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Arse friendly Sargent seat


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I recently got back from my inaugural road trip. Four days through the Catskills, Adirondacks and Finger Lakes area of NY state. Good trip to try out my "new to me" '99 VFR.

The bike came with many upgrades, one of them being a Sargent seat.

I typically go on an annual 9 day ride through the Appalachians on either my SV650 with gel saddle or my FJR (now sold) with a stock saddle. Without fail, my butt starts to ache half way through the day and by the end of the day is completely on fire.

On this trip we had long days, the longest of which was 10.5 hours (with some breaks). Normally my kiester would have suffered severely. Much to my delight, this Sargent seat gave me a pain free experience.

I know many of you have praised these and other aftermarket saddles. I thought I would throw my hat into the ring on this one.

Excellent saddle!

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I just ordered a new Sargent.  Going to compare it to my Corbin and keep whichever one I like better!

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  • 6 months later...
On ‎6‎/‎30‎/‎2016 at 9:41 AM, paulmeisterpk said:

I just ordered a new Sargent.  Going to compare it to my Corbin and keep whichever one I like better!

I know this was a while ago but what was the verdict?

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The Sargent was softer than the Corbin, and was a huge improvement over the stock seat, but I think I actually like the firmness of the Corbin better.  However, the Corbin seemed to have a hump in the middle of the seat, and it would try to split me in half over longer rides, so I had my corbin modified by an upholstery shop this winter to take the hump down. If that is the solution, I will keep the Corbin. My lighter friends seemed to prefer the softer Sargent seat when they rode my bike, but I'm 6'-0" 210 lbs, and I think I prefer the firmer Corbin.

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Ahh you still have both! Or access to them as way.  Were in Wisconsin are you?  I've been thinking about a new seat, kind of a preemptive strike for getting into some distance riding.  I have yet to sit on either of the two seats.  If you still have them both this coming season would you bill will to let me have sit on them?

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Epyon, give thought to getting your stock seat redone. I had Seth Laam at Laam Seats do mine, and I love it! So much more comfortable, looks better, I can still move around a bit in the twisties. It was around $350, if I'm remembering right, but he custom builds them to your height, weight and special desires. I got a little bump added up by the tank so I don't slam forward under braking. With my stock seat, I was squirming after 100 miles, now I've done 650+ in a day and could have kept on riding.

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I have to say that the extra storage afforded by the Sargent seat is a MAJOR contributing factor.  In all my tenure of motorcycle riding I have only ever had stock seats so I don't even know what I'm missing here.  When I did my trip to Chicago from Minneapolis (400 miles)  I did it on a stock Concours 1400 seat wearing cycling shorts under my Dainese touring pants.  I can't say that I had any issues.  Now granted I was stopping every 50-80 miles, this was my first tour, so that may have been part of it.  I don't see much information on the internet about custom seats, how they build them, why they do what they do and how to interpret what you want.  I like to educate myself about these kind of things before I jump in when ever possible.

 

650+ mile day is quite a day!!!  Any pictures of your seat?  What did you have him do to it?

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IMAG0521_zpso8ntrzc6.jpg


Here's the seat. That 650 mile day was at the end of a week booking it home from New Mexico to South Carolina. Most days were around 500 miles. Very comfortable. I just got back from riding down to Florida. Roughly 500 miles each way. If you think about it, being able to ride that far comfortably saves money from less hotel stays and maximizes fun riding time.

Seth cut down the foam, reshaped it, added several layers of different density foams and then recovered it in a carbon fiber look vinyl.

IMAG0518_1_zpszirsl1a7.jpg

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Oh interesting that he did the flared sides.  That looks kinda goofy to be and I would think the more contact with the seat your butt has the worse it would be.  But your account would seem to contradict that.  I'm so used to thinking about saddles like road bike saddles which really isn't the same.  Though I could do 100 miles on a piece of Carbon fiber covered with leather and be fine....  HEH thanks for sharing SC!!!

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Actually, think about it like this, the more butt contact, the more spread out the weight. This way you don't have pressure points. The seats a bit wider as I'm a bit of a big boy. He'll shape it and size it to your request.

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The 2 piece with storage under the tail cowl is pretty cool! I cut my stocker to replicate it for several years before I sprung for the Sargent. If you have a Givi rack you can get a second cowl and cut reliefs to allow the cowl to clear the mounts. Haven't done that yet. 

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5 hours ago, SCguy said:

IMAG0521_zpso8ntrzc6.jpg


Seth cut down the foam, reshaped it, added several layers of different density foams



Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk
 

 

 

^^^ This is what I wish I had done with my OEM seat rather than purchase the Sargent.    After I got the Sargent I still had to have it reshaped and multiple densities added to finally get it comfortable.  I've seen my Sargent dis-assembled.  The foam differs very little from the stocker except that it's somewhat harder.  It's a single density.   That probably works for some and not for others.  Multiple densities gives you some compliance and cushioning to reduce pressure points without bottoming (no pun intended  :tongue:) out on the seat pan.  In the end it worked out but it would have been a lot cheaper for me to just re-work the original seat.  The one pictured here looks great. 

 

 

 

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Thanks for sharing your experiences!  I still really want to try out what is available and go from there.  This is kinda like buying a new motorcycle.  You can't really get a good idea of what your buying until its too late hahaha. 

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Probably the best thing I ever did to my bike and for me!  I was good for maybe two hundred miles before (And then pain) and that was when I was considerably younger.  So when I really started doing longer tours the Sargent was the ticket and still is

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Having ridden all 3 at 6' 205lbs:

 

1 Sargent. A click above stock. Didn't like it much at first, but it grew on me after some time.

2 Stock. Miles better than:

3 Corbin. Worst. Seat. Ever. Heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to move around on.

 

 The stock seat on my '94 was re-done by the PO with added foam. It's OK, but the Sargent on my '99 is still better for long days.

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What are people's takes on stuff like an air hawk or other covers?  I want to do that Chicago run again just not sure I'll be funded for a seat investment of this magnitude.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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