Modern Vespa

Hi all

Now that my wife has her license she will be riding our Vespa whenever she wants it. She is about 5'8" and finds it a bit too tall for her. Bummer as I have a custom black leather saddle on I love.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to where I can get a good looking saddle that is lower that looks good? Ideally something sporty. Something similar to the Scomadi saddle would be awesome. I live in Canada so need to take that in to account.

Any help is most appreciated.

Some woman have gone the other way. Rather than making the bike shorter, they make themselves taller with relatively thick soled boots.

I seem.to remember someone got a lower saddle made at Corbin. It'd be worth calling them. They are about an hour from my house and make nice saddles.

The previous owner of my BMW installed one. I rode down there one day to have a hearing element installed. I posted pics here.

There's Also a few threads on lowering seats on MV.

Best Miguel

Thanks. I am considering Corbin. There are a bunch of threads but I'm specifically hoping a fellow Canadian knows where to get one without having to deal with the hassle of importing anything from overseas.

I completely understand avoiding the import hassle.

I'm sure you'll find a solution.

Best Miguel

I contacted Corbin over here and they are saying they can't guarantee they have a saddle that will fit a GTV as they only make a GTS version ??? Doesn't fill me with confidence...

I have a GTV 250. People, including me, complained about slide forward on the GTV saddle since it was raked down and forward. A number of people recommended putting a GTS saddle on it since the GTS the same frame and doesn't slop downward. I got a GTS saddle from the Freecycle thread a year ago. It fit perfectly since the GTS and GTV frame are virtually identical (at least in the 250 era and I believe that's true of the 300 series). I didn't find the GTS seat made that much difference over my modified GTV** seat so I freecycyled the GTS seat a few weeks ago to Garys who came over from Los Gatos with his lovely wife Billie to pick it up. Turns out he's friends with Jess.

Harbinger, if it made any sense, I'm glad to ride my GTV to Corbin and make sure the GTS seat pan fits the GTV. I'm confident it will. The GTS and GTV are virtually the same bike with a few cosmetic difference. Corbin builds their own seat pans, you don't need to provide one. They are about an hour away. If you have an iPhone, I'll FaceTime you in so you can see it realtime and ask questions. Its a rather pleasant drive actually. If it makes sense, I'll PM you my cell number and we can work out logistics.

BTW, I posted this thread on Corbins Saddles and a self guided factory tour I took about 6 month ago.

Best
Miguel

**But I did mod the GTV seat to raise the front so I didn't slide forward. I put 1" nylon spacers between the seat and the bike frame. It did require getting longer stainless steel bolts. It worked well for me and I've been riding it this way for more than 5 years. But this doesn't lower the seat, it raises the nose so that doesn't suit you needs.

GTS and GTV saddles are interchangeable.

I bought the seat of a supersport GTS and went to an upholsterer, they lowered it for me. I am 5.2 and inseam of 25". They shaved the "nose of the seat and also made it less wide". Indeed the seats of GTV and GTS are the same, but remember they changed in 2015, so make sure you buy the right one.

Here you can see it better

Not sure if the original seat foam has enough 'meat' in it to remove and lower but I did get a seat guy to carve a new foam insert for the original leather skin. He took an impression of my butt and custom made the foam. I also raised the front and find in much more comfortable without the GTV slide forward on braking.

Thanks for the reminder. Here is one of several sites that help with customizing you seat.

Best
Miguel

Thanks, I was pretty sure that they were. Not too impressed with the Corbin Rep here that asked me to get the OEM part numbers. Wouldn't that be their job to do?

Just remember ValVitola's comment.

At the moment I think my wife is going to see if she can manage with the current saddle. I really don't have the time right now to jump through hoops and if needed will just go somewhere local that wants the business and willing to look at the current saddle.

That is great, your saddle is simply amazing!

FWIW I have the sports gel seat on mine and Steve has the stick GTS seat on his. I find it easier to flat floor both legs on mine than On his where I need to slide slightly forward if I want both feet flat. On mine I don't need to do that. I'm not sure that it is actually lost but it might be narrower.

If kit were me it's probably buy A solo gel seat and see how it works. Then I'd it it's too high have it modified locally keeping my leather GTV as its.