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PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 9:35 pm
by bubble
My PowerbyPCX seat arrived last week, and I finally installed it yesterday. The finished product is a 10/10 workmanship & comfort-wise, but the experience was not without surprise.

Apparently they are using USED PARTS in their seats. See for yourselves:
Latch Comparison.PNG
Latch Comparison.PNG (472.72 KiB) Viewed 4933 times
Seat Latch Photo.JPG
Seat Latch Photo.JPG (462.34 KiB) Viewed 4933 times
The NEW looking latch is MY seat, the cruddy latch is the PowerbyPCX seat. The NEW seat's rubber bumpers are probably several years old, and well worn & cracked from wear. The seat pan underside has many scuffs from probably long-term storage & much handling.

My bike only has 190 miles on the ODO.

I have mixed feelings about this transaction...The seat is a VAST improvement over what came with the bike, but I kinda assumed I'd get NEW equipment. Perhaps this is the cost of using the forum's 10% discount from them. Yes, the seat looks & feels GREAT, but I hadn't realized that the seat pan might have come out of a salvage yard, lol. The one rubber bumper even has a human hair caught beneath it, and made it's way to my home, from Thailand.

For what it's worth...

Bubble

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 11:03 pm
by WhiteNoise
Oh wow, sorry. I'd be disappointed too! :( That's really strange of them to do & Not good business practice. Did you contact them about it? You should. Give them a chance to fix what some not so smart worker did.

Has anyone else received a seat from PowerbyPCX looking like this on the underside?

bubble, Can we see the seat on the top side? Are you pleased with the workmanship there?

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 11:42 pm
by AllenM
I have a 2013 PCX 150 and I was thinking about buying a seat from them. After reading this I will no longer consider them as an option. I can't believe they would even try to sale something like this!

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 4:57 am
by Slickvic
FWIW, my PowerbyPCX seat was a new part, however the red stitching they used is not UV resistant. So now after 2 riding seasons most of the stitching looks pink from sun fading.

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 10:58 am
by WhiteNoise
It's good these things are mentioned. Thanks for kicking in Slick!

Better now, than never. After all, if it's brought to the attention of its maker then there's a chance the maker will be proud enough to make it better. It only makes "cents." ;)

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 11:23 am
by Mel46
I think I read somewhere, and don't ask me where because I can't remember, that over in Thailand the practice has been for a customer to trade in their seat for a new one. In that case they would then have an endless supply of bases for the new seats because they would be stripping down the traded seat and reusing it. This probably works quite well over there, though selling beyond their borders would present the problem of customer satisfaction due to reuse of old parts. I have bought multiple seats from there and all have been on used bases. None of that detracts from the beauty of the finished product, and if it bothered me I could easily scrumb the underside clean and paint the bottom if need be. I have only cleaned the latch mechanizim.

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 5:33 pm
by tbln930
Try MP.Motor next time. They use used bases but in very good condition on mine. The seat is excellent IMO and was only $45 + shipping when I bought it last year. The materials are holding well so far.

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 5:42 pm
by you you
Slickvic wrote:FWIW, my PowerbyPCX seat was a new part, however the red stitching they used is not UV resistant. So now after 2 riding seasons most of the stitching looks pink from sun fading.

Re-dye it?

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 6:19 am
by jon_l
Mine was delivered on a brand-new Honda seat pan, in the Honda box it came in. Everything shiny & clean.

Image

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 9:11 am
by Mel46
Most of the custom seats are made by the same shop in Thailand, so chances are good that you will get a used seat base. Sometimes you get lucky though. Still if it does what it is suppose to do then who really cares what the underside looks like. Maybe so degreaser on the metal part will clean it up.

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 9:34 am
by thunderkat59
I just traded my '08 Burgman 400 for a 2011 PCX with 650 miles. And, like the Burgman, I wonder why scooter manu's feel a need to hump us on these bikes! I hope this is on-topic for this thread, and I have searched--HPCX.org won't recognize "seat"-- I am wondering if there are other replacement seat companies out there. I have only seen Bikerz Bitz and PowerdbyPCX for flat seats, and a whole bunch of weird, cruiser style seats with all manner of humps and folds made into them, so in summation, are Bikerz Bitz and PowerbyPCX the only flat seats readily available? Other than that, I am blown away but what comes in a 125 scooter these days! What a great little bike this is turning out to be!
I apologize in advance if this is not an appropriate forum for this inquiry. Thank you :)

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 5:27 pm
by bubble
There's a lot of good info being posted here. Thanks to all who replied.

Here are pics of the finished seat.
Seat-Right Side.JPG
Seat-Right Side.JPG (457.8 KiB) Viewed 4740 times
Seat-Top.JPG
Seat-Top.JPG (568.9 KiB) Viewed 4740 times
Seat-Rear.JPG
Seat-Rear.JPG (504.1 KiB) Viewed 4740 times
I haven't yet ridden the PCX since the new saddle arrived but just sitting on it I can feel the improvement. Still, I can't help but feel a tad disappointed at what I received. Had this been made clear from the get-go, perhaps this wouldn't be so. I also think I'd have willingly paid a premium for a new seat pan. Like I said earlier, I suspect the forum's 10% discount resulted in the cruddy latch.

No, I didn't complain to PowerbyPCX. They know what they sent me, and have obviously decided that this is an acceptable business practice. Any financial implications for them resulting from this posting will be "what it will be". My seat IS serviceable, just disappointing (to me, on my new-ish bike).

bubble

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 7:46 am
by Dustoff66
Here's a pic of my seat. It's the original, redone by a top-notch local upholstery shop. It cost me a little over $200, but it's quality work, done locally, with a satisfaction guarantee. AND-- it's very comfortable. The Honda "hump" is now a nice padded backrest for my bony derriere. :)

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 5:26 pm
by sendler2112
thunderkat59 wrote:I just traded my '08 Burgman 400 for a 2011 PCX with 650 miles. And, like the Burgman, I wonder why scooter manu's feel a need to hump us on these bikes!
If you are handy you can do a humpectomy on your stock seat.
.
http://www.hondapcx.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1933
.

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 7:33 pm
by jon_l
bubble wrote: I haven't yet ridden the PCX since the new saddle arrived but just sitting on it I can feel the improvement. Still, I can't help but feel a tad disappointed at what I received. Had this been made clear from the get-go, perhaps this wouldn't be so. I also think I'd have willingly paid a premium for a new seat pan. Like I said earlier, I suspect the forum's 10% discount resulted in the cruddy latch.

No, I didn't complain to PowerbyPCX. They know what they sent me, and have obviously decided that this is an acceptable business practice. Any financial implications for them resulting from this posting will be "what it will be". My seat IS serviceable, just disappointing (to me, on my new-ish bike).

bubble
I think it is luck of the draw. I used the discount code, and I got lucky I guess, with a new pan.

Logically, forum members would be the last ones a vendor should want to piss-off, since we have a larger audience for negative (& positive) feedback than non-forum users.

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:52 pm
by vamootsman
jon_l wrote:Mine was delivered on a brand-new Honda seat pan, in the Honda box it came in. Everything shiny & clean.

Image

I was looking at buying one of their seats, but that pic looks like the hump is still there, just without the bolt holes

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:53 pm
by sendler2112
Might as well do it yourself as I did. You will end up having to cut their hump out just the same as yours.

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:50 pm
by tbln930
My MP.Motor seat was modded and has no hump in the base.

Re: PowerbyPCX seat surprise

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:18 pm
by vamootsman
Just got back from a local upholstery shop. Dropping the seat off Monday to have it recoverd with nose built up about an inch and witih an new black vinyl cover with some red stitching in the sides. I'm doing the humpectomy before I take it to them.