BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

I love my new RT but I got to thinking about my big tour next year and about my comfort for long days in the saddle.
I don't want to go to all the expense of a sergeant seat etc.
There are lots of riders on here and all must have varied ways of relieving numbness.
What do you use?

You have only had it a week.  The Iconic has the standard size seat which is well padded anyway.  I have the low seat and have no problem with 3 to 400 mile a day runs. So give it time I would suggest.  Many here will tell you to throw away the seat the pegs and move the bars.

On other bikes, I've taken the covers off, cut a piece of memory foam 1" thick to the shape of the seat and refit cover
Haven't felt the need with the RT's!

I'm not fortunate to be able to ride every day and get more used to it. I have covered over 400 miles to date and have decided to make any future miles as comfortable as possible. If that means buying a gel seat, sheepskin or Airhawk that's what will happen.
Even dear old Ewan used an Airhawk on his long trip with Charlie.
Bar backs are going to be ordered to help with posture and a more upright riding position.

I assume before you bought a £20K+ bike you tried a demo.  Was it not at that stage obvious it wasn't going to be comfortable for you. As you are aware the covers on the Iconic seats are custom ones and if you swap the front one it will look like a dogs  dinner.  The only bar risers I have ever seen for the LC are to put it mildly, pig ugly.  If you do change everything keep what you take off in a safe place.  No dealer will ever take it back if it's not returned to stock.

I took several test rides before choosing an RT over my GS.

Judging by loads of previous posts on here and elsewhere just goes to show there are an awful lot of riders with the same issues.

I would have loved to have bought a bike that was 100% perfect for me but I guess it was just not meant to be.
How many can say that they have not modified their bike in some way?

stayingupright wrote: I took several test rides before choosing an RT over my GS.

Judging by loads of previous posts on here and elsewhere just goes to show there are an awful lot of riders with the same issues.

I would have loved to have bought a bike that was 100% perfect for me but I guess it was just not meant to be.
How many can say that they have not modified their bike in some way?

Have no issues with the seat at all, covered 4k since April, haven't bothered with risers either. But if I did have an issue with the seat, have used air hawk in the past and they have been good.

Think you will find that the seat swap bar moving brigade mostly live the other side of the pond.  But their riding is much different to UK with much higher mileages done. But it's your bike so best of luck with your modifications.

I came from Harley's as my last few bikes and I spend a small fortune trying different seats and mods to those seats. I'm a big (fat) guy so that is fully half my problem with seats. I assumed I would have to go aftermarket or mod the stock seat on my RT and after the first several hundred miles I still thought this would be the case.


But then something funny happened... I learned the proper way to sit on this bike! On the Harley's with the feet forward position all your weight is on your butt which quickly tires, especially if you're carrying around a lot of extra weight. But with the RT the seating position is different. At first I was just kind of plopped straight down with my knees angled out like the HD. This put too much weight on my inner thigh area which fatigued fairly quickly. But then I started to push my knees inward and hugged the tank cutout areas with them. This dramatically improved comfort. Your legs take some of the weight off and the stock seat became magically very comfortable even for long trips.


Now, everyone is different and has different levels of comfort. Especially if you're going to be doing very long rides. But if you don't already do the 'proper' seating technique like I describe above, give it a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. If I was going to add anything at this point to make for even longer riding comfort I'd almost surely go the AirHawk route first. Gel seat mods can be great but can sometimes be awful. They are all so different. The best gel mod I had was by a company called ASTech that takes your stock seat, cuts out the stock foam and puts in their own proprietary biker gel then layers memory foam on top of that with decreasing levels of density. I had that done to a Harley seat and it was excellent but pricey.


Good luck and keep us posted on what works for you.

The original seat for me was just a chunk of soft bouncing foam. After an hour it was just constant moving around trying to get comfortable.
A custom made seat for anybody is always worth the money. You go in and he looks at you on the bike and a seat is made. Then you go for a test ride and more adjustments are made. Sometimes you come back a week or month later and get it fine tuned some more. Then 10 years of pure bliss go by. A mail order off the rack aftermarket seat is not a custom seat.

Airhawk has worked for me - hasn't cured the KnumBumItis but has extended the "comfortable" riding time from 1 to 2 hours at a time, after which I stop and have a stretch/break/coffee/refuel etc anyway.

Hi


For me the seat is just getting comfortable after 600 Miles.  found this with other new bikes  it take a few hundred miles for the seat to give sufficient in the right places.

Had my standard seat re-modelled/re-upholstered by Motorbike-Seats of Coventry.  Made a big difference to comfort levels. Standard seat uncomfortable after an hour or so. Can now ride for several hours without a stop.  Much cheaper than a new seat.

I did a lot of long days on my 2013 R1200RT and my answer to minimising numb bum was to send my seat to "Elite Motorcycle Seats" :
http://www.sussexmotorcycles.com/elite- ... seats.html

I asked them to make the seat flatter (less "cupped"), reduce the slope down to the front and raise the overall height.  The changes weren't huge but I found them effective. I'd used the seat in the higher position previously and was able to use it in the lower position.

I've got a 2017 R1200RT SE on order and the 400+ miles I have done on the demo bike suggest that the new model is comfier as standard - we'll see how that works out over the miles I'm planning for next year.

As we are all different shapes and sizes, we all have different aches and pains when riding, although it does appear that not everyone on the forum appreciates that?


I find that after about 100 miles or so, numb bum sets in. I intend using these guys to replace some foam in the seat on my bike


http://motorcycleseatworks.co.uk/page2.htm


http://motorcycleseatworks.co.uk/page25.htm