Solo seat thoughts for Special - rider's 6'3"/long rides

[Andy_WI]

I have been planning to change or modify my seat on '80 Special for almost a year now. I've got Saddlemen Double couch on it right now and this Sunday I put 420 miles on it and my butt is sore. I am 6'3" and I plan to take long rides and possibly doing some cross-country riding this Summer. Though I am somehow attracted to Venture Royale and Goldwing but I have decided to keep my XS and keep riding her. The reason I don't like Saddlemen because it's profiled and I cannot move myself farther away from handlebar. I feel kind of cramped in after several hours of riding. I've ridden HD Dyna Wide Glide several years ago across several states with LaPera seat and it was comfy for me. However I do not like forward controls but it was HD. I did see these posts:
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27280
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33328
Another thing since I've got Windjammer front full fairing I cannot use my tiny highway pegs. If I to use HD solo seat and portion of plastic black fender will show but that's not going to be an issue since I plan to use top luggage and fender won't be visible. Another reason I'd like to change the seat because passenger portion of the seat takes up a lot of room that I can use for luggage/gear/extra fuel storage (those rotopax jerrycans seem to be very nice). I plan to remove stock tail light and install LED tails right at the end of rear fender thus getting more room for luggage. I'm planning to visit my friendly HD dealer this week and check out HD seats in person. I don't think I'd be able to modify my Saddlemen seat without ruining it. I've also thought how come none of these seats have any kind of adjustments like some tabs with pre-drilled holes so it can be mounted in several different ways/positions or some basic knob adjustments like on a car? Won't it be nice to slide it away an inch or change it's angle? Just a thought.
So I'd like to know from tall XS riders what seat might work for 12+ hours rides. I know it's all individual but I've gotta do something and I am looking for some feedback.
Thanks

[Jerry]

Back in the day I was getting my XJ set up for long-distance riding. I went with a seat from Diamond Industries in Florida. These are semi-custom seats that are constructed with a variable-density foam and are based on your weight. Cost in those days was ~$400.00 but the seat came with it's own pan, no need to modify an original.

I used that Diamond on several long rides over many years and after a break-in of about 500 miles it proved to be very comfortable, far better than the stock seat.

On my current Concours I went with a Russell Day-Long saddle. Also a custom, but you have to provide a seat pan, the Day-Long is extremely comfortable as it is built to your weight and inseam. I had to provide photos of me sitting on the bike using the stock seat as part of the process. I mentioned I had installed a peg lowering kit and Russell took that into account as well. Not cheap - ~$600.00 or so, but 600 mile days are no problem.

Back to the XJ...
Other mods for long-distance running included floorboards instead of pegs, and forward pegs mounted on the 3-point engine guards I had mounted. Even with the lowers on my Vetter IV I could use the forward pegs as an alternate place to put my feet. Last addition was a throttle lock so I could ease my right hand from time to time. While I kept the stock grips a friend of mine switched over to Kuryakyn grips and spoke highly of them.

The floorboard conversion cost me some ground clearance as they are mounted lower than the pegs, but this gave me a better angle on my knees which were prone to "locking up" after a couple hours' ride. The better angle was, for me, one of the most important mods to making the XJ more comfortable as my knees always gave me the most trouble. That's also the reason I put a peg lowering kit on the Concours. I am 6'1" with a 32-inch inseam.

A couple of other notes...
I use a large "dry bag" to carry stuff on the bike, and I strap it on so I can use it as a backrest on long hauls. This gives additional lower back support. The other thing is that I switched to using suspenders instead of a belt as I found the less restriction I had around my middle the more comfortable I was. My body shape is more like a pear than a pole...

Hope these comments are of some help.

[bikerphil]

I custom fit a Honda Shadow seat to my 79SF. I positioned it where I was most comfortable which was back further than stock seat position. I can still attach the original seat back on there in about 10 min. if I need to ride 2 up.

[dbmb0416]

I like the seat. Looks comfy.

[Andy_WI]

Jerry - Thank you for your reply. I am trying upgrade my XS on a budget. I've picked up my XS last year for 500$. I work in the shop and fabrication is a part of my daily duties. I'll definitely look into installing floorboards. I might actually extend location of pegs mounted on the 3-point engine guards. I have those but after installing Windjammer I cannot reach them with my feet. I have some sissy bar and I put a motorcycle/dry bag on it. Most of the time when I ride I wear motorcycle pants designed for dual purpose/adventure/enduro/MX (got it from Cycle Gear).

bikerphil - I was looking into '06-'16 HD Dyna solo seats but that Honda Shadow seat looks comfy. Thanks for the pic - this is actually the set-up I am planning to do on my bike. I really like BMW panniers/hard bags and I am planning to use Seahorse cases (similar to Pelican cases - I googled it). Most likely I'll be getting the seat off eBay. Could the seat be possibly of 2001 Shadow ACE VT750? Here's a pic of Shadow. May I ask if you have close up pics of your seat mounting?

[bikerphil]

Here you go Andy....

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...ICKqMvwXXKY75H

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...6r6uH9YjlZgmAq

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...gM6UDV8HPLvbeh

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...UbmcsVX828w8tQ

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...LPdYekqQ4TKhie

[Andy_WI]

Phil thanks but these links don't show anything:

404. That’s an error.
The requested URL was not found on this server

Sorry

[DiverRay]

Phil, Copy the link from the bar at the top, and use "Link" button, under the white smiley face to post it. Just trying to copy/paste truncates the link so it won't work.

[bikerphil]

Test...

[Ranger_xs1100]

dyna seat

I was looking into '06-'16 HD Dyna solo seats.


Hi Andy,
For what it's worth:
I have the HD Dyna solo seat on my custom LG and it looks great, but it is not at all as comfy as it looks. I had to buy an airhawk to use on top of it for rides over one hour!

[bikerphil]

I'll post a few more pics later today, do not have any time at the moment.

[bikerphil]

More pics...

[Andy_WI]

Phil - The test picture worked and I've got an idea how it's mounted in front. Unfortunately the rest of the links with pics didn't work for me. That's OK and please don't worry about it. I've seen the front mount and I can take it from there.

Bob - Hi. I'm going to give a shot with Shadow seat and thanks for airhawk info. I might have to get that latter too

[bikerphil]

That is strange, the actual pics themselves show up right here in the thread for me. If you want, PM me your email address and I can send them to you.

[Andy_WI]

Phil - thanks! PM sent.