1150GS for Shorties!! - Horizons Unlimited

**drmax101** · #1 15 May 2005

I am in the final stages of deciding whether to buy a 1150GS but being only 5'7" tall can only touch the floor with my toes on both feet when seated and this, quite frankly, worries me slightly.
The salesman at BMW informs me that BMW make a seat which is 10mm lower but I am not convinced this will make much difference. Wunderlich, I believe, also do a 40mm lower seat which sounds ideal (but is it?). Has anyone had any experience with these lower seats? Surely not every 1150GS owner is over 6 foot tall? or maybe they are and I should forget the idea of owning one of these fantastic machines!
Finally, If I go ahead I will be buying a used machine - what optional extras are the most useful to have?
Any advice which will help me make that final decision will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

**Mr. Ron** · #2 15 May 2005

...if you can touch the ground with both toes, whats the problem??

**Grant Johnson** · #3 15 May 2005

Recommend reading: this thread and other threads in that forum.

MY question, as usual, is:

"what are you gonna do with it?"

**Mick O'Malley** · #4 15 May 2005

Hi Max

Chapter and verse here:- www.ukgser.com

Regards, Mick

**drmax101** · #5 16 May 2005

Thanks Mick for the link to the gser website. This was extremely informative - I spent 3 hours reading various articles.

Grant, the bike will mainly be used for commuting and touring (no pillion). Don't plan any off road stuff and RTW is some way off! I have always liked the bike. My alternative is to buy a R1100R (which I rode and found comfortable in terms seat height and weight)and use this for a few years before trading up to the 1150GS when I've gained suffient experience on the boxer. This will be my first BMW. Any thoughts?

Mr Ron - your comment made be laugh very loud!

Cheers

**Grant Johnson** · #6 16 May 2005

With all that in mind, ride whichever one you're comfortable on. If the 1150GS can be lowered sufficiently to be comfortable for you, go for it. Otherwise for your purpose the R is great. The differences aren't huge, the basic package is the same.

------------------
Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

**Steve Pickford** · #7 17 May 2005

My 5'4" girlfriend rides an 1150GS. She can get the front 1/3 of each foot on the ground at the same time. She's just bought a second hand Wunderlich seat, lower by 40mm, which should make a huge difference.

**drmax101** · #8 18 May 2005

Hi Steve. I would be very interested to hear what difference the wunderlich seat has made in terms of how much of your girlfriends feet now touches the floor. The wunderlich seat is my first option but i do not want to spend ~£280 without knowing what difference it will make. I do not live too far from oxford. any chance of seeing the seat? i will not be offended if the answer is no. thanks. max

**Steve Pickford** · #9 18 May 2005

Fell free to check the seat out. It arrived yesterday, fitted it when I got home.

Huge difference. With the stock seat on the low setting & wearing Daytone Ladystar boots with 1" built in heel lift, she could get no more than the front half of both feet on the ground at the same time.

With the Wunderlich seat, she sat on the bike wearing sandals & had 90% of both feet on the ground, maybe a 1/4" gap beneath her heel.

One point: the Wunderlich seat is a stock BMW seat that's had foam removed & then recovered with a basket weave pattern cover. At 280€, it's way overpriced & not worth the cost. I found Ela's at www.ukgser.com for £75.00 inc postage.

A cheaper route for you would be to remove the cover yourself, mark out the foam you want to remove and either cut it yourself or take it to Newtrim in Oxford. They do a good job, they recovered another seat a year ago for about £40.00.

Newtrim's number is 01865-401908, located just north of the BMW Mini factory in Cowley.

Edit: you could remove a little extra seat foam & then add a Gel pad (£35 from M&P?) to restore some of the comfort level prior to recovering?

[This message has been edited by Steve Pickford (edited 18 May 2005).]

**Steve Pickford** · #10 18 May 2005

Just read this:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthr...threadid=44811

He has an 1100GS low seat that he wants to swap for a stock seat. Seats for 1100 & 1150 are identical.

**yoni** · #11 18 May 2005

Hi
That was my problem too when i went for the gs1150 adventure', the one with the grey and red seat. spent a terrible week trying to balance my self in red lights and fell like a drunk rider off-road. bmw told me i can buy the low seat. the problem is that that is too expensive. what i did was finding a guy that mends car seats and for 20 uro he opened the cloth cover and nicely cut out 4.5 cm of foam to fit my mesures. then he nicely put the cloth back and now my problem is over
the solid base of all gs1150 adventure seats are the same. so chack it and you can do it very cheep and easy

**drmax101** · #12 19 May 2005

Hi Steve,
As requested a reminder for your address.
Thanks
Max

**drmax101** · #13 19 May 2005

Thanks for the directions Steve.
See you tonight
Max

**drmax101** · #14 22 May 2005

A big thank you to everyone who gave me advice on this, especially Steve and Ela. Took the final test ride on Saturday morning just before it bucketed down with rain. After the ride, I was left with a big grin on my face and I am now the proud owner a '03 1150GS in graphitan grey. Can't wait till next weekend when I pick it up!
Cheers
Max