Posted by Amy on May 21, 2001 at 20:37:40:
I have been asked by a few people for my impressions of my new gel seat (the one from Suzuki) so here goes...
Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day here in Southern Ontario so my husband and I set out for a nice road trip. We left the house at about 12:30 p.m. and returned home at 11:05 p.m.! During that time we put on about 360 km (225 miles) but unfortunately, everyone else in Southern Ontario seemed to have the same plan as us so a lot of time was spent idling in bumper-to-bumper "tourist" traffic. It was a great ride with lots of scenic roads. (Would like to do it again sometime when it's not a holiday weekend!) Now, about my bum....
I never had the opportunity to put on 360 km in one day on the stock seat, so it's a rather hard comparison to make. The longest I spent in the saddle on the stocker was about 60-80 km, and my butt was a little sore in the tailbone area but not unbearably so. I don't find a HUGE improvement with the gel seat, by the end of the ride yesterday was my butt was definitely sore! But it's hard to say how much more sore it would have been without the gel.
As Jim and Don have said about the Travelcade seat, the Suzuki gel seat is worth the money in terms of improving the looks over the stock seat (no offense intended to those who like the looks of the stock "beetle" seat!) In terms of improving comfort, it probably is a little improvement but I wouldn't say it makes a WORLD of difference. It actually does feel a little less soft than the stock one, so maybe to the person who posted about looking for a less soft seat, this might do the trick.
My most sore part is definitely my neck and shoulders, and after reading the post about the Lazyrider bag I'm thinking about looking into one of those. I just wish they weren't so darn expensive. $175 US is pretty steep, and like anything else in motorcycle accessories, there's no guarantee that it will produce the results that I expect.
Anyhow, feel free to ask away if you have any other questions about the gel seat.
Amy