Tiger 800 seat woes

Well after a long distance trip I have to do something about the seat. This damn thing kills me after a few hours of constant riding. I am considering an air hawk but worry about it being too thick. Kontour wants quite a bit of cash for rebuilding the seat. Others I have looked at make the seat wider which is no good for off road due to standing. What have others done?

The issue for me is that the seat is too soft. After a few hours I sit on the plastic pan ... Therefore the only things I can do are:

- better foam
- better pressure distribution
- better seat

What I'm planning is to short term use a sheep skin, I will try the one my wife uses on her F650GS first. She's happy with it. It adds just enough padding and creates a better climate than the vinyl covered plank, so it might help me, too. If that works, I'll get my own. If not I'm trying an aftermarket seat.

There are mormally places locally where you can have better foam added for under $100 or so. That's another option.

I weigh 175 lbs and I agree. The stock seat creates pressure points and due to the shape of the seat, you can't buy much time by moving around on the seat. What do you do when it rains? Doesn't the sheep skin hold water?

www.greatdaytoride.com for seat rebuild.

www.kingoffleece.com for wet sheepskin

For rain: we live in California, so far haven't had rain since my wife got the sheepskin. Here's the FAQ:

http://www.alaskaleatheronline.com/servlet/the-template/careandfeeding/Page

I'll have to let you try my air hawk sometime. I only use it when I'm going to be riding all day or multiple days.
If you air it up right, then it doesn't add that much height.

I agree with the comments about the stock 800 seat's lack of comfort after about the first 20 minutes of riding.

For some years now, I've been using a wooden bead seat cover, first on a WeeStrom, then on a Multistrada and now on the 800 Tiger. No more butt fatigue on 500 mile days. Best ~$40 I ever spent.

I got mine from White Horse Gear: http://www.whitehorsegear.com/wooden-bead-seat-covers

Try a Corbin seat.

Awesome. Thanks, Rob.

I considered the Corbin but I don't want a wider seat. We also get a lot of rain here so I don't want to have to worry about a cover for the seat. Nice looking seat though.

I found the stock seat highly uncomfortable for extended rides too. The shape was wrong for me, and the foam slightly too soft so it overcompressed. Last winter I shipped the seat to Renazco Racing, and the seat I got back is excellent.

You can see it in this pic -- the profile is flatter front to back (I can actually scoot forward and back a little, which I never could on the stock seat due to the dished shape), and the foam is firmer and doesn't overcompress:


Just be advised that Renazco has a long waiting list. But the seats are worth the wait.

--mark

Any experience with the new seat in the rain?

Thanks,
Brad

I also have the 800 XC and a couple of weeks ago, I had Rick Mayer make a new seat for me. He is in Northern CA but most of his business is out of the area. He changes the seat foam and will make it as narrow, wide, low or high as you would like. I have all my seats done by Rick and obviously, more than happy with him. The wife and I also have a couple of DR 650s. He redid both our seats and now we can do 350-400 mile days on the DR. Unheard of with the stock seats. Rick rides Iron Butt events but is also a licensed nurse so he understands both sides of the pants. One other thing about Rick Mayer seats. The wife had Rick redo her seat, after 18 months. Her style changed and needed an adjustment, which Rick did with a smile and the best customer care anyone could ask for. We went to Yellowstone a couple of months later, from NoCAL.
rickmayercycle.com He should be back from New Orleans are next week. On a two week ride.

Dick

Spencer (great day to ride) does a great job on Triumph (and other) seats. Unfortunately, as of this summer, he isn't doing Tiger 800 seats - had not seen them yet. I'll inquire again, my Bonneville seat is WAY better now, and if he were doing them I'd seen my Tiger seat south for a winter break in FL.

Plenty. It's waterproof. The cover is vinyl (I specifically did not get the leather because the bike sees lots of rain), and Renazco uses a plastic barrier between the cover and the padding to keep out any water that may seep in through the stitching.

--mark

I'm just starting my search for a new seat, and also just found this sort of old thread. Has anyone had experiences with other seats not covered here already? (Or is there another thread covering this?)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Like most of you I also hated the stock seat on the tiger, but had a hard time justifying the price of a new seat, until a stop at my local dealer they had the Moose Racing seat, which they let me borrow for a couple of hours.

Extremely comfortable, it was like going from the floor to a lazy boy, the seat was $309.99 plus taxes, great seat the only drawback is that the seat area for the driver is covered with a "suede like material" and when it rains you can wipe it, on the plus side under the sun it only take about 10 minutes to be fully dry.

Overall I think is one of the cheaper seats out there, granted I haven't tried any other seat, for the money it is definitely worth it.

Just my 2 pennies

After reading another thread about folks using sheepskins I followed a link from there to your site.

I was surprised to find that the KoF product is only a $100 rain cover, rather than something that includes a fleece or sheepskin padded layer.

It would be hard for me to justify the expense of this cover plus the cost of a quality sheepskin, rather than bumping up for a custom seat with a waterproof seat cover.

Have you considered making a total solution? It sounds like you may have the resources for manufacturing something like this.

Try these guys:

http://www.alaskaleatheronline.com

Got my sheepskin from them, $60 plus another $6 for the nose strap (worth it!) & shipping. Made all
the difference in the North Carolina summer. It's real sheepskin, and if you take care of it properly
it will last and retain its natural water-resistance. This really helped on the 100 - 200 mi days.

Just did a ride from WV to Orlando, and by the time I got to Orlando, my rear was so sore I didn't
want to even think about the ride back. And this was after I added a 1" foam pad underneath. Yeah,
the stock seat is that uncomfortable on long rides. So, 1/2 way back I stopped in to a shop and bought
an Airhawk 2. Boy, did that ever make a difference. Once you get the air volume just right, long rides
aren't so bad anymore. Not perfect, but tons better.

I love my Alaska sheepskin buttpad.

Probably the best upgrade I did to the bike. With this installed, I no longer sink into the seat. Another issue with the bike is that the fuel tank prevents much airflow downstairs. Couple that with a soft and deeply dished seat, and you've got a recipe for monkey butt. This pad fixed that too. My biggest day was Missouri to Minnesota (about 12 hours the way I went). No issues. Felt like riding when I got home but it was getting too cold for it.

As far as rain riding goes, I just unsnap it and toss it in my top box. It comes off in about 1 second. Since I seldom do 400 mile days in the rain, this has never been an issue. Heck, a lot of the time, I'll just leave it on and keep on riding. My Aerostich Darien pants have never leaked.



I will have one of these on every bike I own from here on out.