OW! My Butt! (Bonus Feature--NEW Laam Seat Review)

[Fontanaman]

That is great news Mike. I'd like to try a Laam someday.

 

[Brodie]

Well Mike, if things don't work out before NAFO, you can always sit on a loaf of Wonder Bread...

Brodie

 

[Fred W]

Congratulation, Mike.

Now quick, go but that Megabucks ticket.

 

[SacramentoMike]

Well Mike, if things don't work out before NAFO, you can always sit on a loaf of Wonder Bread...

Brodie

Canadian Wonder Bread, Brodiie?

Probably beat that OEM seat at that.

 

[Brodie]

I'll treat you to a loaf at NAFO in a few weeks.

Brodie

 

[RaYzerman19]

Mike, if there were more than one of me, you should be very very afraid......... best advice I can give for seats is to borrow one and try it ALL DAY LONG.... Laam is good but didn't work for my butt, but everyone's butt is a bit different...... RDL is the shizzle if you can swing it.

 

[bigjohnsd]

Happy with my LAAM! It was/is a Game Changer! 689 miles one day on a stock seat after multiple 500 mile days was enough to roast my ass and have me crying for DESITIN.

The LAAM makes multiple 650 mile days easy.

No experience with the RDL other than sitting on a few.

The RDL disciples seek justification for $$ spent me thinks

 

[HotRodZilla]

The decision to sell my Lamm has been made. It will be up on the block soon. I just need to have 20 minutes of free time, while at home, so I can get some pictures snapped and sent off to Spencer. He responded to my email almost immediately, and my turn around will be quick.

My plan is to send the OEM seats off on Monday and then sell the Lamm as soon as they return.

 

[NorCal FJR]

Just to update--despite Fred's doom and gloom prediction, I'm getting a Laam seat made next week! He called me back and was very accommodating on the time. Seemed like a great guy, too. He's taking a couple days off after the 4th, but he said I could come up most any day after he gets back. Pre-NAFO! Had to clear the financing first, but I'll set up a specific date with him tomorrow. FWIW, I also got hold of Russell before he called, and they could fit me in sometime in October! I'm happy with my choice, and the dough I'll save, too.
BTW, I never did an SS1K, or any other 1K, and I never will, but Monday was 750 miles. That's enough for me.

Mike I think you will like the seat. I had Seth Laam do both seats for Nikki and I a couple of years ago, best investment I have made.

 

[hppants]

Upon my return to motorcycling, I rode my first 10,000 miles on a stock Honda Nighthawk Seat. It might as well have been a sheet of plywood.

Assured it would fix my problem, I rode my next 20,000 miles on a Corbin seat for the nighthawk. That was a MOLDED piece of plywood. "Just keep riding, your ass will get used to it." In the immortal words of Sherman T. Potter: MULE FRITTERS!!!!!

I bought the Gen 1 FJR and thought the stock seat was better. I rode that stock seat 25,000 miles. Then one day at a ride stop, Redfish Hunter said "Why don't you get a Laam seat and you won't have to stand up every 50 miles to stop that burning in your butt?" I thought about it and decided "What the hell".

Mark these words:

I will NEVER have a motorcycle again without a custom (likely Laam) saddle. Never again.

 

[SacramentoMike]

Heading up to Redding/Laam's in the morning. Maybe the 150 miles back will answer my questions. If not, I expect to know for sure by the time I get back from Montrose. Or Montrose and New York with the NERDS.

I'll let you know.

 

[MCRIDER007]

Heading up to Redding/Laam's in the morning. Maybe the 150 miles back will answer my questions. If not, I expect to know for sure by the time I get back from Montrose. Or Montrose and New York with the NERDS.
I'll let you know.

I think Seth will tell you that it will take 500 miles for the seat to "break in". I found that my Lamm seats continued to getter better for many miles after that.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I knew when I took the half measure of buying a Yamaha Comfort seat that it might not be my last seat on this bike. The Comfort seat is so much more comfortable than the stock seat it's amazing. It was worth every penny and then some. But sort of like the "molded piece of plywood" that farklepants references, it is firm. I'd probably be happy with the Comfort, and standing now and then on all day rides, for the life of the bike. But that OEM seat sitting in a box kept whispering about some dude named Russell Laam, or somethingorother. Before I boxed up the OEM to send it to Seth, I ran it for a day and was amazed at how bad it was compared to the Comfort. I'm looking forward the Laam though.

 

[Fred W]

You're in for a big treat, Bill.

I borrowed a Yamaha "Comfort" seat from one of the local NERDS while my seats were sent off to Russell. In my opinion, the difference between the stock seats and the "comfort" seats was about 15 minutes longer before needing to stop or stand, hardly even worth buying.

The custom Russell seats are "timeless", in that you no longer ever need to stop because of your butt, and I have heard the Laam customs are pretty much the same.

 

[hppants]

IMO, the big difference between the Laam and the RDL is the philosophy behind the saddle makers. Russell wants to build a saddle that covers your ENTIRE rear end. He wants it to be custom cut to fit your exact shape. Then he wants to put you in that cradle and hold you there all day long. Do NOT move while you ride. The theory is that if a portion of the seat touches your entire hiney, then your weight (load) is evenly distributed with no pressure points that can cause discomfort.

The trade off is that with the RDL "wings" covering more of your rear-end, you really can't move much. I've ridden MikeP's FJR with the RDL and it's nearly impossible to climb the wings. If you on an IBA ride, or spending a day on the slab getting to or from the other side of the country, this is highly desirable. But if your riding technique in the twisties calls you to shift your weight left and right by physically moving your arse, well then, with the RDL, you are SOL.

OTOH, the Laam seat follows the same philosophy, just not to the same degree. The seat is custom built to the contour of your derri air, just not as much of it. Without the wings, you are free to slide back and forth. However, on those tank-long runs, the load is distributed over a smaller area. Much more than stock, but not nearly as much as the RDL.

I think it comes down to which kind of riding you favor, and your preferred method to accomplish that kind of riding.

I've followed riders with the RDL and in the twisties, they lean the upper body, but below the waist, nothing ever moves. I've followed riders on the Laam, and like me, tend to move their entire bodies left and right when the road gets curvy.

They are both right.

 

[Bounce]

You're in for a big treat, Bill.
I borrowed a Yamaha "Comfort" seat from one of the local NERDS while my seats were sent off to Russell. In my opinion, the difference between the stock seats and the "comfort" seats was about 15 minutes longer before needing to stop or stand, hardly even worth buying.

Which is what some try to share when saying that the money spent on half measures can often end up costing more than the price of a top tier custom seat.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

You're in for a big treat, Bill.
I borrowed a Yamaha "Comfort" seat from one of the local NERDS while my seats were sent off to Russell. In my opinion, the difference between the stock seats and the "comfort" seats was about 15 minutes longer before needing to stop or stand, hardly even worth buying.

Which is what some try to share when saying that the money spent on half measures can often end up costing more than the price of a top tier custom seat.

Some of the smartest folks on this forum have said since before I started lurking on this forum that when it comes to seats, "Spend the money upfront on the best CUSTOM seat" and you will actually save yourself money. Obviously, those "in the know" are still saying that.

 

[Fred W]

Experience is a ruthless teacher.

Bought my 1st Gen used w/ a Corbin Gunfighter (one piece) "close" edition, as the previous owner was a little guy. It was an instrument of torture for me.

Bought a set of stock seats (from someone on here at a reasonable price) and I actually liked the stockers better than the Corbin.

Traded the Corbin Close for a Yamaha Accessory Corbin non-close, mostly because the person I traded with wanted the close and I didn't care. The non-close was no better than the close, still very painful. Ended up selling that seat on this forum

Bought a used Corbin "modular" driver's seat only, which had been customized with heat and a little extra padding, and tried that with the stock seat in the back. It was a little better than the Corbin 1 piece models, but not much better. Ended up selling that seat on this forum.

Sent my stock seats to a place in North Dakota called Know-Place (get it?) for "customizing", which amounted to cutting out some of the stock foam and inserting a gel pad into both seats with a memory foam topper. This was better than stock, and way better than any of the Corbins, but was still sore after about 3-4 hours of continuous riding.

I bought a used Rick Mayer dual custom saddle that had been reportedly made for a guy nearly my size and shape, who had crashed his bike. This was better than Know-Place, but I knew it wasn't the end game.

After hearing over and over that there is no substitute for Russell, and having tried my hardest not to spend the big money on a customized-for-me seat, I finally sent my Know-Place modified stock seats in to Russell and had the drivers seat modified, and the passenger seat recovered to match with the Know-Place gel still in it.

First few rides on the new Russell I was concerned about the wings. They felt funny and looked even worse. And the slippery leather seat was sliding me into the tank, which I did not like. Sent it back to Russell with my observations and instructions to carve a deeper seat pocket in the back to keep my butt back from the tank. They did, and it was perfect.

But then SWMBO saw how much comfort I was getting and wanted a custom saddle in the back too, so I had to scrounge another stock passenger seat from the classifieds and sent just that seat in to be done up like mine. That way I could keep the recovered KnowPlace gel seat for solo riding days and not have the tractor like seat in the back. You see, I was still sensitive about the looks back then.

I would hate to add up what all of that "education" cost me. But about 80k miles of blissful butts riding took place on those seats, and they are still on the bike at my Son's house, so whatever the cost, it was worth it for the lesson.

When I bough the new 3rd Gen in 2014 I immediately borrowed a seat from a friend and sent those stockers in for the full-on treatment at Russell as I have learned my lesson well, and I have changed my opinion about what the back seat looks like when SWMBO isn't on it.

They don't look ugly to me... they look comfortable.

 

[Bounce]

A wise man once said...

all that stuff right up there ^

 

[SacramentoMike]

I did an up-and-back trip to Redding, about 160 miles each way, on Friday. Arrived about 9, all finished before 2:00. Seth had an assistant who just seemed to do helpful little side jobs, like removing the old vinyl and packaging for shipping, etc., but Seth did all the work on making the seat, shaping it, covering it, everything. There were two of us who rode in, and I understand that's how he likes to schedule them. Nice little operation--it's all out of his house and garage, which is set up as a very functional workshop, with a comfortable backyard patio to sit and relax or talk to the other customer, but he was very open about letting me hang around and watch and ask questions as he worked too. He's quite a craftsman, or maybe I should say artesan.

He works very quickly, making the cuts and drawing rough designs on the new foam with a marker freehand, then shaping the foam with grinders, cutting the fabric, and even sewing it up. He's about 30, and tells me this is the only job he's ever had (started by working for one of the Mayers at Russell), so he's made literally thousands of saddles. Here are some shots:

First he cut a place to insert some nice comfy blue foam out of the stocker. Then he glued the white blocks of much stiffer foam on the sides to form the supporting "wings," first marking it freehand, then rough-shaping with a--something. Knife? Saw? I wasn't watching when he did that, but I know they started out as brick-shaped rectangles (stacked up in a couple of the pics). I know Russell uses springs in their saddles, and I understand if you're a heavier feller, like 250-plus, you may need that, but this stuff is very supportive for my svelte 215.

Once it's set a while, he shapes it with grinding discs, rougher first and then more fine. Messy. Those are a couple of sledgehammer heads just weighting it down while he grinds and while all the glue dries.

Adds a layer of foam on top--glued--and shapes it again. Starting to look right.

Then he cuts the cover from the vinyl you chose, bonds another layer of foam to that, and sews the top and side pieces together, also freehanded. Very skillful. A little stretching and stapling, a test-sit or two, and it looks like this:

( I didn't have the pillion seat worked, but he re-covers it as well to match.)

et voila!

It felt very good for the couple of hours it took to get home, but I expect to really come to appreciate it much more before I get home from Colorado in a few weeks.