OK, the FDL did not work as advertised. I'm pissed and am going to contact the owner of that shoddy business in the morning. Oh wait, I am the owner of that shoddy outfit.
But the possible good news is that, I think I figured out why none of these extra padding techniques (like air hawk, bubble wrap, gel inserts, etc, etc.) really works much where the Russel Daylong works like magic.
The first discovery was that the seat was much worse even with the same amount of padding when in the low position than up on high (for me). The pain points are those two "sitz bones", the two lower most protrusions from the bottom of your pelvis known formally as the ischial tuberosities.
When you are a relatively tall person, the pegs are high in relation to the seat. Your high knees will cause your thighs to be angled upward from your hip joint. So the only point in your derriere that is supporting your entire weight on a relatively flat seat is these two points. Short people won't have that problem (as much) since their thighs will be more parallel to the ground and help support some weight on the seat surface.
Even with several layers of bubble wrap (medium sized bubbles for maximum suspension and minimal bumpiness), and no Mikey none of the bubble wrap bubbles popped while riding even in >90 degree heat, they still felt hard on those two sitz bones after a couple of hours today. And I am positive that I was not Bottoming out the bubble wrap at those points either.
Since that wasn't working too well I decided to experiment a bit and try to make this kludge cover support more Russell-like. So I popped the blisters on the bubble wrap in the 5 to 6 inch area directly under my Sitz bones and then also built up the layers of bubble wrap behind and to the two sides of the now depressed area. That seemed to completely alleviate the pain I was having in the sitz bones area, but I did not have a chance to give it more time to see if other areas show up as painful now.
I think I may have just "re-discovered" what many of us had already known all along. The Russell (and other good custom seats) don't work because they are cushioned. They work because they are shaped right. I think if I can find an appropriate piece of foam to make a horse shoe shaped wedge out of, and then stick it under the cheapskin cover, I'll have something I can live with until the winter when Russell is likely to be able to service my seat.
@Skooter - As for the brakes, I have not hammered on them yet (bad break in for brakes) but I have noticed a lot more stopping power when using the brakes, especially the rear, and I think I can feel the linked braking keeping the bike more stable fore and aft when I hit that by itself. It's hard for me to judge on that as the suspension has something to do with the pitching also.
As for the three pages, I have not modified them yet. I've just been using the bike and figuring out what I really want to show up there. I'm thinking I'll want the Trip meter #1 (I reset it at fillups), Range to empty, Ambient Temp Engine Temp maybe? Those will be the more important data points for me.
The other pages will probably not get looked at much. I suspect I'll leave the screens on the windshield adjust page the most as I seem to diddle with that the most.
I'm finding I like the suspension set to 1 up and max soft for solo riding on back roads. Then just bump the damping up on the fly to Normal zero for smoother twisties. I have not yet found an optimum for when we are two up. I really do not think that this bike is under-sprung for us, and that was a fear with the ES going in. But we are not all that heavy together compared to many other couples (~ 320 lbs). and because of our bumpy roads prefer a more compliant suspension.
@Howie - I checked the screws on the locks. I did not ask the sales person who delivered the bike as I assumed that they would not really know the answer.
The screws are secure (right now) and I do not have the security torx bit to remove those little rascals. On my '05 I just destructively pulled them out with a pair of vice grips and replaced them with standard Phillips head screws. I am going to try and find the right tool this time and do it right. In the meantime, I will not lose any sleep over it.
