The stock FJR seat was just plain uncomfortable for me. I had two painful hotspots after about 45 minutes. I had the same thing on my Valkyrie and I did a custom seat from "Aligator Bob". He is in small town outside of Chicago. I had that done with leather, conchos and some custom tooling. I went on a 4200 mile eight state excursion and rode through 115 degree south Dakota, rain and snow in Yellowstone and major rain storms in North Dakota. Seat was comfortable, held up and looked great. Leather shows certain cracking as it wears in but for me it lends a certain amount of character to the look. Vinyl has a half life of 500 million years, about the same as milk bottles, and never really changes in its feel or look. As you get older I like to think I look better with age. Of course I can't tell you when the last time any good looking babes have hit on me, but I like the thought anyway. Leather takes some care but not a big deal. As far as going to Bill Mayer, He is two hours from me and when you do a ride in he builds the seat, you check it for fit, go for a test ride, modify if some part isn't quit right and test again. It doesn't get covered until you are satisfied. The comfort of the seat is that important that I wanted go through this process. When you do 600 to 800 miles a day the seat better be comfortable. Hope I answered some of your questions.
