Maybe it’s because dual-sport riders are supposed to spend a lot of time standing on the pegs while picking their way over rocks and between trees, but the tall and narrow seats on dual-sports are usually pretty awful for longer, sit-down rides. The seat on Kawasaki’s KLR650 is shaped like a loaf of bread and offers about as much support, and for many riders it’s the yardstick that measures how far they can go on the highway before they need a break. If you have to clock a lot of miles on the slab before you get to the fun stuff, Sargent’s World Sport Adventure Touring Seat can make them more comfortable.
The World Sport seat is built on an injection-molded PolyTec base pan so there’s no downtime waiting for it to arrive. The entire seat is very light, and the one I got was a perfect fit using the stock hardware and mounting points. The cover is made of a UV-stabilized marine-grade vinyl that’s hand sewn and, Sargent says, virtually maintenance free.
I’m rehabbing an old KLR650 so I ordered the plain black cover without any options like the color-coordinated welt or the heated upgrade. (If you could see the bike you’d know that kind of flash would be wasted.) Under the cover is some kind of magic stuff Sargent calls Super Cell Atomic Foam. Looking at the seat, especially the Low version I ordered, you’d think it would be like sitting on a bus bench—but it isn’t, not even a little. It feels a bunch better than the stock seat and doesn’t make me squirm after a stint of highway riding.
It doesn’t get in the way while standing up on the pegs in the tight stuff, either, as it’s no wider in front than the stock seat. The rear is slightly wider than stock for more even pressure distribution on highway rides. There’s a slight pocket near the front that taller riders might wish were farther back, but if you slide rearward a bit you get some lower back support from the raised rear section.
Overall, I give the World Sport KLR seat the highest compliment I can to any product, which is that while I was out riding I forgot what I was testing. That’s how well and unobtrusively the World Sport does its job. Two heights are available, a Regular with a seat height of 34.6 inches (stock is 34.7) and a Low at 32.7 inches. The base Low and Regular, with no options, sell for $369.95 and fit ’91-and-later KLRs (except C models) and come with an extended manufacturer’s warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
