Seat options anymore

[mcompton1973]

So. I like my bike. Cant WAIT to get all 4 cylinders working...haha.

 

The only thing I DONT like. The seat.

Now, I think it is more to do with THIS seat. Feels like perhaps some prior owner weighed twice what I do. Its just flat with little padding.

 

Are there seats out there still that are good? Aftermarket? Or is this another scour CL thing? Before I go up and see Snyper this weekend, I might look to see if my 83 or my 86 parts bikes seats are any better.

 

Thoughts?

[snyper316]

So. I like my bike. Cant WAIT to get all 4 cylinders working...haha.

 

The only thing I DONT like. The seat.

Now, I think it is more to do with THIS seat. Feels like perhaps some prior owner weighed twice what I do. Its just flat with little padding.

 

Are there seats out there still that are good? Aftermarket? Or is this another scour CL thing? Before I go up and see Snyper this weekend, I might look to see if my 83 or my 86 parts bikes seats are any better.

 

Thoughts?

 

Check with Rick Buttler in classified under member venders he does wonders with seats from what I have heard, that is gonna be my next step.

[CaseyJ955]

After a few decades the foam does tend to break down. I spoke with Butler and read thread after thread of praise for his work. I plan to send mine off over the winter. One thing is fur sure, cant argue with the price. Its a fraction what I paid for my custom Vmax seat. My Sprint seat redoo was over $600 and Rick does our seats for well u der 100, im in! Mine is OEM now and probably the best stock seat I have ever had.

[cimmer]

On occasion you can find an aftermarket seat on ebay for the 1st gens. I was able to pick up a Corbin with drivers backrest for about $140 shipped to my door. I had a buddy get one for $75 for his Corbin. Both of us like these seats better then the stock ones and they do seem to sit just a bit lower then the factory one and the passenger seat is flat so the passenger isnt sliding forward on long rides.

 

Rick F.

[mcompton1973]

Do you have a number or email for him?

[CaseyJ955]

Here is a direct link to his classified.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/photopost/showproduct.php?product=21&title=butt-butler-seat-mod&cat=16

 

 

I didnt know there was a Corbin for a Gen1. My experience wirh Corbin has been overwhelmingly negative, they are very heavy, very hard and usually shaped all wrong. I couldnt sell the one off my Vmax fast enough. After 2 hours it was pure torture. Some of the bigger guys do like them, if you have a robust posterior you may find it comfortable but im not aware of to many narrow guys that like find Corbin usable.

 

I cant wait to have rick do mine but im using it as a daily rider. Ill have to get with him on it pretty soon..

[Yammer Dan]

Rick won't do Corbins. I don't care for the things!! Not bad just don't like.

[bongobobny]

Another -1 for the Corbin on the 1st gen, it makes you feel like you are sliding forward all the time, and seemingly hard as a rock...

[cimmer]

These were used ones and seems to me to offer more support and more comfortable on a long trip. I also find that there is more lower back support to were I dont use the drivers backrest much either. I found the MKII seats to bother my inner tights on a long ride but then I have a skinny boney butt also.

 

Rick F.

[RedRider]

It depends on what you are looking for. If you want to go from a 100 mile seat to a 200-250 mile seat, the Butt Butler is the bomb. Rick does really good work.

 

If you want to do major miles - Russell Day Long. Best seat evah!!

 

Not cheap, but is custom made and will provide you with comfort for as many miles as you want to do.

 

I have one on my 2nd gen - done multiple back-to-back 1000+ mile days without issue.

 

Son has one on a 1st gen - done 1000+ days with no issues.

 

RR

[CaseyJ955]

Wow, I like the look of those Day Longs.

 

Like Cimmer I have a narrow backside, so hard seats like Corbins are out of the question. Oddly enough seats that are too soft are not much better. I dont think I could comfortably do 1000 mi on the stocker but I did over 1000 in two days in the first real ride of the year with not to much difficulty. In my experience thats pretty damn good for a stock saddle. I figured Buttlers mod would get me where I need to be but I'll have to investigate the Day Long. I think bang for the buck it would be virtually impossible to beat Buttlers mod....

 

Ok, just got off the phone with Russels. It rang 3 times and a guy answered the phone (not an automated system) and had all the answers, was patient while I formulated questions on the fly, never felt like he had something better to do than talk to customers. In my experience outstanding customer service like that is strongly indicative of a quality product/service. After a conversation with this highly peasant, knowledgeable person I found out that to have my driver seat redone and the full saddle with both backrests recovered in Brown/Tan leather I would be out about $1000. It's a decent amount of scratch, especially for an old bike but I have had a couple custom saddles made before and this is not the place to be cheap. I will spend the money but my production date would be Aug, so I'm just going to do it over the winter when I have the bike apart to install the Vmax heads/cams. As long as I dont buy one of the BMWs I'm test riding this week I'm going to get a winter production date from him and go forward. It looks like just a basic solo seat redo is a lick over $500 for the Venture so thats quite reasonable. I'm going to do the full monty to get rid of the black vinyl.

[RedRider]

I've never heard anyone say they wish they hadn't gotten the Russell.

 

RR

[paysaw]

I have a Ventureline seat with backrest.I will sell cheap if anyone is interested.PM me .thanks.

[jasonm.]

I had a travelcade for 20+ years. They changed their name to Saddlemen and now make mostly H-D seats. You must know if you find one of these Travelcades...that have the best foam BUT the seat pan way back on mine was fiberglass because of patent laws and they put a rubber edging to prevent it cutting thru the vinyl . But It was just 4 years before mine had issues with vinyl cuts. But repaired the tears yearly with Chamois cloth. The travelcade foam will fit an original plastic seat pan...the trick is finding a good cover.