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Options for improving seats

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Manfred said:
My skinny butt simply ain't made for riding a motorcycle. I have tried numerous add-on cushions with very limited results. I currently have an air-cushion topped by a "Butt Buffer" (medical grade gel). I can go about 3 hours before I am hurting. Can't see spending $600 on a Saaddlemen's seat.

Wondering if any Two Wheeled Texans have experience with Bob Pena and his Steel Horse Saddles. He's local and it would be a lot easier to ride to Liberty Hill than to go to Kaliphornia.
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I've heard good things about Bob's work. Finding a local guy is always better because you can actually show up and have him shave or pad the foam while you're sitting on it. Much better than playing shipping tag with a seat from California that might not even fix the problem.
 
ponoru202 said:
I've heard good things about Bob's work. Finding a local guy is always better because you can actually show up and have him shave or pad the foam while you're sitting on it. Much better than playing shipping tag with a seat from California that might not even fix the problem.
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I've heard mixed reviews and, when I spoke to Bob on the phone, I was not convinced he is the man for the job. I need a wider seat - something similar to a tractor seat. It appears Bob simply shaves off foam and adds foam or gel.
 
Spent some more time talking with Bob Pena at Texas Steel Horse Saddles. He is not up to making the modifications I need. So I am more convinced to go with Steve Going.
 
...a year or 2 ago brother and I were up at Steve's place in Ft Collins
...he had this Russell on his own bike that he had refurbished
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Kiyoti said:
...a year or 2 ago brother and I were up at Steve's place in Ft Collins
...he had this Russell on his own bike that he had refurbished
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Nice! I'm shipping my seat to him on 3 June. Need only the front seat modified.
 
Steve received my seat today; called me to talk about the process. He sent me a picture of several materials to recover the seat. :pirate:
 
ponoru202 said:
I've heard good things about Bob's work. Finding a local guy is always better because you can actually show up and have him shave or pad the foam while you're sitting on it. Much better than playing shipping tag with a seat from California that might not even fix the problem.
Click to expand...
I’ve been making and reupholstering seats for about 40-years. I never could find an aftermarket seat or add-on pad that worked for me. Many gave me a little more comfort or more accurately gave me a little more time before the pain set in.

In ‘06 I bought an ‘04 BMW, R1100S. It had/has (still riding an ‘04 BCR) the hardest, worst contour seat I have ever ridden.

I could stand only 75-miles. 100-miles was torture. I developed a variable-pressure air pad for it.

The first version was made from a hunter’s tree stand pad which is filled with porous and permeable foam and has a valve allowing more or less air to be added to supplement the foam’s cushioning.

To this valve I grafted a Camelback drink tube. The Camelback has a mechanical lever-valve. The hose is long enough to reach the left grip’s cluster.

Riding on the seat is very comfortable. Now I am able to do 700-mile days. I believe the reason the pad is so comfortable is that the variable-cushioning allows for changing the contact patch size and location. But even more important is that the top surface of the pad moves laterally through 360° while the bottom surface sticks to the seat. This eliminates the shear normally happening to one’s butt.

A drawback is it is very much like standing on a beach ball. The triumvirate of feet, butt and hands is lost. And with this goes some control. Coupled with making the seat taller (the BCR is very tall), serious tiptoeing is necessary.

That the seat is adjustable from the left handlebar allows for complete deflation quickly. This allows better maneuvering at any speed.

The foam will self-rise with the valve open and no weight on the pad; standing on the pegs. I added a blow tube upstream of the valve lever making it possible to blow air in to quicken the fill and to add more air than the foam expanding can provide.

For the second version I used a Thermarest pillow in a Gore-Tex sleeve with a seat strap. It’s a cleaner look and the pad’s footprint is smaller.

I’ve also found I could push the pad aft with my butt and be able to sit directly on the bike’s seat for maneuvering without deflating the pad.

Version 3; a 12vdc powered air pump-controlled pad I will probably never fabricate for the simple reason that the manual-version works fine.

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I've tried all sorts of pads - none of which solved the problem. I need wider support, to spread the load to my thigh muscles and relieve some of the load off my "sitting bones."
 
IOM TT said:
I’ve been making and reupholstering seats for about 40-years. I never could find an aftermarket seat or add-on pad that worked for me. Many gave me a little more comfort or more accurately gave me a little more time before the pain set in.

In ‘06 I bought an ‘04 BMW, R1100S. It had/has (still riding an ‘04 BCR) the hardest, worst contour seat I have ever ridden.

I could stand only 75-miles. 100-miles was torture. I developed a variable-pressure air pad for it.

The first version was made from a hunter’s tree stand pad which is filled with porous and permeable foam and has a valve allowing more or less air to be added to supplement the foam’s cushioning.

To this valve I grafted a Camelback drink tube. The Camelback has a mechanical lever-valve. The hose is long enough to reach the left grip’s cluster.

Riding on the seat is very comfortable. Now I am able to do 700-mile days. I believe the reason the pad is so comfortable is that the variable-cushioning allows for changing the contact patch size and location. But even more important is that the top surface of the pad moves laterally through 360° while the bottom surface sticks to the seat. This eliminates the shear normally happening to one’s butt.

A drawback is it is very much like standing on a beach ball. The triumvirate of feet, butt and hands is lost. And with this goes some control. Coupled with making the seat taller (the BCR is very tall), serious tiptoeing is necessary.

That the seat is adjustable from the left handlebar allows for complete deflation quickly. This allows better maneuvering at any speed.

The foam will self-rise with the valve open and no weight on the pad; standing on the pegs. I added a blow tube upstream of the valve lever making it possible to blow air in to quicken the fill and to add more air than the foam expanding can provide.

For the second version I used a Thermarest pillow in a Gore-Tex sleeve with a seat strap. It’s a cleaner look and the pad’s footprint is smaller.

I’ve also found I could push the pad aft with my butt and be able to sit directly on the bike’s seat for maneuvering without deflating the pad.

Version 3; a 12vdc powered air pump-controlled pad I will probably never fabricate for the simple reason that the manual-version works fine.

View attachment 456139

View attachment 456140







IMG_0340.jpeg


IMG_0339.jpeg
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The R1100S was my favorite bike in 41 years worth of bikes. I put 160k miles on that stock seat. Just goes to show that all butts are not created equal. I can honestly say that I've never owned a bike with a seat my butt didn't agree with. I guess my butt is perfect. :lol2: :moon:

Where in Cincinnati are you now?
 
Manfred said:
I've tried all sorts of pads - none of which solved the problem. I need wider support, to spread the load to my thigh muscles and relieve some of the load off my "sitting bones."
Click to expand...
The bicycle industry made massive strides in comfort (and cooling) with the split left and right pads and a channel to relieve pressure points. I don't know why the MC world can't do better and learn a little from the bicycle world.
 
X1Glider said:
The bicycle industry made massive strides in comfort (and cooling) with the split left and right pads and a channel to relieve pressure points. I don't know why the MC world can't do better and learn a little from the bicycle world.
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MC world knows a lot about seats and but its more about styles

Look at Kawasaki and HD police bike seats where form follows function.

My problem with most bikes is a result of my height 6'4" and inseam ~35". Those metrics usually place my knees even or above my butt, rotating my hip off the "sit" bones to the tail bone. My most comfortable bike is my FLHP - wide tall suspension seat - feet forward on floor boats (knees even with butt) OR feet waaay forward on highway pegs (lazy boy position). Optimized suspension that is not 'lowered" works wonders. I have other bikes that are less comfortable, even some with RDL seats, simply due to the fact there are not multiple leg positions.


2013 up FLHP seat with coil-over damper suspension
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KZ1000P seat
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I like my feet under my hips - easier to stand up for whatever I may want to do so. But the broader support - like a tractor seat - is what I'm after.
 
X1Glider said:
The R1100S was my favorite bike in 41 years worth of bikes. I put 160k miles on that stock seat. Just goes to show that all butts are not created equal. I can honestly say that I've never owned a bike with a seat my butt didn't agree with. I guess my butt is perfect. :lol2: :moon:

Where in Cincinnati are you now?
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Madeira, are you in Cincinnati?
 
IOM TT said:
Madeira, are you in Cincinnati?
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Not for a number of decades. I used to live in Milford, Day Heights more specifically. But I know Madeira. The school there was on our soccer circuit. Revisited a couple years ago when I bought my Guzzi in Blue Ash.
 
X1Glider said:
The bicycle industry made massive strides in comfort (and cooling) with the split left and right pads and a channel to relieve pressure points. I don't know why the MC world can't do better and learn a little from the bicycle world.
Click to expand...
Saddleman makes a seat like that, but reviews on it were pretty mixed. And of course they only made if for Harleys.
 
Maverick2076 said:
Saddleman makes a seat like that, but reviews on it were pretty mixed. And of course they only made if for Harleys.
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Saddleman got some of the most mixed reviews I've read. For me, it boiled down to Russell Day Long or Steve Going.
 
X1Glider said:
Not for a number of decades. I used to live in Milford, Day Heights more specifically. But I know Madeira. The school there was on our soccer circuit. Revisited a couple years ago when I bought my Guzzi in Blue Ash.
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I know Enzo well (he lived in Madeira as a kid). Met him at Tristate BMW.
 
IOM TT said:
I know Enzo well (he lived in Madeira as a kid). Met him at Tristate BMW.
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X1, The X1 was Pee Wee Herman’s bike in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (best biker movie ever). My Red and Yellow K1 had “PWS X1” for a license plate. Don’t have the bike anymore, but I still have the plate.

One winter day I tried to beat the snow home from work in Springdale. Didn’t quite. I was riding about ten feet behind a semi to get a wet patch instead of snow on I71. When I got home I turned on the radio while I got out of my gear. Heard a guy call in to a talk show and say, “I just saw a guy who should get the Darwin Award; he was riding a red and yellow motorcycle on 71”.

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