which model seats fit the xs650?

One of the major differences in the Special seats is the mounting of the brake light.
The early models that had the slight rise had the tail light mounted on the rear fender. These seats have the wide back end where 'Yamaha' would be printed for all behind you to see and these were side hinged.

The newer Specials had the tail light mounted on the grab rail with a license mount on the fender. These in my experience are the lift off type, high stepped with the thin rear where no logo would be seen if you could find the room to print it.

The newer rear fenders are ideal to mount the Lucas style repro tail light down where the license plate mount currently is.
Nowadays with the bitsa bikes it can be a crapshoot as to what is on any bike.......
Guilty!
I'll add that the transitional years can throw things off a bit.....
 
Last edited:
Ho Ho Ho :laugh:

what have we here then ????

Mmmm looks like a completely original brand new 79 Special stepped seat exactly the same as the one on my bike.:thumbsup:

So looks like I was correct all the time about my seat being original pattern and a certain person from downunder was completely wrong !:laugh::laugh:

Not that anyone is going to see an apology from him for
a] being wrong
b ] being rude arrogant and bombastic about giving his wrong advice.
Seeing as he has removed his posts I'll remind everyone what he said .
650Skull said:
Peanut,



Your seat has been cut down and a new cover has been made specifically for your seat. a couple of pics of the 80SG and 81SH and later model seats

Pics,
1&2; 80G Special 2 hinged seat. Same seat as should be on your bike

3; 80SG with a clip on seat. Notice it has a gentle rise to the rear passenger seat. These are conformable seats to ride a distance on.

4; 81H Special II with a clip on seat. New style of seat with a defined rise in the seat to the passenger seat. Uncomfortable because you cant slide back. Notice the difference to your seat.

5; 81SH. Same seat as the 81H.

6; 82 Heritage Specials. Same clip on seat with the shit step.
Click to expand...


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-BRAND-NEW-YAMAHA-XS650cc-S-E-SEAT-MINT-/171658866592?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item27f7aa6fa0
 

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the listing isn't wrong
you are wrong :wink2: did you not notice the Yamaha logo on the seat?

unless of course you still maintain that they are both specially made one offs
I suspect that they might have been supplied to the UK and European market but I don't know.
I'll contact the seller tomorrow and get the low down
 
Peanut,
I'm not trying to stir the pot here. It could very well be a genuine Yamaha accessory from back in the day. However, it is not an OEM seat for any US spec Special. Dealers were known to have removed stock items and replaced them with items from the accessory catalog. I had the dealer fit a case guard on mine and it has a Yamaha sticker on it. They also fitted an oil cooler before I drove it the first mile. I guess it makes that stuff original, but the factory never put it on the bike.
 
peanut said:
Ho Ho Ho :laugh:

what have we here then ????

Mmmm looks like a completely original brand new 79 Special stepped seat exactly the same as the one on my bike.:thumbsup:

So looks like I was correct all the time about my seat being original pattern and a certain person from downunder was completely wrong !:laugh::laugh:

Not that anyone is going to see an apology from him for
a] being wrong
b ] being rude arrogant and bombastic about giving his wrong advice.
Seeing as he has removed his posts I'll remind everyone what he said .



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-BRAND-NEW-YAMAHA-XS650cc-S-E-SEAT-MINT-/171658866592?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item27f7aa6fa0
Click to expand...


Your right. I will bow to your wisdom and knowledge on all XS650 differences between models. I ask myself.......if you know so much why ask?????????????????

Of course an ebay seller is the most knowledgeable person to take advice from when buying XS650 parts.

I also assume you have confirmed it is a seat for a 79.......................oops hang on he states it is for an SE...............Isn't an SE a 78..........Fuck now i am confused you say it is a genuine 79 seat and he says its a 78.........Ah well again i bow to your greater knowledge

Mind you we went through a similar experience when you wouldn't listen about the ID numbers on your bike so think what you want, i know what i know and again i will bow to your greater wisdom.
 
Here is a picture of my seat. It is the stock seat on my 1880 XS650SE. Where can I find seat covers that will fit this model?
 

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wilbur60 said:
Here is a picture of my seat. It is the stock seat on my 1880 XS650SE. Where can I find seat covers that will fit this model?
Click to expand...

Your bike is an 80SG. The seats on those models was a 1 year only seat.

The seat pan was used on the later models but the foam shape and cover was different.

Your best bet is to get it recovered your self. There may be some one selling those on ebay but again it could be hit and miss as the sellers will sell you anything and don't really know or care you have a one off seat.

Don't get talked into a later model seat as the one you have is the most comfortable of the clip on 80-83 seats
 
650Skull said:
Your right. I will bow to your wisdom and knowledge on all XS650 differences between models. I ask myself.......if you know so much why ask?????????????????

Of course an ebay seller is the most knowledgeable person to take advice from when buying XS650 parts.

I also assume you have confirmed it is a seat for a 79.......................oops hang on he states it is for an SE...............Isn't an SE a 78..........Fuck now i am confused you say it is a genuine 79 seat and he says its a 78.........Ah well again i bow to your greater knowledge

.
Click to expand...

where did I say that it was a genuine 79 special seat ?

You read what you want to see half the time :laugh: the other half you assume that people can read your mind !

The fact is you and others have taken this thread completely OFF TOPIC

What I WROTE was that my seat is an original seat not a specially made to order seat . You and Jetmarty took exception to that so I posted pictures of my seat and pan.

Frankly I don't give a monkies what you think about my seat. As I said.. its near new condition and I won't be chopping it up because as you can see a replacement seat would cost me £300 in the UK

What I originally asked was which seats from which models would fit my 78-79 bike with a little bit of fettlng

The only person to answer my question seems to be Maurice thank you Maurice :thumbsup:
 
nj1639 said:
I've seen a few Special seats here in the States but never one upholstered like that for any year.
Click to expand...

well its an interesting anomaly and maybe with a little research it could turn out to add to our knowledge of the history of the bike . Then again it may not.
If one starts with a closed mind as some seem determined to do then we'll never add to our knowledge.:wink2:

I noticed the difference between my seat and the majority of other special model seats last year but thought no more about it to be honest. I think assumed that it had been added after the bike was imported into the UK back in 1998 .

This whole silly thread has come about because some folk just can't seem to read the damn title and stick to the topic.! (wasn't referring to you by the way ):D

I was hoping that someone might have owned an XS750 or 500 model and could say whether maybe one of those seats could be made to fit .
I already know that any XS650 seat of any model year can be made to fit with little work but none of those ever come up on ebay in the UK
 
Yeah no problem. Don't know what the fuss is all about :D

BTW I'm about to order this one for my SR500, same seat probably better quality.

nt0529-a.jpg


FWIW on my bike it just fits with metal tangs on the front under the tank (tangs are already on the seat) and lays on the frame for the back. That's it, doesn't move. It's not locked or anything but around here no one steals that stuff. It can be bolted on there's captive nuts already on it.
 
Maurice said:
Yeah no problem. Don't know what the fuss is all about :D

BTW I'm about to order this one for my SR500, same seat probably better quality.

nt0529-a.jpg


FWIW on my bike it just fits with metal tangs on the front under the tank (tangs are already on the seat) and lays on the frame for the back. That's it, doesn't move. It's not locked or anything but around here no one steals that stuff. It can be bolted on there's captive nuts already on it.
Click to expand...

yep thats a nice seat alright but I'[ll just have to dream :D
I reckon the shipping cost and import taxes to UK would kill any pleasure .
If it fits that well on your bike I will look out for a SR500 seat . They are likely to be a lot cheaper and more available over here than an XS650 .
 
peanut said:
Ho Ho Ho :laugh:

what have we here then ????

Mmmm looks like a completely original brand new 79 Special stepped seat exactly the same as the one on my bike.:thumbsup:

So looks like I was correct all the time about my seat being original pattern and a certain person from downunder was completely wrong !:laugh::laugh:

Not that anyone is going to see an apology from him for
a] being wrong
b ] being rude arrogant and bombastic about giving his wrong advice.
Seeing as he has removed his posts I'll remind everyone what he said .



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-BRAND-NEW-YAMAHA-XS650cc-S-E-SEAT-MINT-/171658866592?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item27f7aa6fa0
Click to expand...

peanut said:
where did I say that it was a genuine 79 special seat ?

You read what you want to see half the time :laugh: the other half you assume that people can read your mind !

The fact is you and others have taken this thread completely OFF TOPIC

What I WROTE was that my seat is an original seat not a specially made to order seat . You and Jetmarty took exception to that so I posted pictures of my seat and pan.

Frankly I don't give a monkies what you think about my seat. As I said.. its near new condition and I won't be chopping it up because as you can see a replacement seat would cost me £300 in the UK

What I originally asked was which seats from which models would fit my 78-79 bike with a little bit of fettlng

The only person to answer my question seems to be Maurice thank you Maurice :thumbsup:
Click to expand...


HO HUM........Yawn
 
jetmechmarty said:
Sorry Peanut. I tried to help. I'll unsub from this thread. Go buy any seat you want and hammer it to fit. Bye!
Click to expand...

hey Marty thank you for trying to help your imput is much appreciated as was Skulls until he started to get insulting .

No harm done mate , we are all on the same side at the end of the day we all love the marque and are on here to share our passion and offer help and advice when we can.

I spoke to the guy selling the seat on ebay.

Turns out he was one of the top Yamaha dealers in Britain in the day and has nearly 40 years experience as a Yamaha dealer. He had vast stores of Yamaha parts and during the 80's and 90's bought up over a $million dollars worth of new parts from other Yamaha dealerships.


He was paid by Yamaha to go out to Japan 9x times and knows everyone who is anyone in Yamaha.
You cannot really get better provenance than that .!

He says he still has over 90x brand new Yamaha NOS gas tanks in his stores !
He said he thought that his stores technicians sourced the seat from Fowlers UK 30 years ago and confirms that it has a 'Genuine Yamaha part ' logo stamp on the seat .

Looks like it is an original pattern part for the XS650 special after all and as such is probably the only brand new original 1979/80 seat left in the World .:wink2:
 
peanut said:
yep thats a nice seat alright but I'[ll just have to dream :D
I reckon the shipping cost and import taxes to UK would kill any pleasure .
If it fits that well on your bike I will look out for a SR500 seat . They are likely to be a lot cheaper and more available over here than an XS650 .
Click to expand...

US/Yen change is favorable these days, shipping actually makes these cheaper than the Thailand ones.

Be aware that it is NOT the SR500 stock seat, the stock seat on the SR500 is not that great. These are aftermarket for SR500.

I understand there's a bit more SR500/400 in the kingdom, maybe you could look around along those lines?
 
650Skull said:
Your right. I apologize for taking the time to help you. I won't bother posting in any of your threads in future and will remove my posts i have made in here.
Click to expand...

Well, thanks anyway for posting the pics you did. I found them very useful to identify the differences between bases and latch / hinge positions.
I currently have a 79 Special and don't want to cut the existing pan (with the idea of keeping original parts in a box) and was wondering just what else would fit. I could take another Special seat base of my vintage with a rotted-out rear that's beyond saving, and cut the back off just to the rear of the rear-most hinge and use a DT80 seat cover for a solo seat, using modern foam for comfort. My other option is making a base from scratch, and again use a DT80 cover, but fiddling around with the hinge and latch will be time-consuming.
Used to be you could buy new good-quality fibreglass seat pans for not a lot of money for popular bikes (I bought one for a GS850 years ago), but the makers of these things seem to have vanished.
 

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