Also posted at ADVrider. Another member mentioned a seat maker by the name of XPC Racing. Can't find any info here and nothing other than their website on the interweb. Has anybody seen/felt their work and have a comment? Thanks Dean
I was curious too. They aren't far away from me, and the idea of a relatively quick turn around on a custom seat is appealing. I popped their address in Google maps to see where exactly they are located, thinking I might swing by to check them out. This is what I got: The following two links share their physical address, and are inline with what was mentioned in the Advrider thread. www.qualitycase.com www.qualityfoam.com Both are divisions of: Quality Foam Packaging Inc. Quality Foam Packaging, Inc. 16180 East Gladstone Street Irwindale, California 91706 United States www.qualityfoampackaging.com Employees: 50-99 Activities: Manufacturer, Custom Manufacturer Year Company Founded: 1973 The xpcracing.com domain was registered in June, whois contact data is the same for all the domains. I get nothing from the "XPC Inc." queries, at least not in this state. ... I'm headed out that way to ride this week, I'll swing by to visit if they say they have any seats on hand for me to look at. ... I'm back. I dropped by, talked to Jim and he gave me the tour. I should have taken pics, sorry. He had a couple completed seats for me to look at, a WR and, I forget what the other was. He also had a couple BMW X series seats in progress. I'll be dropping my seat off on Monday. I post picks when I pick it back up.
Oh, here's the mini ride report: Over Cleveland National Forest to Lake Elsinor to visit xpcracing. Since I was kinda 'out that way' I figured I'd head out to Idyllwild: Camped there for the night: Then rode up to Big Bear and over to Arrowhead: I thought about camping another night in Arrowhead and heading over to meet some people for a Saturday ride in Angeles Nat. Forest, completing my little circle of forests, but my butt was sore... It was a hot weekend, the altitude made for nice, cool, riding.
Yes, not only that, but Jim is a great guy, and has been a pleasure to work with. I had some concerns about the durability of the area around the pin in back for attaching the seat. The stock fabric was getting worn from the twisting. Jim and I discussed some ideas for preventing this from happening with the new seat. We decided to use a separate leather patch sewn in as seen, and added a plastic washer between the pin and the fabric so that it would slide instead of bind when twisting the pin down. When I got home to put the seat on I found it difficult due to the thickness to get the pin to catch, I removed the washer, then pressed hard and was able to get the seat on. After letting it sit for about an hour I removed it to check it again. The material had compressed and I found it much easier to mount. I've also removed that D ring wire on the pin too, my Motion Pro spoon fits perfectly in the curved slot, so I use it to tighten the pin. This also helps prevent wear on the seat. I left for a 3 day trip hours after picking up the seat, put around 250 miles on it. Having put on roughly the same miles the previous week I can definitely say it's an improvement over stock. My ass is much happier. Jim said he'd make any necessary adjustment but thus far I can't think of any. While on the ride we even found a pretty girl to model it for you .
Skeptic - thanks for the report. Your husky is clearly a chick magnet with the new seat. Would you say it's about 3" wider than the stocker? Flatter as well? Is it any harder getting on or off? Thanks again Dean
Sorry, I didn't take any measurements, before or after. I'd guess about 2-3" wider, and pretty flat. I don't have a problem with height so I told him he could add a bit to the height for sake of comfort, I'm going to be doing some lengthy trips later in the year. I don't know my inseam, but I'm 6'2", longish legs. As far as the dimensions were concerned I left it pretty much up to Jim, we had talk about rides and riding and he knew what I was shooting for. The goofy lookin' dude on the right is me:
Skeptic - thanks again for the report. I'm definitely in for an XPC. Your riding buddy in the middle may not have all the right gear - but looks to be appropriately padded anyways. Might I suggest you take trail position and leave lead position to the guy on the left.
I must be getting old or conservative, one of the two....I can't believe that girl's husband let her out of the house wearing that outfit.
Has there been any discussion about cost/turn around time and material choices? The seat looks great and I have been thinking about getting in line for a nice duel sport seat anyway, Dan L
I got it with a discount; "15% discount to ADV riders through July 31st". Suede just under $300, with discount. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=477708 Regular prices here: http://www.xpcracing.com/Options-Pricing They are local to me so I didn't use shipping, my turn around was FAST, dropped it of Monday had it by Friday, in time to ride
Has anybody heard from Jim at XPC lately? I sent him my seat last week and haven't heard anything from him despite a couple phone calls and a couple emails. Should have arrived on Wednesday - just wanted to make sure he received the seat and that he had all the details he needed before starting work on it. I'm sure there's a great explanation, but it's getting me worried. In limbo....
Jim and the company have been off on a planed holiday, I spoke with him on Friday and will see him on Monday to drop off my seat. His office is just a few miles from one of my job sites (lucky for me) Dan L
Thanks SepticSkeptic for the heads up on XPC Racing. I seen your post here and on ADVRider. Jim @ XPC Racing was very quick to reply to my emails. Yesterday, I shipped my crappy OE seat to XPC Racing for some tender lovin' care. I hope to see it back in a few weeks. I can't wait!
Matt - my XPC seat is in the loving, capable hands of the USPS Should be back to riding early next week. I use my husky for commuting 60 miles per day and offroading on the weekends so I'll give a ride review within the next couple weeks. Mine took longer than expected because it arrived while they were out for 11 days. Then they were completely overrun with work on their return so it took 2 weeks to complete. Jim assures me once they catch up the turnaround will be 1 week instead of 2.
Looking forward to hearing the ride report. Don't forget to post up some pics. By the way, did you request anything special or are you letting Jim use his best judgement. I'm in a similar situation as you with using my SM610 as a commuter and weekend fun bike.
Matt - I discussed my riding habits with him - especially the offroad portion. Some of the design has to do with the ratio of standing/sitting when offroad. He designs the transition area from front to rear with that in mind. Trails here in Maine are steep and really rocky so a lot of standing. Too wide up front would make it harder to stand. I also need to be able to go 200 miles onroad as I do that occasionally and that played into the density of the foam. I feel pretty good about the prospects - apparently XPC just got the contract for Team KTM. That says something for their quality.
