Yep, don't be. So what can you do? Here's what I did:
FYI, the saddle pictured above comes from my 2007 V-Strom 650 and has 140.000km on it (stay tuned for a really long term review on this bike). In other words, even if it came perfect out of the factory it would be far from perfect today anyway. I have done zero mods to the foam yet, instead I have tried various add ons through the years. Shipskins, artificial shipskins, borrowed an airhawk for a while, DIYed an airhawk (out of an inflatable neck support in case you wonder) but non of them brought things to a whole new level. Fortunately we're not all the same so each to their own on that but what felt like a game changer to me was a mesh cover (hence my saddle looks like that). I still use the one from Ravetech and I must say that this thing feels unbreakable, keeps the saddle always clean and dry allowing dirt and water through and is truly a gift in the summer with all the airflow it offers. Worth every single cent and the above are enough reasons to get one but it also adds some comfort itself as this material is a very welcome suspension between your butt and your saddle. You already couldn't ask for more from a saddle cover but what I found as an extra gift out of it is that it also allows a lot of experimenting with materials you can put underneath to make it even more comfortable without changing the optics of it. Proof is that as my saddle looks like in the picture above, it has the following pieces under the cover:
Far from perfect as I cut them by hand rushing to try them out but I was too happy with the result to finish the "I'll do a better job if it works" project.
Where do they come from? Out of a piece like this:
A white one obviously but I didn't have a spare white to picture. These are soft floor pads for playrooms that you join them as a puzzle. Can be found dead cheap in toy stores and can be repurposed for more things than you can imagine.
Obviously, the size and shape of the DIY pads you'll have to cut depends exclusively on your butt's preferences (how that sounds eh?😂) therefore I am not gonna try to convince you what works best for yours but I wish you nail it from the first try as I did since I know my butt better than anyone else and chances are you know yours as well😊.
Placing them where exactly comforts you and keeping them in place is a bit of a challenge but you can get there even without great skills if you have some time to spend and believe in "patience is a virtue". Using glue won't do the job unless you use ones that will also cause irreversible damage to your original seat cover so I went with duct tape (if you have better ideas I'm all ears).
When I was done it looked like this:
I'd like to give you some tips at this point:
- Don't cut larger pieces than you really need.
- Consider the distance you prefer to have between the pieces before cutting them as this distance will define your saddle's "ballroom"😉.
- Work the tape carefully on the edges of the pads trying to minimise their free play.
- Not sure about others but personally it felt much better leaving most of the curvy rear side of the driver's saddle uncovered cause if you put material all the way up it kinda pushes you forward and I hate that. Considering that most guys are chubbier than me this might be the way to go for the vast majority of you.
Of course, with the mesh cover (or any cover) back on, the optics are back to acceptable:
Hope it worked for you, let me know in the comments.
Safe 'n comfy rides!
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