Submitted by Marcel van Vilsteren
(As background to this technique, Marcel had acquired a 1997 ex-Police ST1100, but was unable to remove the seat; turning the key in the seat latch lock was having no effect, and it was thought that the cable had been removed. Being reluctant to break anything, he devised this method of seat removal without forcing the lock.)
- Starting on the LH side of the bike, unscrew the bottom Philips-type bolt that holds the LH side cover (the cover underneath the seat)
- Unscrew the 4 bolts of the passenger grab-handles on the top of the rear plastic cover. (A caveat here - because my ST is an ex-police bike and does not have these handles installed, this step may be somewhat difficult. The tricky bolt in this action is the one that is used to attach the front side of the passenger grab-handle. If you can not reach this bolt using a flat open-end wrench/spanner or if you can only undo it partially it might be difficult. I would suggest rotating the grab-handle outward using the front mounting bolt as a pivot. I would try to set the grab-handle to as much of an angle as possible to the bikes mid-center plane.)
- If you are fortunate enough to have no passenger grab-handles, like on my bike, this step can be skipped and it will "save your ass" (or at least the seat and lock on which that ass will sit).
- Pull up the seat firmly on the LH side. Try to lift the complete LH edge of the seat as high as you can.
- Whilst pulling up the seat on that side, pull the side cover (the one under the seat) carefully outward at the back edge. Be careful not to break off the plastic mounting points (one on the top and one on the bottom at the back of the cover). If you pull too hard on the top side of the side cover, the bottom mounting pin is bent and could easily break off. The same applies to the other mounting point.
- When the side cover is pulled away on the back side, you can then reach the front mounting bolt of the rear plastic cover and take that one out.
- Perform steps 3 up to and including step 6 for the RH side as well.
- Remove the 2 screws of the rear plastic cover located on the bottom near the underside of the rear light.
- Now the rear cover can be removed, after disconnecting the connector of the rear light unit from the main harness.
- Carefully bend away the plastic part that divides the "under-seat-compartment" from the back of the rear light unit. This plastic part is normally used to cover the rear light unit when you open the seat normally. (This is made so that it can be "folded" out of the way when bulbs need replacing, so it is able to "hinge")
- Underneath the small sheet metal crossbar in the frame, the lock mechanism is located, and this can be opened with a screwdriver.
I discovered that on my bike the cable was still present (I misjudged a cable-eye of the old police electrics for the lock-eye of the release cable). However, the cable had popped out of the holder which is welded on the bottom side of the small sheet metal crossbar. It felt as though there was no cable attached because I was hauling the complete cable back and forth whilst turning the release lock on the side of the bike.
I've put the cable back in its position and it now works perfectly.