Comfy seat

[PADDYTFIELD]

Hi
Probably been done to death but here goes.
After a hundred miles or so my backside feels like I ve just regained consciousness in a Turkish prison only to discover I’m now called “the pretty one.
I ride a 1200 Triumph Tiger Explorer,I have tried an Airhawk and it was horrible,and yes I know it’s meant to be practically deflated but it just didn’t work.
Spent a large amount on a Touratech seat which was too slippery and the angle was all wrong,I had the front set to high and the rear set to normal but the seat was too wide and made putting a foot down awkward.
At the moment I have a chunk of sheepskin strapped to a Triumph heated seat which I believe is a comfort seat with a heating element in and it seems to be the best result so far,did 3500 miles around France/Spain in May including. 310 mile overnighter from Portsmouth to Scarborough and it certainly increased my duration between rest stops.
I have also tried cycle shorts and I have just purchased from the ABR shop a pair of Motoskivvies for a price I would normally only pay for underwear if Jessica Alba had previously owned them.
Any ideas.
Cheers Paddy

[DavidS]

I, almost literally, feel your pain.
A mere 120 miles on my new-to-me Husky 450 on Saturday, with gel padded cycling shorts, was horrendous for the last 20 miles.
I am looking at a bespoke rebuild with wider and comfier padding.
So far got a quote today for £160 locally (Hastings) but Sussex Motorcycles (near Brighton) are suggesting around £85 with memory foam so will be calling them this afternoon.
Many bike seats are, I am sure, are designed for style, not comfort.
My 690 enduro standard seat seems fine for around 150 miles but it is definitely not so knife shaped or so firm.

I remember way back in the 70's and 80's on my Bonnevilles doing quite a few miles standing up when on holiday as the padding was awful.
Maybe not so much excuse for it nowadays but there must still be issues or these aftermarket seats or cushions wouldn't be so popular.

Seeing you're north Yorkshire by the looks of it, try Motorcycle Seat Works in Bradford.
They rebuilt my KTM 950 SM and 400 EXC seats beautifully.

[RichP]

I can thoroughly recommend Bootleg Bike Seats in Preston. They modified the seat on my KTM 500 EXC and I've just done a 2000 trip around Europe including a couple of 300 mile days and it was fine. They were really helpful and very reasonably priced.

[zimtim]

As you've already got the sheepskin why not get a £5 self inflating stadium seat and put that underneath the sheepskin.
Works wonders and I find ideal on the KTM especially on long days.

[Redmurty]

https://seat-concepts.myshopify.com/

I have used these for my DR with great effect may be worth a punt

cheers Spud

[herman]

I have been riding bikes for a bit and not one single bike I have ever owned could I call comfortable for anything over 250 miles. Botox in the arse might work?

[Jak*]

I find it unbelievable that we accept this shit from bike manufacturers. Bikes that I have ridden with comfortable seats (by which I mean 500 mile day comfortable): Suzuki GS 550 and 850, ex Police R80/7 and R100/7, CX500, Guzzi California III, MZ 250s. All where great for long trips, all were made in the 1980s. Thirty years later with all the technology and modern materials manufacturers sell us bikes with seats that are just about capable of going to the chip shop and back, then have the audacity to sell comfort seats. It would be great to see someone take them to court for false advertising or under the construction and use regulations. When you buy a car you do not get offered a comfort option or have the choice to buy an airhawk. A friend briefly owned a Versys 300, even just to sit on it was uncomfortable yet it is supposed to be an adventure bike, I have ridden trials bikes with more comfortable seats. After complaining about the seat on my CCM they replaced it and the new one is just about comfortable for the tank range of about 200 miles. I think I could get it taken apart and put back together with memory foam and gel for about a hundred quid. The cost to CCM of doing the job properly in the first place would probably be more like thirty, the cost to a company like Triumph or BMW of fitting all their bikes with proper seats would probably be about a tenner each. We are being ripped off. I think they should make all the company executives ride their products for a minimum of four hundred miles before they are allowed to sell them.
Cheers Jak

[catcitrus]

My Tiger 1050 has something resembling a horse saddle--and is comfortable. My Yam WR250R was ok--but not for adventure touring. I went for a seat concepts foam and cover from the US--it uses the same base--Bulgaria and back and hardly an ache--it can be done ! I agree that "dual sports" from the late 80s and 90s were/are comfortable--before the styling police took over and form /looks goes ahead of function.

[BIG DON]

I would agree that the older 70's 80's had proper seats and comfortable [although the seat bases rotted ] To me it seems its all due to style remove the stylists and put a proper seat on these machines, saying that my new to me Buell has a very wide and plush seat so no problems on this one yet.


D

[garyboy]

the most comfy seat I ever rode was my old fireblade 954 seat.
no really .. It was flat and firm but supportive, despite being only about 2" thick inc the base.
It thus stopped soft seat penetration into the Turkish Delight regions

it was the opposite of Big John (big bad Johnn) .. "kinda narrow at the shoulders and broad at the hips"
and so kept the inner thighs loose and supported the bum bones, thus keeping the pretty boy smile ever shining