Agility 50: Shaved/Lowered Seat Results (pic heavy?)

[kungfooren]

Hi everyone,

new to the forums and just got my 2008 Agility 50 4t a few weeks ago. I'm ~ 5'7" and decided that my legs aren't long enough to reach the floor comfortably. After considering some suspension modifications, which I still might do, I opted to shave the seat first. Here are some of my results. This certainly isn't a thorough walkthrough/guide, but includes some pictures and what not. Total project took me ~ 2 hrs.

Enjoy!

First thing I did was order a new seat off Ebay to use as practice. Fortunately, I didn't ruin it so now I have two usable seats.
Removed the staples (3/4 all around) with a flat head screwdriver and some pliers. Folded the cover back and removed the foam cushion.  



Used some painters/masking tape to lay out some guide marks and then used a permanent marker to draw lines. I then used a pretty fine toothed (24 ridges per inch, i think) hack saw blade to saw off some edges. This got me close to the shape and seat height I wanted.


I used 80grit sandpaper and the hack saw blade to further scrape and shape the seat. Contours/edges that I couldn't even feel on the original seat became annoying and uncomfortable after shaving the seat down. Therefore I spent quite some time sanding down most of the edges.
side note: At first, I tried to preserve the original shape of the seat by shaving off on the bottom side... this didn't work out well as the shape of the seat pan is quite intricate and it would take me a much longer time to shape. Worth a try but I didn't want to spend more than 2 hrs on this project.

Bought a heavy duty stapler with some 6mm staples from a local hardware store and re-upholstered the seat. Not removing all the original staples turned out as expected and I was able to line things up very easily.
Final product:



Comparison with the original seat.



Overall, I think I lost about 1/2" in seat height which isn't much but helps me reach the floor more comfortably. In terms of comfort, it feels less padded than the original seat without being uncomfortable. Project was pretty fun and well worth the 2 hrs and $50 spent on all materials (extra seat/staple gun/etc...). I hope this help people who are thinking about ways to lower their scooters. I searched the forums and didn't find much... got my inspiration from some Yamaha sport bikes forums.

Thanks

[Kenho21]

Very nice job!! You must have a little experience with upholstering or something of that sort. I would hire you to make the sculpture for the front yard. 

[Hoolander2]

Yes, very nice job!  Cutting and shaping foam requires a good "feel" and a light touch (not to mention confidence), all of which you seem to have.  Otherwise, one can ruin things quickly.  Congratulations, kungfooren. 

By the way, isn't that a hacksaw blade rather than a bandsaw blade?  Yep, think so.   

Thank you for these pictures and description!   

[streido]

Nice job. Think i mght need to re-uphoster my seat soon now. My foam is getting a bit uncomfortable now and i fancy a change of color too.

[kungfooren]

Yes, very nice job!  Cutting and shaping foam requires a good "feel" and a light touch (not to mention confidence), all of which you seem to have.  Otherwise, one can ruin things quickly.  Congratulations, kungfooren. 

By the way, isn't that a hacksaw blade rather than a bandsaw blade?  Yep, think so.   

Thank you for these pictures and description!   

Thanks. Made the correction. Having this "extra" seat definitely boosted my confidence.

[Jiffycake]

Wow that looks fantastic.

Judging by the kitchen table, its seem like you had a little help/motivation eh?