I should get a job as a demanding test bed for seat comfort since decades of riding numerous bikes have never presented a comfortable perch for more than half an hour. This I speculatively attribute to a certain bodily scrawniness sorely lacking in natural padding.


So I'm pleased to divulge that I found an aftermarket seat for my 2012 V-Strom 650 that actually works for me. It's the Saddleman Adventure Track model. It's also available for some other bikes.


The design differs from 99% of seats in that it has a centre "pressure relieving" cut out, a concept that is now a common feature of bicycle seats.
I have no idea if it's actually the central channel which makes this seat comfortable, as opposed to the specific layers of gel and foam it incorporates, but it deserves a nod.

Saddleman seem to be producing some nice seats recently. Any pics with the new seat on your bike?

I've never seen a Saddleman in person but read a couple reviews. They do a seat for the DR650 as well, it's been well received in DR650 community.

But seat evaluation is subjective. OEM's don't always spend a fortune on seats because they know most riders never do more than an hour at one time, so only top of the line tourers get the fancy seats. (GoldWing, BMW RT)

I never had a problem with my stock V-Strom seats (90K miles on one, 12K on another) My '02 seat did get a bit soft over time but did many 400 mile days, back to back to back. Not too bad, but I was in "riding shape" and know how to cover miles and not kill myself.

Once rode a Vstrom with a Corbin and was surprised how nice it was. Corbin seats don't always suit me on certain bikes. Although I DO have a Corbin on my DR650 and love it. Hit and Miss with Corbin I guess.

Seat comfort can depend on body type, rider posture and how well conditioned the rider is for doing LONG road days, day after day. I've not tested many aftermarket seats but have owned and tested many bikes with stock seats.

Most stock seats are horrific for riding more than about two hours.
As I said, I thought the Vstrom's (especially the NEW Vstrom like yours) stock seat was quite good. Maybe not 10 hour a day good, but to me, everything felt just right. Loved the riding position on the new DL650's. Seat is firmer than earlier models too. By comparison, most OEM seats are torture racks compared to the Vstrom stock seats.

I just checked their site for my bike.

Nearly $400... Holey crap.

And it doesn't even look like anything different from the stock one..

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

$400 for mine, too, and no picture on their site!

I find my Corbin great - all day comfort, no problem. I've no natural padding either!

Sorry Mollydog, I haven't mastered getting photos into posts yet. But
I do see pictures on the Saddlemen site that clearly show the centre channel design. Someone pointed out that this idea, essentially splitting the seat,
is an old one found on farm tractor seats going way back.


These are pricey indeed, over $500 in beaten down Canadian dollars. Yanks and Brits have nice buying power these days compared to the loonie. But it appears to be a quality product which worked out well for me.

I think the center channel thing is the coming thing ... and I believe it works!
Never tried on Motorcycle but have on bicycle. Better! Let us know you're is feeling after a few long rides!

You can sign up on Google for Picasa web photos. Pretty easy. They lay out how to do it. Basically you take photos from your computer, up load into
Picasa, then store them there in galleries. Then post them on forums. Good step by step tutorials if I recall.

try seat concepts