Comfy seat?

[mjseymo]

Dear All,

 

I'm enjoying riding my 2001 V11 after various bits have been rebuilt but I do find the seat uncomfortable for medium to long distances. Has anyone had any success in modifying or having an alternative made that makes it slightly more berable?

 

All best,

 

 

Martin

[JBBenson]

Yes.

 

The seat tray on my Sport had a sharp edged molding to accommodate the battery, and I could feel the edges after riding for more than 30 minutes.

 

Solution: lower the battery a little bit, flatten the seat tray and modify the foam a little until I was happy. Took a couple of trips to the upholsterer to get it right.

[fotoguzzi]

I'm 5'10, had a Corbin but I was too short for the fit.. if your 6'+ it would probably be excellent!

[Scud]

Have you tried wearing some padded bicycle shorts on longer rides? That's a cheap, quick, and easy solution that works for me.

[Chuck]

Works for me. I was on a trip with Pete one time, and asked why he didn't wear them. He just gave me "the look" and asked if could imagine what he'd look like in those (colorful expletives) things.

[footgoose]

I've sung it's praises before. Get a piece of sheep skin with the heavy wool on. I use it for all lengthy rides. Vents, sheds water.

Some think it's ugly.

[Lucky Phil]

Have you tried wearing some padded bicycle shorts on longer rides? That's a cheap, quick, and easy solution that works for me.

Praise the lord, I've been prosecuting the cause for these for years and this is the first time anyone has confirmed my suggestions. Why the hell spend a fortune on an ugly and heavy Corbin seat or lambs wool cover when a relatively cheap pair of cycling nicks are better.

 

Ciao

[Lucky Phil]

Works for me. I was on a trip with Pete one time, and asked why he didn't wear them. He just gave me "the look" and asked if could imagine what he'd look like in those (colorful expletives) things.

Did you tell him Chuck you dont wear them on the outside?

 

Ciao 

[Chuck]

He's so vain..

[PJPR01]

Moto Skiveez are specifically designed for Moto riders - basically a bike short with padding in the right places.  Add some Monkey Butt powder for extra comfort!  

 

AirHawk (properly inflated) and / or thin Sheepskin on top 

 

Cover it all with a King of Fleece water proof seat cover and you've got all day riding comfort...

 

Layers help and you can adjust where the pressure points are to relieve some of the pain that arises after time on the stock seat.

 

of course, flexing the gluteals while riding also helps...just squeeze and pucker and that takes some of the tension away!  

[swooshdave]

 

of course, flexing the gluteals while riding also helps...just squeeze and pucker and that takes some of the tension away!  

Usually brain dead cagers provide enough pucker time.

[Skeeve]

. Has anyone had any success in modifying or having an alternative made that makes it slightly more berable?

 

You can get a custom seat made, or you can remove the stock cover and foam, roughen/texturize the TPM seat base to provide some "tooth" and then apply some Bondo to smooth out all the sharp corners underneath the foam. Foam ultimately just compresses until you're sitting on the seat pan, so starting with a smooth seat pan is literally more than 1/2 the battle [maybe 3/4?] to distance riding comfort.

 

I stumbled upon this truth years ago when trying to figure out why it was that the bikes back in the '70s all had crappy seats that never received the bitter complaints of the modern bikes that come from the factory with fancy, swoopy "speshuuul" saddles. Yet the '70s seats were literally nothing more than a stamped steel pan, a usually abysmally thin layer of foam and some vinyl sheet to top it off! Hmmm... Those steel seat pans, they're just flat & smooth; all the corners have to be smoothly radiused or you'll punch thru the steel. And hey, wait a minute: that TPM seat base on my nifty modern ricer: it's all smooth on the bottom, but it's plastic: it has to have some sort of reinforcing grid or the damn thing would be too flexible to use! Where'd they put it? [Dismantles seat] Oh! Those fuckwits put the waffle grid on the top side of the plastic seat pan where the foam eventually collapses & your bum can sit nicely on a fakir's bed of nails! Wheee!

 

Never understood that: who cares what the bottom of the seat looks like? But obviously the J-brand engineers must have had some directive to make it "look nice," so hang the rider comfort, let's put the smooth side of the plastic seat base where it does absolutely nobody any good! And where they led, the rest of the industry followed.

 

The V11 seat pan is really much too thick & heavy, because it doesn't have much of a reinforcing grid at all, so they had to make the plastic thicker to compensate. OTOH, there's a nice, square edged recess right in the middle where the rider sits for the battery to reside. Tried heating it up and squishing the pointiest bits flat, and put a little Bondo on to smooth the rest of it over, but never got around to reassembling the seat because I scored a deal on a Bill Whassname* seat here on the forum & never finished the project.

 

 

* Sorry, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the guy here in the States that used to be the go-to for a custom Guzzi seat for anyone here on V11LM or Wild Guzzi forums. He left the seat biz due to poor health a few years ago [which sux for me, because his lifetime guarantee on the texturized seat vinyl that's failed is now not much good to me... sigh] UPDATE: Maund! His name was Rich Maund...

[Kiwi_Roy]

Is that Rich of Rich seats West of Seattle near Whidbey Island, my riding buddy has had two seats done there in last couple of years, he's very happy with the results.

They even have a motel on-site where you can stay while they finish the seat.

I believe they use your old pan.

 

 

www.richscustomseats.com