seat gel pads?

[60ratrod]

So with my vulcan's seat being rather uncomfortable with my boney rear end i've been looking at seat options. The width on the seat itself is perfect, just too firm to be comfortable for anything more than commuting to and from work (about 45 minutes or so). I took a look at diymotorcycleseats.com and found the gel pad option and i am really considering it. My question is where could i find some of the gel padding to try working with, preferably a more local source, maybe in a big box chain? I'm also considering topping it with some memory foam

 

[Big Rich]

Do a Google search for the comfort of both materials used in motorcycle seats first. I think you'll find that people generally hate both materials....

I can tell you that memory foam will just flatten out after a short amount of time in the saddle (unless it's extremely thick).

 

[60ratrod]

The memory foam would be in addition to the gel. Maybe it's time to go to an upholstery shop to see what they have for scraps of foam.....

 

[RGM]

If the foam is too firm try drilling some holes in it. It is the cheapest option.

 

[60ratrod]

and sounds like the easiest too. I may give that a shot.

 

[dpep]

I do mostly long distance riding and I will wager my butt is bonier than yours. I have no acetol.

When I only rode my 1980 GS850G with its stock seat I used no extra padding and never had a sitting pain in 20 years. As I started taking trips on newer bikes, discomfort set in. I came to realize that the reason my bottom didn't hurt on the 850 seat was that I wasn't sitting primarily on my buttocks. Most of my weight was being borne by the bottom of my thighs. The G model seat is wide both front and back giving a nice platform for my thighs to rest upon.

Most other seats (and all seats on newer bikes as far as I can tell) are narrowed in the front to aid riders in reaching the ground with both feet while stopped. With nothing for my thighs to rest upon my thinly veneered butt bones were having to bear the weight. I have tried just about every kind of after market solution--foam, gel, air, beads, as well as combinations of them.

Nothing works as well as my 850G seat but for long trips the Air Hawk is probably the comparatively best solution I have found. It is also the priciest by a wide margin.

As you trial and error your solution try widening the front area of the seat. I usually put the seat pads on backwards, with the widest part to the front, to give my thighs more surface to rest.

If you aren't particularly worried about appearance here is a solution I have used twice to ride back to Florida from the Brown County Indiana ride. Cushion was $9 and change at WalMart and the cargo net will be under $10 just about anywhere you buy one. This actually worked very well.

 

[Guest]

I have both on different bikes. Memory foam on my 1000G. Seat foam was cut away and the memory foam installed and shaped. I Love it. The PO of my FZ6 put a gel pad under the cover and I hate it. Not that it's not comfortable, it is, but not like the memory foam. My problem is the heat it absorbs when sitting in the sun. It's a gift that keeps on giving. May be a good thing in the northern regions, but not in Fl. Ever heard the term, "My biscuits are burning"?

 

[60ratrod]

That's part of the reason i was considering having both gel and memory foam in the area i rework to provide the most comfort i can foresee. And the seats on both my gs650g and kz1000m1 are leaps and bounds more comfortable than the stock seat on the vulcan, but it also probably has something to do with my sportier riding posture with the gs sporting a drag bar and the kz sporting a clubmans bar, taking the pressure off my butt bones and distributing it more on my thighs. Both of those i can ride for hours with minimal discomfort towards the end