I used Sheep skins over 20 years ago when touring on my BMW RS and GS. This turned out to be a "half-assed" solution if we are talking about true distance riding. Nor am I a fan of Gel pads or foam pads. Sure, they are soft and cushy for the first hour ... but what about after that? Nothing beats a custom seat.
A good seat needs to be firm, wide and properly supportive. Do it your self hackers rarely get it right. There is actually something to this ... that is why aftermarket seats are pretty expensive.
I don't know if you have good custom seat makers in the UK but certainly there must be somebody building touring seats or custom modifying a stock seat for touring?
If you are on a DL650, the first solution is to get the DL1000 seat. Fits straight on and much better than DL650 seat. I put over 70,000 miles on two DL1000's and never had a comfort issue, solo or two up, doing many 500 mile days, day after day. Best stock saddle I've owned. But a custom seat would be even better. I rode a Vstrom with a Corbin seat for a day and loved it.
There are probably half a dozen great custom seat companies in the USA who do Vstrom seats. Corbin does a nice one that I liked, as mentioned.
Many others too, do some searches and ask around on Vstrom boards.
|