Member Contributer vanion2 Posted June 19, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted June 19, 2011 Okay...so I know this isn't a full review....yet. Bear with me a week and I will give a full breakdown of the cushion after a nice 5 day Colorado trip. My wife and I met her mother and grandmother today for brunch and we saw her grandmother using this seat cushion. Turns out Costco is selling them right now for $15. Memory foam with gel inserts pinged my brain for a seat cover I was interested in buying for the VFR for longer trips. The problem was they started at $80 and went up in price from there. By the time I had finished adding the features I wanted it was about $110 for a seat cushion. I decided to wait. Not knocking the seat cover by any means but I only do long day trips only a couple of times a year. For commuting or weekend short rides the Sargent seat I have is more than enough comfort. Box But for $15 I am definitely willing to give this a try. I have been sitting on it for about a half hour now and it is still keeping my arse cool. It feels firm and supportive but not hard. Of course this means nothing until I have sat on it all day riding so expect more when I get back. Two immediate negatives come to mind. 1. It is not weather proofed so I expect to have a soggy arse if I got caught in the rain. 2. It is not designed for motorcycle seats so I will have to be a little creative with a way to lock it in place that won't interfere with its function or damage my bike. I don't see this as being too problematic though as I have all ready set it on the VFR for a test fit. It fits pretty good between the tank and the back lip of my seat. On VFR It does add about 3/4" of seat height so us vertically challenged riders will need to keep that in mind. I like the fact that it over hangs the thigh area a bit as this will help keep down on the pinching effect that leads to numb arse (at least in my case). I will admit though that it is all ready worth what I paid for it as I have a bad lower back and I can place this in any seat (work, car, truck, motorcycle) to help reduce discomfort on a daily basis. So tune in next week as I test how this measures up to life on the road. And I will include feedback from the wife as she will be using one on her GZ250 as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 The height , you should like, I know I do on the 800, plus the air is better , not as noisy. Costco HuH, You could buy some 2 inch stretch band at walmart sewing secttion to hold in place, For $15 I might even try that one. I often test which is best, my computer chair or my motorcycle seat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vanion2 Posted June 26, 2011 Author Member Contributer Share Posted June 26, 2011 So I just got back today and after 4 days of riding just under 900 miles round trip through tight Colorado mountain passes, grand vistas, roads still needing repair from last winter, and all around having a great time I can honestly say the pad was the best $15 I ever spent on a motorcycle. Numb butt? Not here. Crushed man parts? Nope. Sweaty arse? Nuh-uh. The pad stayed seated once I sat on it and away I went. Of course I had 5 days of perfect riding weather so I still can't say how it will handle the rain but I am contemplating buying a sheep skin cover to take care of that. Honestly, I didn't expect much when I purchased this pad but now I can't figure how I ever did without it. So if you are looking for a cheap way to reduce those long ride bottom woes get yourself to a Costco and pick one up now before they stop selling them. Oh...and the wife reports happiness with her's as well. Two thumbs up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted June 27, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted June 27, 2011 So I just got back today and after 4 days of riding just under 900 miles round trip through tight Colorado mountain passes, grand vistas, roads still needing repair from last winter, and all around having a great time I can honestly say the pad was the best $15 I ever spent on a motorcycle. Numb butt? Not here. Crushed man parts? Nope. Sweaty arse? Nuh-uh. The pad stayed seated once I sat on it and away I went. Of course I had 5 days of perfect riding weather so I still can't say how it will handle the rain but I am contemplating buying a sheep skin cover to take care of that. Honestly, I didn't expect much when I purchased this pad but now I can't figure how I ever did without it. So if you are looking for a cheap way to reduce those long ride bottom woes get yourself to a Costco and pick one up now before they stop selling them. Oh...and the wife reports happiness with her's as well. Two thumbs up. Vanion2 - this is just cracking me up . . . I did a 250 mile loop today. Despite having spent the cashola on the same seat in your pic, my arse felt like it was sitting on a 4X6 for about the last 50 miles. For a good hour or so before I got home I thought several times "When I get home I sure hope I can find that thread from a couple of weeks ago about the Costco seat pad - I gotta get me one of those". So the bike's out in the garage cooling off, I turn on the computer, and *here it its!*. And I live just 3 miles from a Costco to boot. Thanks for the post. For the money it's worth a try. Cheers ps - today's ride reminds me of "City Slickers" where Mitch (Billy Crystal) sings "Rollin', rollin', rollin', god my a$$ is swollen, Raw Hide!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I used a Wool sheep skin with foam underneathe, after riding a stock seat for 20,000 mile, I needed some dam comfort on my ass, and inner thighs,, I couldnt take it anymore. The sheep skins are not cool as advertised, they are pretty warm , avoid the long hair , it just tangles, they have the one with gel undernethe, that would be the choice. Im going to try one of the cost cos, if nothing else my computer chair will like, But I dont like it un attached Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Is that a sargent seat on the bike, it sucks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Polarbear Posted June 27, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted June 27, 2011 Glad to hear that those seats can be found cheap. And since cheap fixes are the topic of this thread, well... sort of anyway, I use bicycle shorts on long rides and synthetic underwear and the shammy and it works very well to keep you dry and comfy. It was suggested to me and it works (didn't want to fork out the money for a Sargent--and I sit too close to the tank for the Sargent to be worth it I think). C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer VFR Capt.Bob Posted June 27, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted June 27, 2011 I've seen some DIY seat mods that take a bicycle gel seat cover, un staple their seat cover to gain access to the seat foam then cut out the shape of the bike seat cover and set it into the recess they cut in the foam. Then they just re- staple the seat upholstery back into place. But for $15 this might be the thing for those long slab rides on extended touring rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vanion2 Posted June 27, 2011 Author Member Contributer Share Posted June 27, 2011 Vanion2 - this is just cracking me up . . . I did a 250 mile loop today. Despite having spent the cashola on the same seat in your pic, my arse felt like it was sitting on a 4X6 for about the last 50 miles. For a good hour or so before I got home I thought several times "When I get home I sure hope I can find that thread from a couple of weeks ago about the Costco seat pad - I gotta get me one of those". So the bike's out in the garage cooling off, I turn on the computer, and *here it its!*. And I live just 3 miles from a Costco to boot. Thanks for the post. For the money it's worth a try. Cheers ps - today's ride reminds me of "City Slickers" where Mitch (Billy Crystal) sings "Rollin', rollin', rollin', god my a$ is swollen, Raw Hide!" Well...I guess not everyone's arse is the same so I should add the disclaimer....YMMV. At least it was only $15 US. Yes, I have a Sargent seat and for me it was an huge improvement over the stock seat for comfort. I just have no natural padding so after a few hours of saddle time I find myself suffering just like Cogswell. The seat cushion seems to be just enough to get the job done for me (weighing in at 150 lbs). And I used the handle and attached it to my gear to prevent the cushion from falling off but the opportunity never arose for it to try to slip off. Now that it has passed the test I plan on sewing a strap to it to loop under the seat. I still keep forgetting to try my cycling shorts when I ride for some reason. I guess I have just never done it and don't think of them when I gear up for a ride. I should give it a try to see if this will add more comfort. As for DIY on the seat, I have seriously thought about it a couple of times but I can never get myself to commit to tearing apart a seat and most likely screw it up trying to make it better. I still stand by my opinion on the cushion though (as does my wife). She is 5'2" and weighs under 120 lbs and has a nice round "bubble" of solid muscle (Sorry...no pics forth coming on that one ) and myself at 5'7" at 150 lbs of bony bottom (or other wise known as the "cute small arse" by the wife) so this seat cushion may not be enough for everyone but perhaps combining with some of the above posted tactics may make things work for your individual needs. As for me, I know my arse is much happier with me for the $15 investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoothsailin Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I purchased one of those inexpensive gel seat cushions from Costco last year for use in my chair at the office. In all honesty I can't say I felt the pad improved my comfort much in that situation. Also, being another less-than-tall representative of the male persuation (believe I'm around 5'7' or 5'8") the increase in relative seat height after placing the ~ 2" thick cushion on top of the stock seat makes me less-confident when balancing my weight on my 700 lb ST1100 (plus the weight of a passenger at times)....all on the balls of my feet. However, when used on my '98 Triumph T-509 Speed Triple's the increase in height doen't bother me much and I feel the cushion may extend the comfort window somewhat during longer rides. Actually I had not considered trying the gel seat cushion on my recently-acquired 5th generation though. Since it sounds like I may be similar in weight and stature to Vanion2 (last week I weighed 151 lbs on the bathroom scale and suffer from a similar lack of padding in the posterior). So maybe I should give the gel set pad a shot on the viffer. Actually, so far I haven't found the the viffer's stock seat to be all that uncomfortable until outside temperatures climb into the 90's. Some people swear by the effectiveness of those beaded roller seat covers and while I can appreciation how this design should improve cooling airflow down under and perhaps weight distribution, I definitely don't feel one of these would look good on the vfr though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I sat in the bath tub the other day, normally use only the shower. Thats hard on the A$$ I told the wife, need to get a foam seat or something. Wfe says she dont have a problem, WOW! it was so uncomfy to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 So here I was a few weeks ago, finding a Costco, to buy a seat cushion, and you need a membership to buy anything. But I just went in and looked, never found any seat cushions like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted August 6, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 6, 2011 So here I was a few weeks ago, finding a Costco, to buy a seat cushion, and you need a membership to buy anything. But I just went in and looked, never found any seat cushions like that. I had the same trouble. The Costco near me didn't seem to have any and when I went to the service desk to ask about them they just shrugged. I couldn't find them on Costco's website either. The next weekend I went out of town and saw a Costco so I went in. They had a whole pallet of them next to the automotive seat covers. The Costco item # is 501080 and though the box says "Soft-gel seat cushion", the description on the receipt says "Coolmax". They are nice and cushy. BTW - I was in a Wallyworld before buying the Costco pad and they have one that looks almost identical - but IMO it's a POS compared to the Costco cushion - must be some sort of knock off. The "gel" material inside was some sort of lumpy perforated rubber that didn't look very substantial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Ranger77 Posted August 6, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 6, 2011 I got one of those from walmart when I flew down to get my ER-6N. I sure am glad I did because the seat on this bike is awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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