The trials and tribulations of an arse

[shez1]

As it is my arse this comparison is subjective. My arse supports 15 stones.

BMW has in my experience never managed to make a comfortable seat. The worse I remember was my R100/7 when they put a first aid kit under your crown jewels! I am now on my 5th 1200 oil head and have tried a few seats and following are a few observations.

1. The standard seat with my 2012 is as bad as the other 4 standard seats. The steady development of the bike through the years does not apply to the seat it seems. As a comparative and technical method of measuring comfort, I will talk about the jiffle point. On the standard seat it starts at around 70 miles.

2. I bought a re-upholstered seat off this parish with no identifiable marks, but suspect it is the work of a well know motorcycle upholsterer. It uses the standard seat pan. An improvement over standard and a jiffle point of 150 miles.

3. I returned to a Sargent seat, knowing they are comfortable. Yet another improvement. Jiffle point starts as I need fuel, around 190 miles. The jiffle point reduces as the day progresses. Many 1000’s of miles using this seat.

4. Recently a Corbin seat came up for sale on this parish. I had one on an 1150gs and found it to be excellent and luckily they still are. Jiffle point not reached in the month I have had it. Trips to Scotland, Wales and 3 consecutive days of 8 hour riding have so far failed to produce jiffle. On the down side, the seat is one inch higher than standard (as it is wider), putting me onto the balls of my feet (33 inch inside leg). The seat is heavier. Only one height setting is available, it uses a different seat pan from the others. It is leather, with all the advantages and disadvantages this brings.

5. Also tried an Airhawk. If you minimise the air inside they don’t affect the seat height much and are an improvement, but my arse did not like the feel of it. I really ought to sell it.

Conclusion: The Corbin will be for my long trips and seat 2 will be used for day to day running. Sargent will be in “for sale” shortly. Watch that space if interested.

 

[Blackblade-rry]

Interesting to hear your observations, as I too have tried various seats, and have yet to find that elusive comfortable place for my derriere, although to be fair I haven’t tried the Corbin.
I started out on the OEM low seat, and found it crippling on long trips. Then followed a 90th Anniversary standard height, modified by Tony Archer with a gel pad, which was an improvement, but not the full desired effect.
I’m now on a Sargeant, as many seem to find it solves the issue, but for me it’s still not all day comfort, although again a step forward.
Perhaps I need to see if I have a Corbin shaped arse?

 

[weealwyn]

it must be the extra padding I have built in to my arse but I find the seat on my 08 GSA alright. Wonder if is all relative as to what you expect - i have years of being a very fat cyclist sitting on tiny seats, knowing that there is no substitute for hours in the saddle to build endurance.

I have noticed more pressure being passed to my feet and hips recently (gained a bit more weight so maybe that is why?) but good stiff boots and awareness of posture usually helps a lot.

 

[shez1]

Interesting to hear your observations, as I too have tried various seats, and have yet to find that elusive comfortable place for my derriere, although to be fair I haven’t tried the Corbin.
I started out on the OEM low seat, and found it crippling on long trips. Then followed a 90th Anniversary standard height, modified by Tony Archer with a gel pad, which was an improvement, but not the full desired effect.
I’m now on a Sargeant, as many seem to find it solves the issue, but for me it’s still not all day comfort, although again a step forward.
Perhaps I need to see if I have a Corbin shaped arse?

You cannot be that far away if you want to try the Corbin?

 

[shez1]

"knowing that there is no substitute for hours in the saddle to build endurance"

I too am a fat cyclist and hours in the saddle probably just kill the nerve endings! I do on occasion ride the gs long distances for many consecutive days. The Sargent has been well tested. I will not explore the development of boils from ingrowing hairs....

Yes, good posture helps, as does moving around regularly or standing. But a good seat is best of all when reducing jiffle IMO.

 

[Blackblade-rry]

You cannot be that far away if you want to try the Corbin?

That’s a very generous offer. You might not get it back if it works

I’m not far off J2 of the M180. We’ll have to see how we could make it work, as realistically it would need to be a good few hours in the saddle to see if there was a difference.

 

[Billtdm]

For me, on a low frame, low seat '12 plate, the standard low seat is crippling. I'm 17st.
I couldn't get to work without shuffling around, and that's 12 miles!

I found a Sargent second hand on here, and all is well. 560 miles to my mate in Germany and I could have kept on going. I don't do a lot of miles so it's not like i've just got used to it.

 

[Blackblade-rry]

it must be the extra padding I have built in to my arse but I find the seat on my 08 GSA alright. Wonder if is all relative as to what you expect - i have years of being a very fat cyclist sitting on tiny seats, knowing that there is no substitute for hours in the saddle to build endurance.

I have noticed more pressure being passed to my feet and hips recently (gained a bit more weight so maybe that is why?) but good stiff boots and awareness of posture usually helps a lot.

Although I’m not a cyclist, I’m not exactly a racing snake, and so do possess some padding.

 

[er-minio]

BMW has in my experience never managed to make a comfortable seat.

I'm more than 15 stones. Never had problems with BMW seats to be fair. Done a crapload of miles with R1150R/R1100S/ '07 R1200GSA.
I found using my cycling padded underwear (fat cyclist here too!) when traveling on the GS (300 to 500ish miles days) really helps.

I can't stand padded seats or anything over the seat as I tend to move a decent amount when riding the bike, unless if on the motorway generally (that's where the padded stuff helps).

 

[shez1]

That’s a very generous offer. You might not get it back if it works

I’m not far off J2 of the M180. We’ll have to see how we could make it work, as realistically it would need to be a good few hours in the saddle to see if there was a difference.

Will send PM to arrange something.

 

[Blackblade-rry]

Cheers - PM received and replied.

 

[botus]

airhawk sorts the issue

feels strange when you start out but works great,

rode one with a Sargent seat … if I'd have bought it I'd have gone back to stock seat, you can't ride a GS properly with their seat.... if riding means that restriction... buy a car

 

[GSite]

On my twin cam GS, the Sargent is better than standard as the flat upper surface is wider.
The issue for me is that the edge of most seats applies pressure to the bone mid-buttock where as on the Sargent this bone is on the upper flat surface.

I have found that for an Airhawk to be comfortable, the underlying seat has to be the right shape for your rear end.

Tried a Corbin which nearly crippled me, so hard and I had a deep bruise which took 2 weeks to resolve. I guess you either have a Corbin suited rump or you don't - wonder if this goes in keeping with an Arai shaped head LOL.

 

[stratblue]

To muddy the waters a little, I have found the standard R1200GSA 2011 seat very good for all day rides, I bought a Corbin, tried to ride home form the guy's house on it and had to swap it back to the original within 30 minutes. It was the most uncomfortable seat I've ever used. I'm 6'3 and 17 stone, so my legs were more bent on the Corbin due to it being a bit lower, or so it felt, maybe this pulled the immaculately crafted musculature of my backside into a thinner 'pad'.

 

[botus]

wonder if this goes in keeping with an Arai shaped head LOL.

its shoei that made the odd shaped lids....

you head either fitted a shoei or it didn't

arai was normal and fitted either head shape, not sure when they changed shoei to suite all, but I have both now and they fit correctly....
35 years back I hated riders on the 500GPs that used arai and supported all the shoei riders… but I couldn't put their lids on, and arai fitted perfectly....

 

[botus]

the Sargent is better than standard

no doubt the stock seat should be illegal, and the GSA one replaced under warranty by company that understands how to make seats.

you can do 20 mins on a stock one them never want to see the bike again for a week
you can do 60 mins on the GSA one then hate it for 48 hours
or you can do 12 hrs no issue with the airhawk when set up right - although last time I fiddled with the air quantity and it was as bad as not using it

the trouble with the Sargent is it forces you to stay sat in places that will make you fall off if you try to ride quickly (and that's unacceptable)

 

[seahorse]

You may have done this already but having the height adjusters on high front / low rear often seems to help.
With regard to the Airhawk, they should work with a little experimentation with pressure. They work best with less air than you would probably think.

 

[daytripper!]

I went thru various seats and came to conclusion there are at least two factors: the seat (hardness/shape/slope etc) and state of yr back (posture/muscle condition etc). You need to address both. Note, pain can be referred, ie prob actually lies somewhere else. Could moving hbars forward shift some of the weight onto arms and off arse (we sit in a tripod position as shown by https://cycle-ergo.com/ ). Fall-back plan is keep stops short say 100mi intervals and do exercises (eg back rotation L&R, try shrugging etc) whilst waiting for traffic lights to change etc. Seats & screens are the devils work, good luck!

 

[oldnfat]

Having tried several seats on my GSA I now have the Wunderlisch Ergo rider and pillion. Best seat I have had by far. Bashed out St Malo to Santander last year in one day with arse still in tact at the end.

 

[botus]

I went thru various seats and came to conclusion there are at least two factors: the seat (hardness/shape/slope etc) and state of yr back (posture/muscle condition etc). You need to address both. Note, pain can be referred, ie prob actually lies somewhere else. Could moving hbars forward shift some of the weight onto arms and off arse (we sit in a tripod position as shown by https://cycle-ergo.com/ ). Fall-back plan is keep stops short say 100mi intervals and do exercises (eg back rotation L&R, try shrugging etc) whilst waiting for traffic lights to change etc. Seats & screens are the devils work, good luck!

For me Yes, my back is FUBAR but its never a back problem, its only ever muscle fatigue in the lower area shown here as gluteus maximus, but I guess it could thus be minor muscles underneath like quadratous femoris. It always goes away with rest or never sets off to start with when using the airhawk.

the issue is not minor, if I use the stock seat and ride for 90 mins it like take the bike and throw it in a skip NOW, I'll walk thanks very much....

On a big ride where I had to do 900 km in one day to get there after a meeting, I had no issues at all using a GSA seat with airhawk. Then the weather went mad and it was spend 3 days in Austria in heavy rain or do something else. Decided to stay with a mate in Belgium, where its still hot and dry. In a rush trying to miss the start of yet another hideous weather front that would mean the first 4 hours were in a heavy downpour, I left at 6 without breakfast or using the airhawk (as I might need to don rain suit quickly....). To my surprise all seemed OK after a few hours so I kept going.... but got to the 3 hour mark then it was utter hell. Got the airhawk out but the fatigue had set in for good. And the rest of the ride was just a nightmare of utter agony moving about sitting off the side for 30 mins swapping back and forth for 8 hours