New Generation Seat Installation!

The seat finally came! After 3 days of waiting, it arrived at 5:43pm this evening. These new light weight seat was supposed to be delivered on Tuesday but didn't hit my door until Thursday!

I've opened the box of course but have not installed it yet. I'm waiting for Angela to finish her dinner before she goes off to work. I love the trike, but my wifey comes first. That doesn't mean my eyes aren't wide open and my body isn't jittery with excitement.


UPDATE: 11:29PM

Let's start with an evaluation of the seat. The major differences are:

1. The weight (although not by much)
2. Width
3. Mesh cover straps on differently
4. Horizontal back bar has been removed and replaced with a tie strap.
5. I later found that the side bars are angled differently.


WEIGHT:

This is the weight of the stock seat w/o the foam and mesh.







As for the new seat? 4.4lbs. The difference is only 6.2-4.4= 1.8lbs!!!!

I literally put each of the seats on the scale about 7 different times using the same scale to check the accuracy of my weights. I couldn't believe the difference wasn't more extreme. $250 for a measly 1.8lbs?? Really? We'll do another weigh-in later.


WIDTH:

The left side is the stock seat and the right side is the new seat. The new one is wider. I guess this was a response to all the people complaining that their butts didn't fit into the seat comfortably. I had no such complaints. I actually prefer the narrower seat. It's more snug.





MESH COVER:
I don't have a picture, but the mesh cover is now attached by Velcro straps rather than a backpack style plastic snap. I suppose this is easier to put on and off. Maybe this cuts on a bit of weight too. Negligible though. The few grams won't make a difference.

HORIZONTAL BAR:
Another big complaint about the old seat is that the horizontal bar can be felt through the foam after long rides. I got used to it before replacing the foam, but I'm still constantly reminded of the slight discomfort. I'm glad KMX addressed this in the new model.

SIDE BARS:
The thin bars that run along the side of the seat.

This shot is from the Venom. The seat I ordered is supposedly this one, but it looks nothing like it. Notice how the angled bar is straight compared to....



....the Typhoon's. This one is clearly angled. Mine came angled and I had a difficult time making it fit. It didn't even look like the pieces from the seat fit together.




FITMENT:

See how one side is perfectly aligned? This looks correct, doesn't it?




This is how the other end of the side bars looks like. It's way off!






In order to get it to fit, I had to completely remove the plastic seat backing exposing only the frame. This enabled me to get all the pieces in. The angle of the screw was still a problem, but I just muscled it in.

The parts looked like they were built in a garage rather than a factory. The fitment is horrible.

CONCLUSION:
The minimal weight reduction isn't worth the money nor the trouble. The only reason I'm keeping this is b/c I'm using it for an extensive long distance ride. If I were riding the Tornado casually in the City, I definitely would not want this "upgraded" seat. The regular one is fine. I'm not sure what scale Utah Trikes used to weigh the seat, but it's definitely not 4lbs 1oz as they claimed.

I feel a bit ripped off, but there's nothing I can do right now. I don't want to waste all the work I put in this evening installing this thing. Plus, I'd have to fight Utah Trikes to pay for return shipping. I guess that would be worth it assuming I'd get at least a majority of my $250 back.