Speaking of seats...

[NeilS]

...does anyone really know how to tell the three seats apart? AFAIK, there are no decipherable markings on the seats, and measurements are pretty inconclusive. Any other distinguishing characteristics? Or even better, I'd love to see a photo of the three of them side-by-side.

[r1200rforme]

I think the ground to seat measurements are given on the spec sheet for the R. I measured my seat against that dim. and found it to be spot on. I ended up buying the mid height seat which was not offered in 08 from the factory, it was either high or low. I, like you, wanted to verify which seat I had before ordering another.

[kudzu]

...the mid height seat which was not offered in 08 from the factory, it was either high or low.

That's interesting! When I bought my "R," the dealer had only those two seats available, but did not tell me that there was no "standard" height available. I went back-and-forth between the high and low seats and decided on the low one, figuring I was erring on the side of caution and would probably be putting an after-market seat on the bike, anyway.

[NeilS]

I think the ground to seat measurements are given on the spec sheet for the R. I measured my seat against that dim. and found it to be spot on.

Yes, but how is the measurement made? From what point on the seat? With the bike in which position (side stand, center stand, or balanced on-center)? With how much load on the suspension? I could guess, but there's no standard. Which is why motorcycle seat-height specs are so useless.

[deilenberger]

...does anyone really know how to tell the three seats apart? AFAIK, there are no decipherable markings on the seats, and measurements are pretty inconclusive. Any other distinguishing characteristics? Or even better, I'd love to see a photo of the three of them side-by-side.

Might I suggest we each put up a photo of our seat?

Mine (and my spare) are "low" seats. I think the deep bucket shape is somewhat distinctive.

[Enjoy-Rider]

I started with the standard seat:



But after a few weeks I could swap the standard seat for the tall one:



HTH

[r1200rforme]

I think the ground to seat measurements are given on the spec sheet for the R. I measured my seat against that dim. and found it to be spot on.

Yes, but how is the measurement made? From what point on the seat? With the bike in which position (side stand, center stand, or balanced on-center)? With how much load on the suspension? I could guess, but there's no standard. Which is why motorcycle seat-height specs are so useless.

I believe the dim I was looking at was the actual seat itself dim. measured with the seat on a flat surface and the dim taken to the highest point of where you park your butt.

[r1200rforme]

I think the ground to seat measurements are given on the spec sheet for the R. I measured my seat against that dim. and found it to be spot on.

Yes, but how is the measurement made? From what point on the seat? With the bike in which position (side stand, center stand, or balanced on-center)? With how much load on the suspension? I could guess, but there's no standard. Which is why motorcycle seat-height specs are so useless.

I believe the dim I was looking at was the actual seat itself dim. measured with the seat on a flat surface and the dim taken to the highest point of where you park your butt.

I just remembered where I saw the dim's. on the online parts fiche, they list all three seat heights. I used the word "ground" in my previous post, wrong term.

[NeilS]

Thanks for the pix, Don and r1200rforme. I'm now convinced that my seat is the low one, which is what I want, but I didn't really know that I had it.

The parts fiche BTW (as least the online one from Max BMW) gives the seat dimensions as 770, 800, and 835 mm. These must be seat-to-ground measurements. If anyone has any different specs, I'd be curious to see them.