V100 comfort seat

[Phil/TX]

After a short three day ride, 1390 miles, and 27 hours in the saddle, I’m considering a comfort seat. Anyone out there have the comfort seat, and please give me your opinion.

[skippy]

Phil/TX,

Not sure if this is helpful but I did put on the taller heated seat on my V100. The extra 20 mm was what I needed to get my butt a little bit further from the foot pegs.. With a 32" inseam I can still easily flat foot the ground.

Hope this helps.

Skippy

[Tkelly]

Sounds like a pretty good road test,other than the seat how do you like the bike?

[kingoffleece]

My .02.  Save your $$ on an OEM "custom" seat.  It's the same crap foam, only more of it.  Get a good seat maker to fix it right.  Buy one time, cry one time.
I was in the seat and seat cover business for a LONG time.  OEM seats are built by a handful of companies for the bike manufacture and they are all built with very low grade materials.

[egschade]

After four 6+ hour days on the V100 saddle I agree that it needs help. I brought my padded sheepskin for the ride and that was good enough for that much riding.

How often do you do nearly 500mi / day rides? Maybe all you need is a decent pad or Airhawk for those days.

[Phil/TX]

Some good   advice, I don’t do many 500 mile days, the young guys I ride with can’t handle that   
Maybe I will take an air hawk along next time. Save some money also.

[Huzo]

I cannot understand the thinking by Guzzi.
Why in heaven’s name would you build a bike with the distance stomping abilities of the V100, then intentionally give it a seat that’s sub standard.

[ridingron]

I understand the problem of making a mass market seat-one size fits worldwide all. I don't have a clue on how to fix the problem. I try a couple things and send it off to Russell. My ST1100 seat was good for about 30 miles. At that point I had to get off of it. My Valkyrie seat was good for about 2-3 hours. My BMW F-650 was good for a few hours. My California was 4-5 hours. Not sure about my 850TT. I rode it about 3 hours to a motel then 5 hours home. I'll try a sheepskin then a sheepskin and an air hawk. I'll see how that works. Probably end up at Russell's. The price isn't too bad if you go with vinyl and just do the front half. I would guess Russell's Day Long gets expensive real fast for non-USA residents.

My '80 Suzuki stock seat did fit me quite well. Did several all day rides on it. 

[sdcr]

I cannot understand the thinking by Guzzi.
Why in heaven’s name would you build a bike with the distance stomping abilities of the V100, then intentionally give it a seat that’s sub standard.

BMW has been doing this for many, many years.

[Huzo]

BMW has been doing this for many, many years.

Yep.
 I would have thought that if you want people to buy and ride your bikes for many years over as many kilometres, the seat would be one of the things that would be near the top of the list.
I’d sooner have a bike with an excellent seat and no quick shifter, if I’m on a 20,000 km trip.

[PJPR01]

Recipe for all day comfort:

Good quality after market seat
Sheepskin
Air hawk
King of Fleece seat cover holding it all in place…

600 miles or more in day with great Comfort.

[Gliderjohn]

Seats are such an individual thing. Many Norge riders complain about the seat but I really like mine. I have done a 690 mile day and though ready to get off I think I could have done another 100 if I would have needed to.
GliderJohn

[9fingers]

I would guess that Sit&Fly has a 3 D cover that fits, and  for less than $30 these covers do a tremendous job of increasing comfort. I have one on my V Strom 650 and it was a game changer.

[kingoffleece]

I was in the seat business for a long time and worked with/consulted with some of the more renowned aftermarket seat makers.
First, as it's almost impossible to make a seat that works for everyone OEM's don't bother.  SHAD is one of the largest contract seat makers and it's usually an injection molded pan made as thin as possible with a chemical molded foam which is the cheapest way to go.  I'll leave the value judgement to you but if I was the OEM that's what I'd do as it's impossible to design for all the different physical variables in a mass produced product.  So why try?  Sort of like the cheap and very basic suspension on many motorcycles.  Think damper rod forks ( an abomination that has an extremely narrow optimal range and almost zero ability to function outside of that narrow range) to the very common overdamped/undersprung cheap rear shocks so familiar to Bonnie and V7 owners, among others.

Your "sit" bones and hip angle are two critical components of perceived seat comfort and they come in almost as many different combinations as there are people.  This, but not just this, is what makes designing a seat for the masses a real challenge.  But building to the lowest common denominator does not help.  Using a higher quality of components builders like Seth Laam can product a mostly custom seat that works well, and I'm sure many here sing the praises of Russell Day Long.  These examples are proof of concept that a "semi custom" product well made can provide the desired end result.

Case in point: I though the stock Norge seat on my 2014 was the single worst thing I've ever placed my bottom against.  So mush so that I spent WAY to much time and effort in an attempt to correct it.  When it was finally right, in my mind, I offered some for sale.  Results were mixed and a few were returned and I learned a valuable lesson.  That lesson, which I THOUGHT I already knew, was incorporated into the V7 seats I made and offered, which were very successful.

I know some long distance riders, some which are IBA rally competitors, and to my disbelief one uses a stock seat for all those miles, while the others use custom seats.  Bottom line, no pun intended, is that seats are more like screens that we think, in that what works for one may be unacceptable for another.

[blu guzz]

i am leaving soon to go to the dealer to pick up a new oem seat for my Eldo.  The previous owner was very large and in 18,000 miles had squashed the life out of the foam.  I feel like the shape on it is ideal for me, so only the foam is the issue.  It is only $120, so little risk if it is not much better than the one that is on it.  If it is not, I now have an extra seat pan that can be sent in for an aftermarket seat.  After many bikes, I can say that some stock seats just work better than others.  The seat on my last 1400, a Cali Custom was pretty good from the factory, but a Corbin made it much better. I know Corbin is controversial, but I have had a few that have worked very well for me over the years.

[blu guzz]

I just returned with the new seat.  It will not be my favorite or even my favorite OEM, but for the money spent, it is a worthwhile upgrade.  At least, I don't feel the bike frame anymore and it really helps with small bumps or road irregularities.  I will live with it for a bit and maybe send the old one out for a custom job at some point.