[ Kenny Sagawa, Webike News Chief Editor ]
Once you sit astride, the "seat" is the place that gets on your nerves
Think about the first thing you'll be concerned about when you ride your bike. In my case, that's the seat. If I feel uncomfortable once I sit astride, I will feel uneasy and cannot concentrate on my ride afterwards.
Then what part of the seat makes me nervous?
The sitting feeling comes up first. A too hard seat makes me feel gloomy when I think about my trip ahead. If both corners of its side are bothering me, that's even more awful, for I can easily foresee my inner thighs ache each time I place my feet on the ground.
OEM seats are never that awful, but custom seats often turn out that way. The so-called "lowered" seats, whose inner urethane cushions are scraped out in order to lower the seat height, are the worst type. The reduced cushion not only makes you feel uncomfortable, but the seat becomes angled which inhibits you from putting your feet straight down, causing you trouble grounding your feet.
To tell you the truth, I've been making these kinds of mistakes over and over again. And that's why I can give you this advice.
The seat angle has been transformed with the trends of the time!?
The angle is the thing you should also be concerned. Though they are rarely seen these days, some of the seats of the supersport bikes, even OEM ones, had forwardly inclined seats in the past. It was probably designed that way to prevent the rider from shifting backward in case of an abrupt acceleration. However, this was terrible, for it caused the rider slip out from his position each time he applied the brake or drove on a rugged road.
I often saw riders driving in weird manners; stretching out their arms, not noticing that they are plunging forward. It's quite interesting to compare the riders' silhouettes of the past and the present. You may see that even a bike of the same model name, may differ in seat angles depending on their manufactured dates.
Likewise, it's not good to sit on a slippery seat leather. Though the original material cannot be helped, you should know that the grip force of a worn out seat surface deteriorates, just like a tire. The combination of a shiny seat and a pair of jeans is dreadful. You'll become one of those riders driving in such weird postures.
So I don't wax the seat and the tank whenever I wash my bike, and I wear a pair of leather pants when I decide to ride in a perfect manner. Yet, if you still feel the seat slippery, you should try re-covering the seat leather, for that is the cheapest and the most effective solution.
Finally, let me talk about the height. When I sit astride, it's needless to say that the height bothers me too. Not only in the case of an off-road model with a long suspension, but also in the case of a sport model, the vehicle height and its seat height is often kept high in order to secure the road clearance to earn the bank angle.
Nowadays, I see some models that are deliberately designed in a high centroid position style to make the rider able to tilt the bike in a brisk manner. Those sport bikes with high seat heights can be included in this type. Cruiser models, on the other hand, often come with lower seats in order to pursue the low centroid stability and the ease of ride.
As you are aware, many imported motorcycles have low seat specification models set especially for the Japanese market. Some even make it as its standard version. I really feel grateful for that. But I also have mixed feelings for this, for it looks like that they are telling that Japanese have short legs. Well in any case, it turns out all right if it's easy to ride.
How to choose a seat and the priority balance
By the way, in case you find two types of seats, low and high, I recommend you to actually try them both. Though the low type may have good grounding property, the high type might excel in many points once you start your bike, such as the feeling of unity with the nature, light maneuverability, or the good view.
Though it's difficult to keep the balance of the priority you ought to take, you have to decide this on your own. Try them and compare them, and give careful consideration. That's the real thrill of owning a bike anyway!
