seat report!

This week Tom & I took a ride to sheep's bridge.. it was a total of about 250 miles, with a lot of freeway, winding, bumpy dirt roads, & some really gnarly boulder field crossings.  How did my seat work, you might ask..  Well, i think i have found a very good balance for riding long rides mixed with technical terrain.  This ride had both, & this seat fit the bill.  I hardly thought about it, except when marveling at how comfortable my behind was at the end of the day.  On the long easy stretches, i slid back in the seat & sat in comfort.  In the gnarly sections, i slid forward & had an easy reach to the ground.

Here's a pic Tom took of me going down the rocky section after the bridge.  I'm slid forward & can 'paddle' with my feet & stay steady.

I thought earlier that i might trim some of the back off & make it a bit narrower.. but now i think i'll leave it alone.. My bottom isn't that tiny & it really likes the room.

I also noticed the bumps didn't make me stand as much.. at least the bumps you get on long dirt roads ~ 40mph.  The seat soaks them up, & the combination of the gel pad, the foam under, the kydex pan, & the closed cell bottom foam all disperse the vibration.

I don't think i'll need a sheepskin cover.. this is the best motorcycle seat i've ever sat on.. compared to any custom seat & i've sat on a few.

new seat profile

Here's some pics of the seat after tweaking it some.. it is more level now, & is more comfortable in the riding position.  I don't think i needed to make it as wide as i did.. my tiny little bottom could have fit into a smaller bowl.  Perhaps if i take it apart i might shrink it more.  But the height & basic shape are satisfactory.

rox riser, alloy high bars

I've had these on for a while, but haven't described them much.  I wanted higher bars for standing & sitting back in the seat on long rides.  I also wanted a lighter, stronger  bar than stock.  I picked up a set of 7/8" rox risers on ebay, & i had a high bar.  The main problem was getting everything to fit.  The longer bar meant the throttle tube wouldn't fit, nor the clutch cable or turn signal assembly.  I cut 1" off the ends of the bars.. that made them a little narrower, but not too much.  The bike still handles fine.  I had to re route the clutch cable to the inside of the bars, instead of to the front & outside.  I also had to loosen & stretch the wires going to the turn signal assembly.

I put everything on before attaching the bar to the risers, & put the risers in line with the forks.  I didn't need them to tilt back any more, & like the feel of the bars being in line with the forks.

Here you can see the throttle tube turned down.

The clutch cable had to be routed behind the triple clamp.

I've been on several long rides with this setup, & am pretty happy with it.  It's fine on long cruises, & also in tight, technical riding.

fine tuning seat..

I took the seat out for a ride.. it seemed to slope forward too much, so i removed the cover, pulled off the seat, cut down the blue foam base & added some strips of the blue foam pad so it was more level.  I raised it about 1 1/2" in the front, & it lowered about 1/2" in the back.  There is more of a pronounced 'step' in the seat.  I'll get some pics on later to illustrate it.

I still haven't done any long rides on it.. just local errands.  I'll report more when i get more saddle time on it.