Seat

This works for me.
I look between the tank and seat. I get the pin on the opposite side from me into the large part of the seat hole. Once in, I hold it there while I do the same on the near side of the seat. Once both are in it's easy to slide the seat forward and seat the pins. After you've done it a couple of times it gets relatively easy.

Yes - first time for me was a frustration. You are not alone.

Yeah I took my seat off today to tinker around a bit and found putting the front seat on a bit frustrating but I actually did the same exact thing guitarian did and it went on fine. I did notice with the seat off they used what looked to be electrical tape over the staples on the seat cover. It was mostly coming off so I just ditched it and covered it with some gaffers tape I had. Much better IMO.

+1, frustrated most times though

BR Yankee said:

I did notice with the seat off they used what looked to be electrical tape over the staples on the seat cover. It was mostly coming off so I just ditched it and covered it with some gaffers tape I had. Much better IMO.

Click to expand...

That has to be a 2013 trick. My 2012 has naked staples, and one of them took a little bite out of the paint. I used some self stick felt pads to isolate it from the paint and hold it off, but I like your gaffer's tape idea. The standard upholstery of the stock seat (don't know about the PP version) leaves something to be desired. It is not particularly well finished.

Well if that's one of the improvements for 2013 I'm not impressed

It was almost completely off when I removed the seat for the first time. I have some really nice fabric gaffers tape that doesn't leave any residue behind when you pull it off. I've used it on my bikes before when I was on a long trip with soft luggage that was trying to wear paint off my rear plastics. Worked great in all types of weather and never comes off.

I was going to just ditch the electrical tape but was afraid the staples would do what you confirmed, so on went the gaffers tape.

I have a talent for confirming the worst fears of others