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Another Seat attempt

Seat Problem

Every BMW I have owned I immediately remove the BMW Torture Device they call a seat and get Russel to make me a proper one. Excellent and can ride all day without any discomfort at all. They have excellent service if you drive there or mail your seat in. It will be the best money you ever spent.
 
105258 said:
Every BMW I have owned I immediately remove the BMW Torture Device they call a seat and get Russel to make me a proper one. Excellent and can ride all day without any discomfort at all. They have excellent service if you drive there or mail your seat in. It will be the best money you ever spent.
Click to expand...

Agree. Except for the K1200LT. It was the only BMW I have ever owned where the stock saddle was good enough.
 
bmwdean said:
Agree. Except for the K1200LT. It was the only BMW I have ever owned where the stock saddle was good enough.
Click to expand...

My '86 K75T came with a double bucket touring saddle which worked and fit fine for the first 250,000 miles until I had Bill Mayer, Sr. build me a solo seat so I could mount a huge Harley FLH trunk where the passenger would usually sit. This was to prep the bike for the 1999 Iron Butt Rally. My R1150R had an OK seat too. My brand new G310GS has a seat I can tolerate for 400 mile days just fine. Doing 700 or 800 might require a different seat.
 
Seat height

wbrownell9 said:
I found the Sargent vastly superior to the OEM seat. The additional firmness doesn't bother me, although a little more relief in the sitz-bone area would be appreciated. The groove down the middle relieves pressure on my prostate which is a good thing. I typically go 400-ish miles/day when I'm traveling and have been out for 7 weeks so far this summer. Last summer I was out 3 1/2 months.

Yes, a Russell will add height. When I talked to them about my concerns, they said that since I'm already at the edge of my comfort zone with the OEM seat in the low position (29" inseam) that they would NOT recommend I buy one of their seats because it would be too high for me. They could have sold me a seat I'd have been unhappy with but were up front about what I'd be getting into. They felt it was better to not make the sale than have an unhappy customer - kudos to them.
Click to expand...

wbrownell9,

Do you have any other mods to deal with seat height? I have a 29" inseam as well. I assume you use the low setting for the Sargent seat? Is it any narrower? Often, wider seats hurt my ability to put my feet down. Can you actually flat-foot on the R1200? With a passenger? Thanks!

Geoff
 
I’m hoping the RDL is the answer for me on my new to me 2015RT. I put a Corbin on my DL650 which was an improvement over stock but not good enough for long days on the road.
I have a drive-in date on October 2, and so looking forward to the ride down from BC. Here’s hoping the ride home is more comfortable than the ride there.
 
seat

bought my RT used and it came with A top of the line Russel seat, I know they are built to the riders specs but Him (previous owner) and I were nearly identical in size. But I hated the Russel seat and my wife too. Just could not get comfortable on it. I bought a Sargent seat and have a Alaska sheep cover and now I could ride 500 mile days with ease. But to each their own everybodys Tush is different, But in my opinion that Russel is one Fugly looking seat at least mine was!! Oh on a second note you want a seat to be firm, gives you support, when there to soft they start feeling like there munching on you butt and it gets sore.
 
Well I looked at all the seat options and decided to take the seat down to a local 4 generation upholstery guy and he cut away a small section of the pan on my seat 1" or so and put these two types foam in that is used for the pilots on airliners and also NASA. He was able to use the same over as factory and its made a huge difference. I spent less than $500 on both mine and my wife seat.

Best part is it still looks sporty and feels great.

I did look at the Touratech seat and Im curious if anyone has tried Touratech??
 
My two cents:

I got a Sarge and I am real happy with it.

After 'many' aftermarket seats throughout years ( you ll get bored of reading this if I listed them all) My judgment is that Sargent uses the best quality foam. It gives you a firm feel that eventually translate into a 'memory foam' result making the arises very comfortable.

There is nothing wrong with the RDL if you dont mind the raise in height, which means leaning over more and sitting higher on the bike. To me, the RT has to be almost too small for you in order to benefit from an RDL--now that may be a little stretch from the truth--but it's something like that.
 
I like my Sergeant Seat

I could only stand about two hours on the stock seat for my 2016 1200GS.

After switching to the Sergeant I can go all day (8 hours plus with only quick gas stops) without any discomfort.:)
 
babnb said:
I could only stand about two hours on the stock seat for my 2016 1200GS.

After switching to the Sergeant I can go all day (8 hours plus with only quick gas stops) without any discomfort.:)
Click to expand...
:thumb
Welcome to the forum!
Gary
 
Wethead said:
My two cents:

I got a Sarge and I am real happy with it.

After 'many' aftermarket seats throughout years ( you ll get bored of reading this if I listed them all) My judgment is that Sargent uses the best quality foam. It gives you a firm feel that eventually translate into a 'memory foam' result making the arises very comfortable.

There is nothing wrong with the RDL if you dont mind the raise in height, which means leaning over more and sitting higher on the bike. To me, the RT has to be almost too small for you in order to benefit from an RDL--now that may be a little stretch from the truth--but it's something like that.
Click to expand...

Probably the wrong time of year to ask, did you get the heated seat? If so, how does it compare to the stock heated seat?

Thanks,
John
 
I set my stock seat on the middle setting and the Sargent seat on the middle setting had me scrambling to turn it down. YMMV
 
EvryDayRide said:
Probably the wrong time of year to ask, did you get the heated seat? If so, how does it compare to the stock heated seat?

Thanks,
John
Click to expand...

Sorry I did not answer you earlier J. I been jamming.

I did not get the heated cause I never use the heat on the seat, Ever!. Typically I unplug the heat connectors so that its not a pain in the arses when I take the seat off for something: like install/take out the topcase, install or take out my Aerostich little saddle bags whose straps go under the seat.

You didn't ask me but I am gonna tell you: I think a heated seat is a waste of money and time. Particularly for me since I am either riding on the tropic throughout winter on in the mainland in Summer. But I tell ya this: I rode in 40 deg weather along the West Coast in Summer time and my rain jacket over my old Transition2 Tourmaster jacket, a rain pant over my summer riding pant keeps me comfy.

And my opinion is that if you ride in weather below 40 you need 'winter-gear'. I don't think a hot seat is gonna help you that much.

I do use the heated grips occasionally cause my weather gloves are cheap. For gloves, I use a cheap water proof glove with the thing winter insert from Cyclegear. These are like same material at tights and they keep the hands warm enough.

I hope I didn't wear out your ear.
 
Wethead said:
Sorry I did not answer you earlier J. I been jamming.

I did not get the heated cause I never use the heat on the seat, Ever!. Typically I unplug the heat connectors so that its not a pain in the arses when I take the seat off for something: like install/take out the topcase, install or take out my Aerostich little saddle bags whose straps go under the seat.

You didn't ask me but I am gonna tell you: I think a heated seat is a waste of money and time. Particularly for me since I am either riding on the tropic throughout winter on in the mainland in Summer. But I tell ya this: I rode in 40 deg weather along the West Coast in Summer time and my rain jacket over my old Transition2 Tourmaster jacket, a rain pant over my summer riding pant keeps me comfy.

And my opinion is that if you ride in weather below 40 you need 'winter-gear'. I don't think a hot seat is gonna help you that much.

I do use the heated grips occasionally cause my weather gloves are cheap. For gloves, I use a cheap water proof glove with the thing winter insert from Cyclegear. These are like same material at tights and they keep the hands warm enough.

I hope I didn't wear out your ear.
Click to expand...

You didn't wear me out! Thank you for the reply and for starting the thread.
 
ptarmiganboy said:
I’m hoping the RDL is the answer for me on my new to me 2015RT. I put a Corbin on my DL650 which was an improvement over stock but not good enough for long days on the road.
I have a drive-in date on October 2, and so looking forward to the ride down from BC. Here’s hoping the ride home is more comfortable than the ride there.
Click to expand...

So I got my new seat. Drove into Russell Cycle Products after a four day ride from BC. They had a loaner seat for me, so I wasn’t without wheels while they did the job.
They asked specifically if I was worried about the seat height. I said no, even though I’m no giant. About 32” inseam. I could just flatfoot the stock seat and the new seat is a little higher. I’m doing the slide forward thing when I want both feet on the ground. It’s no problem at all. I may even move the seat to the high position for touring because it moves me farther from the foot pegs.
Touring comfort is my only real concern since that is 99% of my riding. This seat is excellent, I can go four hours without a thought about discomfort and longer with only minor discomfort. One hour break and I’m good for several more hours.
My max on the stock seat was 1 hour, usually less, much less towards the end of a long day.
At $500US for the rider seat only it’s not cheap but so worth it to me. The black all vinyl seat matches the stock pillion seat pretty well.
One other point of note for me anyway (6’1”) is that the seat has me sitting higher, and now I have a little more wind noise with the stock windshield even at the highest position. So I’ll probably need an aftermarket screen.
 
ptarmiganboy said:
So I got my new seat. Drove into Russell Cycle Products after a four day ride from BC. They had a loaner seat for me, so I wasn’t without wheels while they did the job.
They asked specifically if I was worried about the seat height. I said no, even though I’m no giant. About 32” inseam. I could just flatfoot the stock seat and the new seat is a little higher. I’m doing the slide forward thing when I want both feet on the ground. It’s no problem at all. I may even move the seat to the high position for touring because it moves me farther from the foot pegs.
Touring comfort is my only real concern since that is 99% of my riding. This seat is excellent, I can go four hours without a thought about discomfort and longer with only minor discomfort. One hour break and I’m good for several more hours.
My max on the stock seat was 1 hour, usually less, much less towards the end of a long day.
At $500US for the rider seat only it’s not cheap but so worth it to me. The black all vinyl seat matches the stock pillion seat pretty well.
One other point of note for me anyway (6’1”) is that the seat has me sitting higher, and now I have a little more wind noise with the stock windshield even at the highest position. So I’ll probably need an aftermarket screen.
Click to expand...
Nice :thumb
If I wasn't 3,000 miles away, I would do that. A ride in and fitting is the way I would want to do a seat.
OM
 
ptarmiganboy said:
So I got my new seat. Drove into Russell Cycle Products after a four day ride from BC. They had a loaner seat for me, so I wasn’t without wheels while they did the job.
They asked specifically if I was worried about the seat height. I said no, even though I’m no giant. About 32” inseam. I could just flatfoot the stock seat and the new seat is a little higher. I’m doing the slide forward thing when I want both feet on the ground. It’s no problem at all. I may even move the seat to the high position for touring because it moves me farther from the foot pegs.
Touring comfort is my only real concern since that is 99% of my riding. This seat is excellent, I can go four hours without a thought about discomfort and longer with only minor discomfort. One hour break and I’m good for several more hours.
My max on the stock seat was 1 hour, usually less, much less towards the end of a long day.
At $500US for the rider seat only it’s not cheap but so worth it to me. The black all vinyl seat matches the stock pillion seat pretty well.
One other point of note for me anyway (6’1”) is that the seat has me sitting higher, and now I have a little more wind noise with the stock windshield even at the highest position. So I’ll probably need an aftermarket screen.
Click to expand...

At 6' 1" and 32" seam, you can probably handle the RDL elevation. Albeit, like you said: you are sitting higher which decreases the efficacy of the shield and has you reach forward to the bars more. While you are enjoy the comfort of the RDL, take a moment to empathize with your feller Americans who is below your tree top at less than 6'. I use my bike for commuting after Summer's tours and in traffic, I would find it a pain in the rear to be tippie-toeing around at ever stop light or slow traffic.

My beef with RDL has been their unwillingness to make lower seats for us midgets. I think if they wanted to, or if they ever get a Leadership with some savvy, they would be able to replicate their seat construct in a lower format; and I be willing to bet it would be nearly as comfy as that lunar high sofa format they are stuck with. Probably would make more money also. There's gotta be some narrow minded folks in that outfit insisting on that one-and-only seat.
 
If I was riding a lot in stop and go traffic I wouldn’t have the RDL either. Not being able to easily flatfoot is a more dangerous way to get around, not to mention a pita when parking.
I may drop mine because of the seat height but, the hours of touring comfort are an acceptable trade off for me.
 
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