Recommendations for engine protection bars and seat modification please

[River Valley]

Just paid a deposit on a 1998 FZS600. I want to start getting the things I need for my particular riding requirements, namely, I get a lot of aches and pains in the hip and knee when my legs are tucked-up (I know, the fazer isn't bad in these terms, compared to full-on sports tackle, but I'm, ahem, old). I'm fully aware of the handling/safety questions but have made my mind up that I want:


- a set of crash protection bars that sit low down so I can fit a set of folding highway pegs to them for motorway hauls (I think I've seen images of some that might be Renthals or Renntec's?)


- a reshaped seat, with cover off/'gap' filled with foam to make it level with the rear part/new cover put on. This will allow a longer/straighter seat to peg distance and be more comfortable.


I'd be grateful for any suggestions of make/model/supplier of suitable crash bars and someone who can do seat mods. Any images would be particularly useful.


Thanks, MIke

[Yamazer-92]

Meaning to do this for a while, thanks for giving me the excuse.


Over Christmas I got my seat modded to add some height, more comfortable and make it look a bit smarter. I bought a cover from a company on ebay called "Wijalis". They operate from Poland and make high quality seat covers for a number of motorcycles. This is the exact one I bought:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-Fazer-F...1e88a27128


Initially, I went for Red piping (I wouldn't recommend it, my bike is Silver for christ sake!) and white lettering and stitching. You are given several colour options for each. I then asked a friend to fit the cover for me as his family run a company that make unique bespoke cafe racer seats and tanks. They agreed to do it, however the cover was a bit iffy for what I requested and the seat ended up being wrong to compensate for the cover, which was no fault of theirs. Frustrated as I had a seat I couldn't safely use (it was waaaayyyy too high front and rear) I emailed Wijalis to ask for a refund as their cover was not correct. They apologised and offered the refund, however also offered an alternative that if I sent them my seat and paid the £20 UPS postage costs, they would recover it for free. So I went for that.


The seat was away for 3 weeks in Poland, I sent them several pictures detailing what I roughly wanted done and explained as clearly as I could (they're Polish bare in mind so English isn't their first language) that I needed the seat raising but wanted the rear to be roughly the same height as stock. I also wanted the piping changed to white like the ebay photo. The cost of the cover plus UPS postage to Poland was £65, the actual seat shaping and cover fitting work was free.


The seat I got back is lovely, exactly what I wanted. It is much more comfortable and looks really nice in my opinion. Considering this would normally cost maybe £200 and they probably weren't obliged to fix the seat after sending me the cover initially, I was really really impressed with their service. I don't have a pic of the seat on its own unfortunately but can get one on Sunday if you would like. If you send them an email and say you were pointed in their direction by Kier with the Fazer 600, they may do you a small discount? If you can be without your bike for a few weeks, its definitely worth sending them your seat and letting them do the whole thing.  Here's a couple of pic's of mine on the bike:

[River Valley]

Thanks for posting in such detail Kier, that looks a lovely bit of kit. I'll drop them an email. Yes please to an image or two of it would be great. Please can you also do a measurement for me from the top of the part of the seat you sit on to the top of the footpeg, so I can compare the dimension with stock. Is the seat also broader/more padded? if so, does it 'splay' your legs any further?


Forgot to ask in general, can you get peg lowering kits for the fzs? anyone know?

[Punkstig]

Adjustable pegs are available on eBay, although tempted by a set I don't know of their quality.
Renntec crash bars look like the most sturdy and best to my investigations but cheaper ones by Heed are available as well as some smaller ones by yamaha

[River Valley]

Thanks for that.
Those Heed ones look ok for the price and maybe have the advantage that I might be able to simply put my feet up on them, rather than buying and attaching highway pegs, as they seem to stick out from the engine a fair way. I've sent them an email.

[noggythenog]

I got an old set of Renntec bars....at 6 foot tall i cant say that they make for good foot rests because you have to lift your leg & foot up & over & in leathers thats a bit awkward & to be honest it felt more painful trying to get my foot up than just keeping it on the pegs or dangling it down for a bit.

[kawasutra]

Here's a couple of pic's of mine on the bike:

very nice looking bike. Given me the push to go and wash mine  :b

[fazersharp]

Any thing that sticks out more than the bars themselfs (home made foot rest ) could be a problem as I have the lower yam one and they have touched the ground on a few bends - steep camber mostly to blame. Picky with said scratchings !

[River Valley]

Thanks fazersharp. That's one of the reasons I wanted to fit highway pegs to the crash bars, as they can be folded up and I'd only fold them down for use on relatively straight motorways, on long hauls, where I most need them. That image has given me an idea though. If the frame of the bike at the area where the crash bars bolt on is around 25-35mm I could possibly attach the highway pegs collar directly to that, in which case I wouldn't need crash bars and the highway pegs would maybe be a little higher and not stick out as much.
Can anyone please measure their frame diameter for me at that point? Ta.