Comfort Zone

.....I had a birthday last month and two things happened I never dreamed would. First, I received a letter inviting me to join the AARP. If you don’t know what those initials stand for, just wait.

.....If that wasn’t bad enough, I found myself checking out a new full Dresser at the bike shop; me, “the Willits kid,” sitting on an old man’s bike.

.....The AARP letter was easy to take care of, I burned it and will never acknowledge I got it. The Dresser was harder to forget; I guess my bones and joints were starting to let me know where they are, especially after spending the day on my softail.

.....Well, the birthday did have a silver lining. The lovable Dragon Lady said she would get me a new seat for my bike; better a seat than a payment book stuffed in the handy-dandy tourpack of the Ultra Glide.

.....Bike seats and I go back a long way. I recovered my Cushman seat with a cut up Army blanket in the late ‘50s only to discover this type of stuff should be left to people who know upholstery.

.....I once had a Royal Enfield with a seat so slick that if you cranked on the idle too hard you would slide off the back.

.....My first Harley was a Sportster, which had a seat equal to its fuel capacity-about 80 miles. Then I stepped up to my Softail and the fuel tank outclassed the seat by about three-to-one. On the stock seat I could ride to the bike shop in Santa Rosa; 90 beautiful miles from my house, but once I got there I couldn’t walk. The seat had soft padding that spread out as I rode and that made for a harder ride after 60 miles. It did have a good lower back support, though.

.....Over the years I acquired two other Harley Softail seats-a Springer and a Fat Boy-that had been discarded by riding buddies in favor aftermarket chairs. I thought the springer looked smooth and with that thick padding it would be fairly comfortable. How could I have been so far off the mark? That thick padding was hard as a rock and pushed in all the wrong places. Those features made the Spring a 30-mile seat at best.

.....The Fat Boy number just had to be comfortable, anything that wide must be cush, right? Wrong! You sit on it, not in it and like the Springer there was a zip back support. The poor back support was made worse by a seam on the top of the seat at the rear that hit you right in the tailbone. The Fat Boy turned out to be a 50-mile rider.

.....So I had tried and found out what most riders knew: stock Harley seats were anything but soft on their tails.

.....With birthday bucks in my jeans, I headed off to Santa Rosa V-twin in search of true comfort. They had a mind boggling aray of seats, all hanging on the wall just waiting to be picked. I spent a long time just looking and feeling and looking all again at at all the seats. There were button tufted, solos, touring and slick looking thin ones. Some were leather, most Naugahyde, some had metal basedplates, others fiberglass or ABS plastic.

.....After a thorough checkout, I settled on a solo seat made by Mustang called the Fastback; other manufacturers call that style a Gunfighter or Silhouette, I chose it for several reasons. It had a steel baseplate, ample but firm padding, a non-glare vinyl cover in a handsome pattern and dead straight seams with flawless stitching. The price was very reasonable at $163, so my birthday also became a bargain, compared to a new Dresser. Don at V-twin said, “If, after riding this seat for a week you decide you don’t like it, I will let you trade it in for another.” I couldn’t beat that offer.

.....I installed the seat right in their parking lot, a job made easy due to the Custom Chrome quick release seat pin I put on a year or so ago. The a steel baseplate made for a good, tight fit, unlike my stock seat. The seat’s front tongue was welded on and of thick gauge. The baseplate had four rubber bumpers to hold it in place and a carpet lining to protect the paint. As an added touch, the rear mounting tab was chrome plated; got to have glitter on the glide.

.....I rode home by a round-about way. It was like riding a different bike. No moving around as I rode to relieve the pain, good lower back support, what joy! I turned on the juice a few times and the rear of the seat held my derrire snug and safe; it was a seat for serious riding. The foam didn’t settle out on the long ride home.

.....Only when I got to the house and showed my new chair to the sweetie did I realize my mistake. Her present was a seat “we” couldn’t use. The next weekend I rode “Ole Blue” back to the V-twin to trade for a double seat.

.....The Fastback seat felt so good and fit so well I went right to another Mustang, this time with a wide Studded touring seat. This one also had a steel baseplate and perfect sewing, but holds two people on fairly wide platforms. It also was of dense foam and the nose of the passenger pad acts as a backrest for the rider.

.....Mustang welds wings on the baseplate to hold the foam on wider seats. The seat also had a stylish skirt trimmed with braided edging, and two leather laced conchos on each side. Chromes studs go around the skirt and rear passenger pad in a pleasant pattern. This seat was more money, $319, but I got alot more for it.

.....I swapped seats and rode away. After only one block, I knew this was the one. Even a new Dresser wouldn’t have been that comfortable. The wings worked fantastic; they gave great lateral support. My mom didn’t hold me that well when I was a baby! It took four hours and 180 miles to get home.

.....The next day I gave my better half a ride on the glide and she couldn’t believethe difference. Her only question was, “Why didn’t Harley put seats like this on the bikes?” I didn’t have an answer.

.....The next time I was by the shop, I posed the Dragon Lady’s question to Don, who, with his infinate wisdom, knew the answer.

.....“They don’t look cool.” I then looked at all the seats and agreed the thin ones do look cool. Don invited me to try one of the trim seats; I chose a Cobra solo, also by Mustang.

.....The Cobra was a two-piece unit; the passenger pad could be unbolted for that “take no prisoners look” look. The rider’s seat seat had about two inches of firm foam, a very chic pattern sewn in the cover and no studs or conchos. The passenger pad was just that and not much else, with an inch or so of padding. You could pack a passenger on a brunch run, but only if the dinner was two miles away.

.....Both the rider and passenger seatshad steel baseplates, rubber bumpers for a tight fit and paint protection. The rider’s seat bolted to the bike frame, using “L” brackets in the solo mode. When operating as a dual seat, those brackets can be removed and the seat attached with the chrome tab at the rear of the passenger pad. The seat and the pad were priced separately at $125 for the seat and $85 for the pad.

.....After putting it on I stepped to check it out and it did look cool and made the bike appear lower. I took the bike for a 10-mile ride and and concluded that this seat was in the same league with the stock seat, good for about 60 miles.

.....When I told Don of my findings he concured and said, “Some people will put up with a little discomfort for style.” He walked away mumbling something about “younger bones not needing much padding.”

.....I also tried out a Standard Studded seat and found it to be almost as good as the wide version for the rider but not as comfy in the passenger area. It did have a little cleaner profile and all the braid, studs and conchos trimming it out. The Standard Studded was $229. It also was made on a steel baseplate with the rubber bumpers and carpet.

.....I would have chosen it if the Dragon Lady was only an occasional rider. For my riding taste, the wide Studded worked perfectly. It all boils down to wether you want form or function.

.....After riding with my new seat this past month I don’t know why I waited so long to get one.

.....Don’t strip any nuts.