My fascination with long distance riding began certainly with talking with Dale “Warchild” Wilson mostly during the summer of 2004. I had known him some years and thought he had the coolest bikes around with all sort of “gadgets”.
His latest bike was a Yamaha FJR1300 and it reminded me of an updated version of the Kawasaki Concourse, but with a LOT more horsepower and updates.
He convinced me, but I was bummed I couldn’t just go pick one up from the dealer. I’d have to order and wait for one–possibly 6 months later. After about 37 phone calls to dealers in the Pacific Northwest I found one at Westside Motorsports and went up on September 1, 2004 to haul it down in my pickup.
It took me all of about 10 days before I had racked up the first 600 miles and first oil change. On September 11 I did my first Saddle Sore, a Bun Burner Gold the following Spring, an in-state Saddle Sore/Bun Burner, several rallies, and other rides.
Which I guess brings me to the reason I posted this blog entry. I actually bought a matte cutter some months ago for a picture project at home and the bonus was that I could spruce up my growing wall of IBA certifications and use my spiffy new Olympus E-500 DSLR.
Now, I think I need an Iron Butt Rally Certificate….or maybe even a top 10 trophy to add to the collection
The stock FJR seat may be wrapped in foam and vinyl, but it feels like a 2″x8″ from Home Depot after riding 100 miles.
One can tough it out….say the first 10,000 miles, but then being majorly annoyed most of the time isn’t a good way to motorcycle through life.
Enter an Airhawk cushion. These things are made by folks that make cushions for wheel chair users and know their stuff. It can turn a 50 mile seat into a 100 mile seat of cushioned air, but going twice a short distance before you’re jonesing for a gas station stop isn’t compatible with the LD lifestyle.
Mine came via the V-twin heavies of Cruisercustomizing.com where the guy that answered the phone coincidentally rode and FJR. He hesitated to confess this for a moment until I asked about sizing for a “sport-touring” bike. When I said “FJR “it’s like he was a Mustang officianado stuck working at GM.
The medium sized Airhawk was an OK expenditure of $170 including shipping, but after 20,000 miles my “tough-it-out” attitude was starting to waning again.
There were two group buys for custom seats and it’s fair to say Russel Day Long Saddles are the gold standard for LD riding, but talking with my buddy Warchild the quality seat maker Rick Mayer Cycle also looks up and coming. He was an Iron Butt competitor in 2005 so knows a thing or two about LD riding, seats look a little more stylish IMO, and wasn’t nearly as backlogged.
So, I sent off about $550 for a discounted custom front seat, reskinned rear seat (both in leather), rain cover, and free shipping. What I got back was VERY impressive piece of workmanship.
And riding the seat it become quickly apparant that where the stock seat was a 4 on the 1 to 10 scale this was a solid 6. An order of magnitude better than the stock seat…or even stock seat with an Airhawk. But I kep sliding forward and it still didn’t quite match the contours of my prodigious back side. Knowing adjustments are common in the process I sent it back mostly concerned about the tilt, but that it still had hot spots.
The seat came back and the front was built up a bit more and it was substantially stiffer overall as raised about 1/2″. It was now a 7 or 8 and I rode through the early 2006 season with it. I’d get a little fidgety after 150 or so miles, but it was just so much better than stock I figured it was as good as it was going to get.
For kicks I threw on the AirHawk and did the 2006 Utah 1088 and found it was even better….a solid 8. I rode 2 or 3 other events including about 7000 miles around the SPANK rally and figured I’d send it in one more time hoping for that last bit to a 9 or a 10.
To be sure I got all the details covered I even prepared a detailed picture anthology of my ass for Rick to consult. (warning, unless you’re a seatmaker you might not find this website aesthetically pleasing). Rick runs the deal that if you’re not satisfied…he’ll keep adjusting it for you. He covers the outbound shipping, but you cover the inbound shipping.
The seat came back with what Rick described as “an Ironbutt treatment” and I noticed was substantially different with this second adjustment. It was deeper in the key spots and when I sat on it there was some sort of harder material under the foam farther out on the edges….almost like wings. There appeared to be more ass cuppage. Sweet. Picture of the new and improved adjustment 2. Notice the deeper well compared to original seat.
I haven’t been able to ride on it yet, but sitting in my garage making motorcycle noises with my lips…it feels much better. I’m cautiously optimistic that it’s now a 10.
All I really know is that I’ll be starting in St. Louis and finishing in the same place.
I’ve been diligently reading through the 2003 Iron Butt Rules as homework for my ride in August 2007. Although there will undoubtedly be some rules changes I’m thinking they’ll be minor. I’ll be planning to dry run through the 2005 Leg 1 Bonus Listing as practice.
The motorcycle is on it’s center stand undergoing a major maintenance cycle, diagnosis of an electrical gremlin, and addition of farkles. More detailed on future blogs, but a picture of a sad, torn-apart bike.
It’s also my plan to turn this blog into the primary means for keeping track of me during the rally. Besides hoping I might have enough time and network connectivity to blog while I’m on the road, I’m planning to give several key friends and family pre-approved accounts to post. If I talk with them on the phone and am time-rushed to post myself it will be my hope they’ll come out here and post up they talked with me.
The reality that in about 8 months I’ll be engaged in a ride that likely will span North America….possibly multiple times and that I blocked out about 21 days from my calendar for this……is….well starting to sink in.
According to some…..I’m insane. I guess I’ll find out in August if I’m only half a bubble off center…..or a full bubble.
