Why Upgrade Your Seat?
On a Harley-Davidson motorcycle of any age, the ergonomics only work for a small group of riders. This is why the aftermarket provides so many products tailored to fine-tune the rider and bike relationship. Sure, loud pipes save lives, but a proper seating surface can keep you smiling in the saddle while you churn away those many miles. We get many questions from our readers, fans, and followers regarding motorcycle seats and which one they should upgrade to.
Well folks, there is no easy answer regarding this subject. So let me frame up the basics for you. Not every seat is created equal. Nor is every person, their bike, riding style, and intended usage. With that said, there are some great off-the-shelf motorcycle seats that you can try and buy at your local dealership or independent seat center retailer. We suggest doing this first. But a lot of super short or super tall riders can’t rely on many seats sold at shops. Saddlemen, Drag Specialties, Le Pera, and many more have seats for these types of riders. This is when something non-stock needs to be employed. LePera has a line of “Daddy Long Legs” for tall riders and “Up Front” seats for those riders who are of a shorter stature. Saddlemen has “Extended Reach” seats for tall riders, and they will custom make any and all of you shorties a seat if you give them a call. We also wanted to state that both Corbin and Mustang also have a few great offerings for the “extreme-sized” rider as well.
Every seat has its own style, padding, stitching, and seating surface material; this is also something to take into consideration. A lot of riders have an “around town” seat that looks good and a “real ride” seat like a Road Sofa for racking up the miles. Some people opt to use gel pads to aid in the comfort of stock seats. Also, companies such as Saddlemen have specially formulated gel that can be placed in the rider and passenger areas, which works great for around-town, day-long rides or many-day long-distance riding. The only drawback with gel pads or having it internally in the seat is that in desert climates such as Las Vegas or Phoenix, AZ, the gel can get extremely hot under the midday sun, which leads to an uncomfortable “burning crotch” feeling when hopping back on the bike after a lunch or gas stop. But this is a very small occurrence, yet something I wanted to bring to your attention.
We have found that USA-made seats seem to be constructed better for real riding, and if you ever have an issue with it, you can pick up the phone and call the folks who made it to discuss your issues. This is always better than trying to get some offshore-assembled items fixed or replaced.
It seems to be that there are more seating selections than in the past, with many more being introduced seemingly every day. And just like PT Barnum of Ringling Brothers Circus fame said, “There’s an ass for every seat,” and this also stands true with motorcycle seats as well. We hope that we aren’t confusing you further with this fact-finding mission, but the key factor is to do your due diligence and sit on as many seats as you can before making your final seating decision.