rickcorwn
Well-known member
Well I got my Russell seat made and got back from Hyder so nows the time for a little report.
This is my second Russell seat, I've got about 120,000 miles on my first Russell and couldn't be happier with it. I put in some long days and some long rides on that seat. How long? Longest day, 29 hours. Longest ride, a 48+. Me, I'm 5'6" and about 150 pounds, not big or tall. I wasn't looking to lower to seat height at all. Touching the ground isn't easy for me but I'm more concerned with comfort on the bike. I didn't want to increase the bend of my knees, my knees are my biggest trouble on long rides and the FJR already has a "sportier" ridding position than I'm used to.
I did a ride in appointment, arrived just before they opened at 8:00AM. They were pretty stoked to get a look at the '06 FJR and see what might have changed for them. First up was getting a couple of pictures of me on the bike for the seat guy to work from. Then for me it was time to cool my heels for a while until they would be ready for a test fit. I got back to the shop around 10:00 AM and they had the suspension and the foam part of the seat ready. The guy that was building the seat commented that the shape of the seat pan left little room for their seat suspension. We put the seat on the bike and placed a piece of the top cover, the leather with a bit of thin foam on the back and I climbed aboard. The fit was good and it seemed to lower me maybe a half an inch. The seat builder poked around some and thought he needed to take a little off here and there.
More time to for me to just wait. It was a drizzly day and they had me pull the bike into a garage area to keep it out of the rain. I wanted to see if I could move the handle bars back some but didn't have the right socket or allen wrench. The techs at Russell were kind enough to let be borrow a couple of tools to get that job done. They let me access their wireless internet to surf around and read some mail and were all around very accommodating.
About 2:30 they tell me the seat is ready. We mount it up and I climb aboard, feels good but it hard to tell just sitting here.
Now it's Tuesday and I plan to be in Hyder by Thursday evening. So the more miles I can knock down today the less I need to do the next two so I'm not into hanging around I want to hit the road. Once I'm rolling I can tell that the seat is now higher than stock by maybe a half of an inch. Then after about 100 miles I'm thinking that the wings seem a bit too pronounced, they push a little too much on the bottoms of my thighs. The seat needs to break in, so I broke it in.
I've got about 3,000 miles on it now including a 1,000 mile day and it has broken in a good deal. It's still taller than stock but that's a good thing for me. I've noticed a substantial improvement in my knee pain over the stock ergos. I still feel that the wings put a little too much pressure on the backs of my thighs but I'm not sure yet whether it's bad enough to need to send it back for an adjustment.
Am I happy with the seat YES, it's a big improvement over the stocker. I am a bit disappointed that this seat isn't as comfy as my first Russell was right out of the box. My first seat was not a ride in and it was great right from the start. I was hoping that with a ride in appointment that the fitting would be more extensive. In hind sight I should have rode around some on the seat before taking off and maybe returned with some of my concerns but I was in a hurry. My bad.
While in Hyder I talked with another '06 FJR rider that had just had a seat made by Rich's. Her experience at Rich's sounded like the fiting was a lot more detailed. I sat on her bike and the seat was very nice and seemed comfy but it was lower. I also got a chance to look at a couple of Rocky Mayer seats, all very nice.
If your looking to get a lower seat a Russell may not be the way to go. Talk to them about it first. A Rich's or Rocky' might be better. A Russell has the advantage of the internal suspension for the larger riders.
This is my second Russell seat, I've got about 120,000 miles on my first Russell and couldn't be happier with it. I put in some long days and some long rides on that seat. How long? Longest day, 29 hours. Longest ride, a 48+. Me, I'm 5'6" and about 150 pounds, not big or tall. I wasn't looking to lower to seat height at all. Touching the ground isn't easy for me but I'm more concerned with comfort on the bike. I didn't want to increase the bend of my knees, my knees are my biggest trouble on long rides and the FJR already has a "sportier" ridding position than I'm used to.
I did a ride in appointment, arrived just before they opened at 8:00AM. They were pretty stoked to get a look at the '06 FJR and see what might have changed for them. First up was getting a couple of pictures of me on the bike for the seat guy to work from. Then for me it was time to cool my heels for a while until they would be ready for a test fit. I got back to the shop around 10:00 AM and they had the suspension and the foam part of the seat ready. The guy that was building the seat commented that the shape of the seat pan left little room for their seat suspension. We put the seat on the bike and placed a piece of the top cover, the leather with a bit of thin foam on the back and I climbed aboard. The fit was good and it seemed to lower me maybe a half an inch. The seat builder poked around some and thought he needed to take a little off here and there.
More time to for me to just wait. It was a drizzly day and they had me pull the bike into a garage area to keep it out of the rain. I wanted to see if I could move the handle bars back some but didn't have the right socket or allen wrench. The techs at Russell were kind enough to let be borrow a couple of tools to get that job done. They let me access their wireless internet to surf around and read some mail and were all around very accommodating.
About 2:30 they tell me the seat is ready. We mount it up and I climb aboard, feels good but it hard to tell just sitting here.
Now it's Tuesday and I plan to be in Hyder by Thursday evening. So the more miles I can knock down today the less I need to do the next two so I'm not into hanging around I want to hit the road. Once I'm rolling I can tell that the seat is now higher than stock by maybe a half of an inch. Then after about 100 miles I'm thinking that the wings seem a bit too pronounced, they push a little too much on the bottoms of my thighs. The seat needs to break in, so I broke it in.
I've got about 3,000 miles on it now including a 1,000 mile day and it has broken in a good deal. It's still taller than stock but that's a good thing for me. I've noticed a substantial improvement in my knee pain over the stock ergos. I still feel that the wings put a little too much pressure on the backs of my thighs but I'm not sure yet whether it's bad enough to need to send it back for an adjustment.
Am I happy with the seat YES, it's a big improvement over the stocker. I am a bit disappointed that this seat isn't as comfy as my first Russell was right out of the box. My first seat was not a ride in and it was great right from the start. I was hoping that with a ride in appointment that the fitting would be more extensive. In hind sight I should have rode around some on the seat before taking off and maybe returned with some of my concerns but I was in a hurry. My bad.
While in Hyder I talked with another '06 FJR rider that had just had a seat made by Rich's. Her experience at Rich's sounded like the fiting was a lot more detailed. I sat on her bike and the seat was very nice and seemed comfy but it was lower. I also got a chance to look at a couple of Rocky Mayer seats, all very nice.
If your looking to get a lower seat a Russell may not be the way to go. Talk to them about it first. A Rich's or Rocky' might be better. A Russell has the advantage of the internal suspension for the larger riders.
