Getting to know my FJR

[Hammer Down Brown]

I had a nice couple of days on my new 2016A. Left from the Charlotte, NC area, (Harrisburg) and rode to Pittston PA, about 625 miles including about 50 miles in pretty steady rain on I-81. The bike handled great on the wet roads and the zoom zoom factor on dry roads is a bunch of fun.

Saturday I rode about an hour and a half to Fotksville PA for a Philly Cheese at The Forksville General Store and then another hour and a half to Knobles Amusement Resort in Elysville PA for ice cream and then a quick and spirited 535 mile ride home. All in all, a great get to know the bike trip.

One of the things I wanted to know about was how well the stock seat and I would get along. The conclusion is that the stock seat hates me and want to punish me any way possible and it's very good at dishing out punishment. Yamaha builds a fantastic motorcycle in the FJR but they should be ashamed of the seats they put on them.

It appears that most in the FJR community prefer the Russell Day Long seat to others. What advice do I need to decide?

 

[FJRay]

Just spend the money once and get the Russell

 

[bigjohnsd]

Just start another Laam seat thread

 

[MadRussian]

Sell the bike and buy a Miata.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Punish yourself for about 6000 miles for bringing up another seat thread, then decide what you wanna do.

Spend the $$ and get a Russell , spend less $$ and get a Laam, but don't spend any money until you've read all the seat threads, they tend to be long.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Ride the stock seat for another 10,000 miles before buying a Seat Concepts. Once your ass has been bruised thoroughly, anything will feel comfy-cozy. (My Seat Concepts cover feels comfy-cozy all day long, and I'm sorry I waited 10,000 miles to install it.)

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I don't think you can go wrong with the Laam or Russell. But I've only tried them briefly, and those were designed for other folks. As I've posted elsewhere, I've done a lot of miles, including an 18 hour 1000 mile plus day on the Yamaha Comfort seat. It's way better than the stock. I didn't know how bad stock was for me until I put it back on as a lark, and remembered how it felt to be sitting on my tailbones with no support for the rest of my bony ass. Everyone is different. I am happy with the Comfort. I would have been as happy, perhaps even happier, had I moved to a Laam, Russell, or Seat Concepts. I still have my original. I sometimes ponder spending the money and going big.

 

[eflyguy]

I have had many different seats on different bikes. I'm overweight, so stock is useless, as is Yamaha "comfort". Corbin is firm but supportive, and surprisingly better than Sargent that is not as firm. I picked up a Russel for my '01 FZ1 and it's awesome, even though it was designed for someone else.

When I got the FJR with this "Laam" seat, I figured I'd have to get a Russel if I was going to do some serious riding, but after my first 9-hour day, I can say in all honesty that it's near enough as-good for me to no longer consider replacing.

YMMV...

 

[mjs5761]

I agree with the idea to keep everything as is for a while and get comfortable with the bike. There is nothing better than stock if you can keep it that way. I like the stock seat and think it is way better then average. Butt it is your ass!

 

[dcarver]

I've only had 3 seats. OEM, Russel, and Mayer (Rocky).

Hands down, the Russel wins.

 

[Intech]

The stock seat hurt me too. I went for a Corbin on the 07 first. Huge improvement. Then I got the deal on the heated, leather RDL. I will not have anything different. Worth EVERY penny spent on it.

 

[jammess]

Just got home last night on my new 2010 FJR from Kalispell, MT a distance of about 1200 miles in two days the route I took. I got to say I agree 110% about the stock seat being brutal. But then I think all stock motorcycle seats are not so pretty good. I agree on the Russell. I think for day rides up to maybe 4 hours I could live with the stock seat and compared to the stock BMW seats I'll take the Yam seat any day so all not too bad.

 

[eflyguy]

On bikes like the DR650, I refer to the "stock seat" as a whittled-down 4x4 installed as a placeholder for shipping purposes only..

 

[Ignacio]

It appears that most in the FJR community prefer the Russell Day Long seat to others. What advice do I need to decide?

Read some of the many, Many, MANY, MANY threads on the subject covered before.