long hard ride

[hdofdc]

1,169 miles last week. Nashville,Tn to Tellico Plains,Tn and hit the Cherhala Skyway. Cherhala Skyway to The Dragon, <road the Dragon both ways 2 times> The Dragon to Blue Ridge Parkway, Blue Ridge Parkway to Boone,NC, Boone to Shady Valley,Tn. Awesome roads especially 421 to Shady Valley.
Bristol Virginia to Morristown, Tn to stay with a brother overnight. Morristown to Dickson,Tn with no interstate travel all two lane roads and finally back home. My a%% was killing me! It was two days before I could ride the bike again even after the gel pad and memory foam upgrade I put in the seat!!!!!!
If the M50 had a decent seat from the factory I could ride the Ironbutt no problem!
I am seriously looking at the new Vstar 1300. It seem to have a decent seat on it. Don't really need the displacement that much in the engine as much as I need the room and seat. I own an 8N Ford tractor that I can ride all day with no distress while bushhogging. I have been looking into putting that seat on my M50 to get some relief!

[profane]

I don't use a seat.... just a fiberglass mold of the frame...going on three weeks because I can't find the time to cover it... it is actually comfortable.

[Clint]

Good ride. So you did it in 2 days?

I think most seat issues are resolved through conditioning. Most people would have trouble sitting for 18 hours at a crack on anything short of a la-z-boy.

[NateHarris]

Its funny you mention that because I thought the same thing. So I start reshaping the foam in my seat (it's real thick) to mimic the seat pan of the old tractors, because I too think they are very comfortable. The biggest problem is that the seat isn't really wide enough to mimic the seat pan. You can get much closer just by carving it, but it won't be a duplicate. It made a H.E.L.L. of a difference.

[hdofdc]

3 day ride. I had to stop too many times on the way back to make any real time or distance. At the last of the ride I was stopping every 40 miles just to get off the butt. I also stood up at every red light and wished they would stay red a little longer!
I too reshaped my seat with an electric knife. I also cut a hole in the center and installed a gel pad then covered the top of the gel pad with a memory foam pillow I got at Wally world to protect from the gels heat on a sunny day. I took what was left of the pillow and covered the back lip of the seat to try and added padding where I had cut out the plastic hump. I added the Johns kit to allow myself to stretch out and sit more on the forward part of the seat thinking that would take care of the butt burn but while it is better it is still not enough. When I am sitting on the seat with the twins resting on the gas tank, I can feel the passenger seat hitting the top of my rear. The seat is just too short and too narrow. With a better seat and rear disc brakes, I could keep this bike forever.

[Clint]

Yeah, if you're squeezed in there, you don't have much room to change your position. I can move quite a bit on the Bandit's longish saddle. Of course, I've already forgotten what you ride because you haven't filled out your profile yet.