- Remove you dirt bike seat
- Flip the seat over and remove all staples holding on the seat cover
- Carefully remove the old foam seat pad
- Clean plastic seat
- Install new foam seat pad
- Shaping the new seat foam
- Re-install the seat cover
- Re-install seat on to your dirt bike
1. Remove Your Dirt Bike Seat
Nearly all dirt bikes are the same when removing your seat. They typically have a a bolt on either side of the seat somewhere at the rear above the number plate.
The same bolts usually hold on the rear plastics.
Once these are undone and out you should be able to get the seat off. The seat is held inplace by one or two locating lugs. By sliding the seat forward it will come off the lugs and be free to lift off.
For a pictorial style guide see here – How to remove a dirt bike seat
2. Remove The Staples For The Seat Cover
Flipping the seat over will reveal the staples that are used to secure the seat cover in place. You can use a staple puller or screw driver and plyers to prize up the staples and remove them. With the seat cover removed flip the seat back over so the foam is exposed and is top side.
3. Carefully Remove The Old Foam Seat Pad
The foam is fixed to the plastic seat with glue, and assuming its the factory pad the glue will likely placed in areas rather than pasted over the entire pad.
They are usually glued at the front and back, left and right and a little in the middle. Using your fingers, gently start lifting and pulling the seat pad and it should come off as one piece.
Once it is off, have a look to see where it was glued so you can replicate this on the new foam.
4. Clean The Plastic Seat
I like to wipe down the plastic to make sure it’s clean and ready to receive the new pad. Nothing rocket science about this phase.
Simply wipe it over and remove any old glue residue. Use something like white spirit if the glue is stubborn and then make sure the seat is fully dry before fitting the new foam seat pad.
5. Install The New Foam Seat Pad
Stick the foam onto the plastic using spray adhesive. This will give you a thin layer of glue that is good for sticking materials and is easy to apply.
Spray both the foam and the plastic before attempting to strick them together.
Read the glue can and it will likely say to allow the glue to go tacky before sticking. Expect this to take 2-3mins.
Line up the foam and firmly press down into place, applying good pressure on the glue spots.
6. Shaping The New Seat Foam
You may not need to do this if you are simply replacing your existing seat pad because its old, worn or torn etc. However if you wanted to shave your foam down to essentially make the seat height lower then now is the time to do it.
See below the question title – How Do You Cut Foam On A Dirt Bike Seat? for more info on this.
I also have an article called What Height Dirt Bike Should I Get? – Full Guide and Chart. There is a section covering your seat height and maybe of interest to you so check it out.
7. Re-install the seat cover
You may decide to treat yourself to a new cover whilst you are changing the foam, doing it at the same time is going to be easiest.
You start at the front and work backwards, tensioning and stapling as you go.
See this article for a detailed how to – How To Install A Dirt Bike Seat Cover
8. Re-install seat on to your dirt bike
Here you will just do the opposite to step 1 when you removed the seat. Simply slide it back over the lugs, replace any plastics that may of been removed and bolt back into place.
How Can I Make My Dirt Bike Seat More Comfortable?
- Adding foam
- Adjusting the seat height
- Contouring or sculpting the foam to suit
These are 3 options which you can try. Adding foam is the most obvious, it will give you more padding and hence a more comfortable ride. Likewise with shaping the foam, be it the existing foam or newly added foam, you can create a shap that is better suited to your figure and riding style.
Adjusting the seat may help if you are looking for more comfort when being able to touch the ground.
How Do You Cut Foam On A Dirt Bike Seat?
There are a couple good methods for cutting seat foam and depending on what area and how much you want to cut off, you can pick the one that suits.
If you looking to lower the height of the seat then you will be taking alot off, for this an electric meat trimmer works well. You need to take care with these as its easy to cut more off than you want so I find it’s best to work through it in layers if I think it’s going to be tricky.
Next – Using a new blade on a utility knife will give you a super sharp edge that will glide better through the foam and is good for finer shaping and sculpting of the foam, mainly used around the edges.
Another method I have seen but havent tried yet, is to use a surform plane. This looks like a really good way to sculpt the edges and I dont know why I haven’t thought of it before.
A surform plane is a tool that is great on curved edges and can be used on a range of materials such as wood, laminate, aluminum, copper and plastics to name a few. They are relativley cheap and you can pick them up from Amazon for around $15 / £12
How Do You Soften A Dirt Bike Seat?
To soften your seat you will need to add more foam to the existing seat or replace it with a newer thicker piece or both.
Adding foam is probably your best bet because you have more control over the final thickness. Buying a new foam pad may still be inadequate.
To add more foam you will want to do the follow:
- Remove the seat cover to expose the foam
- Mark on the sides of the exisitng foam the area that requires padding
- Cut away some of the old foam as its stiffer
- Add new foam into the newly cut gap
- Add additional foam on top if required
- Contour and sculpt to shape
- Replace seat cover and install seat back on bike
The foam you choose for this is key. You want to find a foam that is softer than the old seat foam but not so soft that when you sit on it it compresses down to nothing. Carpet foam underlay is a great product for adding thinner layers after your main softer foam. It help to tie everything together and give a smoother finish.
