Fencer, if I decided to use my seat off the 06 the only stock part will be the seat pan. If I use a gel insert which I probablly will, it will only add to the customization of the seat. I have a gel insert in my Saddlemen seat on the Softtail and with my medical condition I think it has helped me. Gel inserts were originally developed for people who were confined to wheelchairs with good success from getting butt burn or hot spots. The gel material does take several hundred miles to conform to your personal toush and is heat absorbant but really I have found this not to be a problem. Personally I think Yamaha has done an improvement on the 06 seat vs. earlier years but not much. I think the secret with using gel is to have it in a flat to concave seating area of the insert portion of the seat to allow it to conform. Not as found on the 06. The 06 seat would have to be altered to make the gel work for you. While gel is not "the" important item in a seat but design, material/suspension, and good craftmenship is. That is my goal, to make a seat that will provide quality, comfort, durability and good looks that will help keep me out of the chronic pain I have to deal with everyday and allow me to go that extra several hundred miles and back if possible. "What else could I do" (JC). Later, ><>PM. B)Dude,
Suck-it-up. Live up to your name and keep the stock seat. There is a "Boy named Sue" someplace
I put a 3/4 saddleman gel in my 06 and it didn't really make a difference.
Well, your wrong about that! I drove 2000 miles and then paid close to the $700! So there! Shows how much you know!
+1 on that!! In all the motorcycles I have owned or those I know who have owned motorcycles not once have I seen a decent seat come from the manufacture. Some full dress HDs and GoldWings seats might agree with the owner but not too many more. No wonder Russell is abandoning their other business. I am only experimenting with this idea and is only in the infant stage. Much work and investigation to be done. My 19 year old son has some good ideas as for the Gen X crowd also so you never know...PM. <><Well, your wrong about that! I drove 2000 miles and then paid close to the $700! So there! Shows how much you know!
I can save you some time for your new business....
While I was at Russell Seats at Shasta Lake, they told me they're getting out of the boat upholstery/boat top business because they have too much work in bike seat dept.
....I can see it now...A whole line of designer seats for Waverunners..alligator, horned back lizard, sharkskin, giving true meaning to the 'Painman' logo tag on the end...oh yeah the Gen X crowd will be all over it....
Made me think of the old Seinfeld episode where Kramer got a license plate that said ASSMAN :lol:Well how about this..."Got a real pain in the rear from too many miles on the FJR? You need to talk to the doctor of buttology, the "PAINMAN"....Umm, that might not work. Well, back to the drawing board.....PM. <>< :lol:Seats by Painman? :blink: :blink: :blink:
Dude you need marketing help!
Sorry bout that chornbe, overlooked your statement, agree with your view and thank you very much for offering up your help in the development of the seat as a tester. I will absolutly keep you in mind if I ever make it that far. Just in the experimental stage myself with this. Much work and investigation to do before I ever arrive at that point. Diddos, PM. <>< :good:
+1 mil this time.
This from a guy who doesn't even HAVE an FJR seat to compare with? IIRC, at the beginning of the thread, the Painman said he was going to take some classes. Uhm, er, assuming everyone has read this from the beginning!?!? And since he suffers with arthritis of the spine and needs to solve his seating issue, he's willing to test it on himself. Your problem with others who have taken this to a level beyond Painman's original idea and post would be exactly what? :dribble:
Painman I would be MOST interested in how you make out with your project. I have had a thought of
Sliick2
+1. My full-blown Russell for the Wing (back rest, rain cover, etc.) cost me $600. When I sold the Wing (3 years and 60,000 miles later) the same seat went for about $1200. WOW!
Thanks for the interest Luke. I am still taking the class with my wife and am starting to get the hang of the industrial type sewing machine. I started out redoing an old recliner at home instead of starting on the bike seat because the bike had been in the shop on hold. But I ordered up some test foam material of different ratings and before leaving on the Hwy 36 ride this past weekend, I cut out the interior seating section of the seat on my 06 and replaced the foam and recovered the seat with the stock cover. I came to the conclusion that the material I tested was significantly better than the stock foam which was a no brainer and only experienced minor butt burn during the 2 day 600 plus mi. ride. With the stock seat I would have been wanting to get off the bike even with a sheep skin at about 100 to 150 mi. I do now realize the major problem with the stock seat beside the quality of the foam is it is also not wide enough to give the proper support of longer distance riding. Bill Meyer really has the right idea in this area. I'm not that big of a guy and still the seat is not wide enough to eliminate butt burn. Remember I am not making seats to sell and am only doing this to find what works for me. If things in the far future dictate any business opportunities so be it but I am physically limited and may not be able to go there. I have only so much funds to operate with and by doing a seat the way I'm doing it will allow me to fine tune a seat that could hopfully fit me at my pace. I even have an idea of making a foam mold to fit my personal behind. What could be better than that? Also I tested a new memory material that is being used to replace the gel insert and it worked rather well this weekend. This material could possibly get warm in the summer but not a major concern. I'm going to finish the recliner and then start work on furthering the work on the FJR. Making ones own seat is not that major of a task but just takes some thought and planning. Cutting out the seating section of a seat that has a complicated shape such as the FJR and replacing it with better material is not an uncommon task that people are doing. If you want any ideas just pm me and I'll do the best I can. Take care, PM. <><
