Comfy seat?

[Boofhead]

G'day all,
Here in the land of Oz we tend to travel big miles often. It's not unusual for us to do 300 miles (480 K's) on an days ride.
Yesterday I rode to Kempsey which is a 160 mile round trip with my brother (he rides an RSVR, I want the little pricks swingarm...lol) to watch the Akubra classic. The classic is a flat track event which had the likes of Troy Bayliss & Jason Crump racing.
I dunno about you blokes but my Rap gives me the sorest butt cheeks after a while. I'm 5'11" and have owned a couple of Monsters before the Rap and they never gave me such a sore butt even though they are very similar in ride position.
Does anyone else have this problem and have found a remedy to at least slow down the onset of pain? Corben don't seem to make a seat for Raps & a lambs wool cover doesn't really help either. Maybe it's a matter of adjusting the riding position??
Any help would be great as we are planning to ride to next years Phillip Island MotoGp and that's 965 miles (1540k's) one way!!

Cheers from Boofhead

P.S. Yeah I know, I could drink a cup of concrete and harden the f@#k up!!...lol

[snapdragon]

has the seat cover hardened? It does seem to with time, I originally thought the foam was suspect but found it to be just the cover -(maybe because mine was parked a lot in the sun when at work) could be worth getting it re-covered and maybe add a gel pad or comfort foam on top of the original foam as well since you have the height to not worry about feet meeting the floor by adding depth to the seat.

I slide back in the saddle sometimes on a long run - and have been known to perch on the pillion edge too - but only with a full tank! Lambswool does help comfort for me at least when it's dry weather.

[Spyke]

Over here in Wait Awhile we usually do 4-500km/day which isn't too bad, 600 can be a bit tiring and I find myself moving back and forward in the seat a lot, just to get a different bit sore, for a change. Got a friend who's a serious Iron Butter who swears by her Air Hawk (Oz made), but also had someone else whinge about theirs as it was like trying to sit on a space hopper. Sounds like theirs might have been pumped up too hard though. Bought one of these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/400348620923 a while back, been meaning to try it out, I reckon it would be a good and cheap way of finding out if the Air Hawk would be likely to help - 100mph tape it to your seat, for $3 including postage it's worth a shot! Let us know how you go?

[shedmonkey]

The seat is bad even with a gel pad fitted .I did the stalla rally in the alps a couple of years back and got blisters and that was moving around a lot and standing up as much as i dare aaaaaaarrrrrgggghhh. Not fun .Airhawk is probably the answer although some people do swear by sheepskin.

[Miz]

I've had gel pads fitted by Tony Archer and can manage 300 mile days without too many issues, my last trip out was a week of 300 mile days round Scotland.

[Raptoress]

I've roughly sewn some foam underneath my sheepskin, this seems to work.

i've ridden 1300kms in a day, two days in a row, and altho i was tired my girlie bits were fine.

i guess it would work for a bloke as well

[Red Mist]

I've done a few 400-mile days and been ok (obviously stopping every 100 miles for fuel and 200 miles for a cuppa).

I do get numb bot after a couple of hundred miles but it's not as bad as a few other bikes I've been on. I put that down to getting soft in my old age rather than the bike.

[Bear of Little Brain]

I bought a gel-pad seat from some "specialist" in bum-pain relief. It came inside a nice little pouch with long velcro bits to go under the seat. Total waste of money, as it turned out. And it wasn't cheap.

The stitching tore where the velcro was attached to the pouch and riding with the thing was like sitting on a big, flat blancmange. (I think "blancmange" may date me – as in the temporal rather than romantic sense, that is. ) Probably ideal for Harley riders, but total loss of any proper feel or precise control on the Raptor.

So I thought about it a bit and came up with the idea of a pair of cycling shorts. They have a thin layer of padding down in the crotch/bum area. I figured today's sporty cyclists must have a real pain-in-the-lower-regions problem. (Unlike my experience with the fat, wide seats with the two springs at the back that my old cow-barred, heavy, steel-framed Raleigh came with and which served me so well for all those years as a paperboy. And after all those years as a boy, then teenager, cycling everywhere, delivering papers, then delivering groceries – think David Jason in "Open All Hours" – a bicycle has absolutely no attraction to me. But I digress). So off I went to Halfords/Halford's/Halfords' (bloody apostrophes/apostrophe's/apostrophes').

"Largest you've got, please, my man."

"That'll be the 38" waist, then, sir."

(Of course, "Sir" from a Halfords/'s/s' assistant is a bit of a giveaway that I'm making this conversation up, isn't it?)

38" waist!!! I hadn't been expecting a corset for my 40"-42" Bear-of-Little-Brain-waisted body, but there you go… Still, it wasn't anything like the price of that gel pad thing. And I do think this pair of shorts does the job.

Anyway, it certainly improved my riding distance. Admittedly, I only ever go for about 100 miles at a stretch, so cannot vouch for the really long distance stuff. However, serious bum-ache used to set in at about 60 miles. Now I just feel as if I've had a ride at 100 miles. That need to give yourself a bit of a rest and walk about for a while, if you know what I mean. And, being so tight, it does have the added advantages of being a bit like a kidney belt while I'm on the bike and of taking a stone off my weight in the motorway services mirrors. But you do have to use the cubicles… The pair that I bought have no access at the front, if you know what I mean. I suppose sporty cyclist types don't have any surplus moisture to dispose of.

Ooh! Just checked Amazon. This is a whole new world of fetish, it would seem:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keyw ... v288nmlv_b

Wotevva. It's a cheap option and worth a try, IMHO.

[shedmonkey]

I like your style bear you should become a writer ,interesting and informative(maybe too much)

[snapdragon]

sheepskin

[Red Mist]

Went for a ride on my new BMW F800ST at the weekend. Did a 400 mile coast to coast run with a few other bikes. I can definitely say that the BMW seat is no comfier than the Rap's. I was squirming around a fair bit about 3/4 of the way through the journey.

Like I say though, this may be me getting soft. I've got no intentions of doing any 'Iron Butt' rallies anytime soon!

[Bear of Little Brain]

I like your style bear you should become a writer ,interesting and informative(maybe too much)

Thanks, Shed. But it's more of an affectation. Or affliction. Or both.

So, guess which is my style, Shed. I think "bar" means "bear" here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R07cCydCeY

The Dude abides.

[Jayjayridge]

pmsl bought a pair of shorts like the ones above as i cycle everyday to work. wear them on the rap too. very comfy very errrrrmm "supportive" they do feel odd to walk in and i get the fettish comments off the other half, when she has finished laughing at me and informing me that they are like shapers? underwear, but for guys

[turbomart]

I also find the seat a bit uncomfortable after awhile. Ive tried a airhawk but the need to constantly push back away from the tank negates any extra comfort. I am planning on re-shaping the seat so it doesnt slope towards the tank and maybe a layer of softer foam. I think the biggest problem is the shape, mainly the downhill slope.