John, The Seat Guy

I realize the subject of motorcycle seats has been well covered- no pun intended. Over the years I have purchased many seats for various bikes. I’ve tried Corbin, Sargent, Laam, Bill Mayer, and all have their good points. All butts are different and all riders have their own opinion regarding what’s comfortable. I guess it’s sort of like motor oil and religion; pick one that seems right to you and leave others to their own opinions.

Now that I have disclaimer out of the way, I would like to share a recent experience I had with a seat builder. Here is his website: https://theseatguyjon.com/ His name is John Revilla. His shop is located in St. Charles, IL.

I sent my 2014 FJR OEM seat to a reputable seat builder. When I sent it I specifically mentioned that I had recently purchased a Corbin Smuggler trunk, and therefore the new seat needed to fit perfectly with that unit. I was assured it would. After some considerable amount of time I did receive my new seat. It was beautiful and comfortable, but it would not fit on the bike with the Smuggler trunk in place. In a frustrated attempt to force it to fit, I only managed to scratch up the finish on the Smuggler. This was in late March or early April of this year & the riding season had begun. I was in no mood to send the seat back to the builder for a second try, and I was in much less inclined to wait for it to come back. The riding season is way too short in this part of the world. I therefore purchased a Corbin seat that was guaranteed to fin with the Smuggler trunk. I rode with the Corbin seat & trunk from April until August. I must say I and am reasonably happy with the Corbin seat. I absolutely love the Smuggler trunk.

However that left me with a $400 seat sitting in my garage attic. I took my seat to John, “The Seat Guy” Revilla. He took a look at it and in less than 5 minutes told me that the seat would never fit with the Smuggler trunk and also noticed that the seat had been built too wide at the front therefore forcing me to stretch to reach the ground. John rebuilt the seat for a reasonable charge. It fits perfectly with the Smuggler and is very comfortable. Here is a guy with years of seat building experience, he does quality work, his prices are reasonable. He made a great seat for me. I plan to take my dirt bike seat in for him to rework. John is a very accommodating guy and will adjust his schedule to make it work for you if you decide to drive in. While he may not be as well-known as some other big name seat builders; he builds a great seat and stands behind his work. I’m one happy customer.

Always nice to add another resource to the list!

Does he make a seat you can ride on all day long? day after day?

That's what I'm looking for...

I contacted him regarding doing a nose job and cutting away a little foam to lower my seat and my seat. Quoted me $300! I have not shopped it around but that seems a bit steep....

Road King said:

I contacted him regarding doing a nose job and cutting away a little foam to lower my seat and my seat. Quoted me $300! I have not shopped it around but that seems a bit steep....

Click to expand...

Does it? All he has to do is remove the cover, cut away the EXACT amount of foam, shape the remaining foam PERFECTLY, re-shape, re-stitch and re-attach the cover... Of course if you are not happy with it, he will have to do it all over again. And perhaps again.

Sounds so easy, it could be a do it yourself project... Or not.

If you check the prices for the very, very few top quality seat makers we know about, you will find $300 to be quite reasonable and very much on the low end. You sure are not going to be buying a new, one size fits all, off the shelf Corbin or Sargent for $300.

Excellent comments from Redfish Hunter! There are some things in the wold that should be in the domain of craftsmen. I believe seat building is one of those things.

Like the time of many craftsmen, it's not so much a matter of how much time he/she spent on the actual task - it's more related to how long it took the craftsman to learn how to do it. What price do you put on 25 or 30 years of experience?

In my experience, the best seats I have had are those that were built for me. To me the true measure of a quality seat is when you don't even think about the seat; you just enjoy the ride.

I would like to commend fisherdave on how he presented this topic and the class he showed in not calling out the "reputable seat builder". Most of us, myself included would have made this a rant on the failings of the first builder. Instead he used this to promote the services of a skilled craftsman that took care of his problems and performed good work.

I envy you the ability to stay positive. And I thank you for giving the forum yet another alternative in the custom seat game.