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You can ask any Harley owner. Of course he'll tell you that he's proud of his bike. However, almost every Harley owner, maybe with the exception of the E-Glide Tourer complains about the uncomfortable saddle on his bike. Who is not familiar with the backpains and sore backsides after spending hours in the saddle?
The Milwaukee engineers in charge of product development have come a long way in the past 95 years. From motorized bicycles anno 1903 via Flatheads, Knuckleheads, Pans and Shovels all the way to the modern Evolutions, better known as the "Evos". Progress on all fronts, only not there, where we - the riders-, as far as I'm concerned, need it the most. Evolution means change and development. The saddles on most Harleys, however, at least those on the Softail series, have not experienced much in the line of evolution on the way to comfortability.
In the 10/95 issue of THUNDER CYCLES I wrote about my experiences with saddles made by Mustang/USA. During a vacation in the United States, I visited Mustang’s production facilities and saw how they built saddles. What I saw convinced me! What I mean is, Mustang has found the solution for comfortable riding. A friend of mine who rides a Road King and I ordered saddles from Mustang after I returned home. He has been riding with a Road King Ultra Touring Seat and I've been riding with a Wide Studded style Touring seat on my Heritage Softail, and I wrote about our experiences with these saddles in the 12/96 issue of THUNDER CYCLES. For weeks after the publication, I was getting phone calls from readers who wanted to know where they could purchase these seats.
During the 1997 season we've been riding on Mustang’s the Road King Solo Studded style seat with a built-in driver's Backrest (see the Product News in THUNDER CYCLES 5/97).
The Solo seat with the Backrest was originally designed for the Road King, however its popularity caused Mustang to send their designers back to the drawing boards and not long thereafter they were able to offer the Solo seat /Backrest combination for Softails. The rider can adjust the backrest up or down in four different positions, twist it sideways to match the shape of his back and move it backwards and forwards up to 3". All of these adjustments can be made without getting off the bike. The backrest can be folded down forward onto the rider's seat to ease mounting and dismounting from the bike. Special nylon washers ease the adjusting procedures and assure a firm tight fit.
The Road King Solo seat is 17" wide and is slightly deeper than Harley's original seat. The Backrest is 12" wide. All corners and edges are rounded and well padded for a maximum in comfort. Black pearl buttons, matching the Harley originals, form a border on the back side of the backrest and on the border of the Solo seat. The Backrest can remain in position when a passenger pillion is mounted. Mustang designed the Solo seat to match Harley's original seat and, as a result, the passenger pillion of the original Harley two-piece seat can be used in combination with the Mustang Solo seat. As an option, Mustang offers a wider passenger pad to be used with their Solo seat. In addition to being wider, it has an upward rise on the front. This form gives the driver additional support in the base of the back when riding with the backrest removed.
A formed steel baseplate is the basis for both saddles. Mustang’s design concept is a wide steel wing on both sides of the saddle and the pillion pad. The wings are welded to the sides of the baseplate and the foam base for both seats is formed around the wings. This construction doubles the comfort and assures additional support for both rider and passenger. The rounded front edge of the Mustang passenger pad is pushed up and forward of the rear back edge of the rider's seat and gives the rider an additional spinal and lower back support.
The Mustang engineers really did something for the flowing lines of the Road King. The gap between the tank and the "nose" of the saddle, a distinct distraction in the lines of the Road King with the original equipment, was not eliminated. The smooth transition from the tank to the Mustang saddle really makes the Road King look slimmer. The first impression one gets when seeing the Road King Solo seat is that it just might be a one-of-a-kind custom seat . This just isn't so, it's a production seat.
Installing the Road King Solo saddle takes less time than the removal of the original Milwaukee equipment. Typical Mustang.
Since the seat is lower than the Harley original they have, in addition to the comfortable positioning, another important advantage. Riders with short legs, like my 5'-10" buddy Harold, are closer to the road and finally have that needed "traction" on the asphalt. Thanks to the Mustang seat on his Road King, I Don’t have to push him out of any parking spaces that he drove into.
On a sunny Sunday morning my girlfriend and I took off to meet up with Harold and his wife. When we parked our Heritage in front of Harold's house, Harold and his wife greeted us with different expressions on their faces.
With a big, broad smile on his face, Harold stood next to his Road King on the driveway leading to his house. "With the exception of the sofa in my living room, I've never had anything more comfortable under my backside", exclaimed my buddy. He had already completed his first mini-trial-run with the new saddle, and he was completely satisfied. "I know the Mustang-Feeling of sitting lower and having more side support but this Backrest is a blessing for me. It lets me handle the heavy Road King much better. I can really ride relaxed."
His wife didn't look at all happy and complained...that's a Solo seat. What am I supposed to do while you're out side, bake a cake?"
Harold had the solution to his wife's problems. Within a matter of minutes, we had the pillion mounted and were ready to take to the road.
We took off for our first long test ride and headed southeast on the curving road along the south side of the Elbe River outside Hamburg where we live. No sliding around on the saddle to soothe the pains that weren't there, and the combination of the high front edge of the pillion and the high back of the driver's seat really gives my lower spinal area tremendous support. What a joy for a backache-stressed rider! With a sharp twist of the gas grip there's no sliding back in the saddle. Another plus factor of the deep saddle and its high back.
During our first stop for gas we talked about the new "feelings". Both of the girls voiced their opinions; although the pillions on the Milwaukee originals on the Heritage and the Road Kings had a certain degree of comfort; they were convinced that the Mustang seats were more comfortable. My girlfriend was convinced that Mustang’s Wide Studded Touring seat was the best thing that ever happened to a Harley.
After clocking off more than 1000 kilometers in addition to two long hours, Harold and I kept shaking our heads and asking each other, "Why doesn't Harley equip all their motorcycles with such comfortable saddles?" That's one question that Milwaukee still can't answer.
As far as Harold is concerned, there's no more debating: "Either I ride in my Grandpa chair from Mustang, or I quit riding!"
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