work at all. While holding the cover tight then trying with the other hand to staple it through the seat pan is a mighty task.  So, I headed to Harbor Freight to look for a pneumatic stapler that will shoot 1/4″ staples.. but they didn’t have any.  Next stop was Rural King.. and bam.. they had a stapler that would do the job. I picked up a Surebonder Model 9600, under $40 bucks too. I couldn’t find 1/4″ stainless steel staples anywhere locally, so I had to just get regular galvanized steel Arrow JT21 1/4″ crown staples.

Wow.. now things got very easy! Using the pneumatic stapler is really the only way to do a good job on recovering the seat pan if you ask me. You can get the cover pulled tight and then snap a staple right threw the cover into the plastic. One thing I recommend doing is take the old seat cover, place it on the seat pan and then using your pneumatic stapler give it a go. Adjust the air pressure so the staple doesn’t just go right through the cover. A few minutes later I had the seat cover on, nice and tight. Next I cut some access seat cover off of the corners and then put my new seat back on my WR. I approve!

Since you are using the stock seat pan there’s no fitment issues to worry about. Here’s a few photos of the seat.. it fits perfectly even with my Safari gas tank.

Monkey Butt?!?

The real test is… is it worth it? When you feel the Seat Concepts foam you immediately feel a major difference in foams. Seat Concepts is softer, yet more solid. If this makes sense.. the stock foam just has the same consistency. Whereas the Seat Concepts is softer but more firm as pressure is applied. It’s pretty darn cool.

My first long trip with the seat was my Trans-Missouri Trail ride.. over 730 miles and I definitely noticed a big difference! I kept an eye on the mileage to see when my gluteus maximus would begin to get soar.. I’ll have to say it was a good, 40-50 miles LONGER on this seat than the stock. I don’t care what seat you have or how much money you threw at it.. your rear will be soar after so many hours on the saddle. With that said, you can easily add more comfort to your ride by upgrading your seat.

I personally give the Seat Concepts seat two thumbs up.. it’s wider, softer, gripper and has done what it’s purpose is to do.. give me more miles on the saddle. It is a tad bit taller than the stock seat, but you can have Robert sculpt it to your liking and your body weight. This is really important when getting an aftermarket seat. Here’s what I do know.. my Versys has this Corbin seat on it.. cost about four times as much as the Seat Concepts seat (luckily it came on my Versys when I bought it), weights about 100 lbs and is not anywhere near as comfy as my WR Seat Concepts seat. My plan is to talk with Robert over the winter months and see if they could do a custom seat for the Versys.. that would be awesome!

If you are in the market to upgrade your stock seat for your WR250R or any other bike for that matter, I highly recommend contacting Robert at Seat Concepts and see if this upgrade is for you. I know your butt will be happier for it!

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1. Remove the seat

2. Remove rear fairing push rivet

3. Remove rear fairing screw

4. With a 12mm socket, remove the passenger handles

5. Mine aligned with passenger handle bolts perfectly!

6. Using blue Loctite on all your bolts

7. Bolt the rack down

8. When I put my Corbin seat back on, I noticed the rear of the seat was hitting the rear rack just slightly enough that it would not latch down. So, I flipped the seat over and removed the seat latch

9. Placing a washer underneath the latch lifted it up just enough.

10. Put the latch back on and set the seat in place

11. Enjoy & ride…

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I’ll post up a photo of the bike loaded up a bit later… the rack is super slick looking, great craftsmanship and fast shipping.  So far two thumbs up from Basher!

On both my bikes I have an Eastern Beaver 3 Circuit Solution so wiring is pretty simple.  On this DRZ there’s no 3CS(probably later), so I needed a relay and a fuse for the grip heaters. We got a standard 30 Amp four terminal relay from the local auto parts store. You can use a 5 terman, terminal 87 will also have an 87a. If you use this type, just insulate terminal 87a as you won’t be needing it.

Another little thing I did was used an extra Eastern Beaver quick connector I had laying around on the battery connection, this way he can add, for example, a Powerlet to charge his phone on the road when the grip heaters aren’t being used.

SOLDER EVERYTHING!

Here’s a photo under the seat after installation was complete:

Aaron made a mount for the rocker switch, it worked out very nicely:

Here’s how I wired it all up.  Hopefully this will help others out there…

Printable PDF version HERE.

After a being in South America for 2 years and riding over 60,000 miles, Eric Lange from RideAdventures takes some time out and shares what he’s learned about packing for a motorcycle trip. I really appreciate Eric devoting time to share with the rest of the ADV community on this subject. I’m pretty confident he’s figured out what works best for him and his setup after a trip such as this. Thanks again Eric!

How to Pack for Your Motorcycle Trip – Part 1

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How to Pack for Your Motorcycle Trip – Part 2

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Stay tuned for Part 3…

Once you add this little tip to Chrome, all you have to do is type your search term in the address bar.  It’s fast and easy, check this little video out and see for yourself!

Hit the Fullscreen button on the video to get a closer look.

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OK.. Just learned you can totally skip some steps…

1. In Mapsource, select the route you want to convert, then copy it to the clipboard. (Right-click on it and select ‘Copy’ or hit Ctrl+C)
2. Now Open WinGDB3, click the ‘To clipboard menu’ button on the lower right.
3. Clipboard conversion windows opens.. 11. is selected, hit ‘Convert to clipboard’
4. Go back to Mapsource and hit Ctrl+V or Edit – Paste.. bam! Track is pasted into Mapsource.. You do not need to open a second Mapsource window.

This video should give you an idea of what I’m doing, but you do not need a second Mapsource application open!

I’ve gotten several questions on how I convert my routes I create in Mapsource to tracks, so I made this little How-to video. It’s my first screen capture video so they should get better in the future.

The convert utility I use is called WinGDB3.  You can convert routes to tracks and tracks to routes, as well as various others.  This video shows how to convert a route to a track quick and easy!

For best video quality, watch the HD version of this video.  Click ‘HD’ in the video player, then fullscreen it.

Vimeo

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YouTube

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As many of us know these techniques already, I think its still a great reminder… the hand signals are sometimes very useful as well.

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Here’s some photos of how I wired this up.  Works perfect!

Tin the ends and slide on the provided grommet.

Pull wire through Powerlet clamp

Connect wires to Powerlet, trim tinned ends as needed.

I added some hot glue to the inside of the gromet for a bit more waterproofing

Close up the Powerlet plug and Complete!

Here’s it connected to my Powerlet socket and charging up my Android….this will come in handy on the TAT this year!

I think this is going to work very well and keep my devices charged while riding!

Got them from eBay user “the2wheels”, his item title is “Motorcycle 14x LED Turn Signals Indicators Short x 4″.  Now even though he shipped them from Hong Kong they only took 7 working days to get here and he has all positive reviews so.. what the heck, lets install them!

As you may have seen, I’m running a custom tail light/signal combo from 12oclocklabs and I love this tail light.  It has a back off flasher when you apply the brakes but I thought the turn signals needed to be more visible, so I’m adding a set of these LED turn signals along side my tail light.  Here’s my video on the tail light install.

One thing I wanted to be able to do is replace the turn signals easily if I broke one because of a fall.  So I decided to use the stock wiring connectors from the stock tail light assembly for the new LED turn signals and connected up the 12oclocklabs tail light signals with a small pigtail off the hot wire like this:

I always solder my connections whether if its wire-to-wire or wire-to-connector. Don’t forget to slide on a piece of heat shrink tubing before you start soldering!

Here you can see my pigtail bullet connector that I use to plug the 12oclocklabs tail light turn signal wire to.

Here is a close up of the turn signal mounted up.  Notice I used wire loom to protect the new turn signal wires from the elements.  It also makes the install look very clean.

Both the tail light and new signals flash for better visibility.

A view from the rear….

So far I’m very pleased with this nicely priced LED turn signals and my wiring choices.  If you have any questions please let me know!

WR250R/X Service Manual Signal Wiring Diagram