Custom saddle makers? Bill Mayer, Rocky Mayer, Russell Day Long?

Custom saddle makers? Bill Mayer, Rocky Mayer, Russell Day Long?

Wanna do a custom saddle for my R1150GS this winter. What is your opinion? Best looking, best feeling, best value? Post pics please

I tried both Rocky and Ricky Mayer "custom" saddles on previous bikes. Neither of them did what I asked them to do. In both cases, I felt like I wasted my money.

I suggest looking elsewhere.

I've only tried the RDL and that's the only one I needed to try. Wonderful seat. Cured all long distance ass problems. It's like the old tractor seats but with foam suspension. Just put my original back on to go to the dealer. What A POS.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=921371

Save some $$ and join the group buy.


JR356

Absolutely agree on Bill "Rocky" Mayer saddles. Total waste of money, and poor customer service after the fact. Comfort wise, it was possibly worse than stock. Very happy with my Russell Day Long.

Anybody hear of or tried SEAT CONCEPTS?

They look like half the price of the others.

I just had Saddlemen do one for my HP2 and it's great. They have a adventure series from their custom shop which is what I did. I have seen pics and reviews on the gs seats they have done. I also posted a review and pics on my HP2 seat. I did just under 4,000 miles on mine. It is a huge improvement over the stock seat and they were great to deal with. >>>>>>>I don't know how to link my post but if you search - hp2 saddlemen - there are pics and review there. Richard.

I've used Wunderlich, Touratech, Kahedo, BMW GSA, BMW standard height, BMW low seat, and two Sargent. I'm now using a Russell Day Long and I wish I would've gotten over their ugliness and price a long time ago because it is truly the most comfortable seat I've had on my 1200GSA. I even signed up for a SS1000 in two weeks its that comfortable. The Sargent was a close second, but after doing a 900mi day on it a couple months ago, I couldn't stand sitting on it for more than 45 minutes. Not sure what happened because I could spend 10 hours on it without even using my highway pegs. I think if you don't at least try a RDL, you'll always wonder if you'll find a more comfortable seat. I bought mine used from an inmate that was same height/weight as me.

I have one in a box out in the garage... it's like a barcalounger or something. whatever it sure isn't for me, just came on the bike I purchased used. many people love them surely, but it's not for everyone and that's a fact. (I also couldn't sit in a barcalounger or lazy boy either for that matter.) guess cruiser style seats just aren't meant for me as I by FAR prefer a more factory design that came on the GS. the oddest thing was hitting the turns, it's like taking a seat off a big old lounge chair and strapping it on a motorcycle. felt totally out of character for the bike and occasion. plenty out there tearing up the roads on their RDL's for sure... just not for me. yet another thing I need to toss on ebay someday.

I tried a bunch of different seats each seemed to be a little better than the one before. Custom and noncustom seats, then decided to try a RDL and wonder why I didn't get one sooner. Instead of wiggling around and trying to find a new spot that didn't hurt, I found comfort just sitting there and riding.

I"ve been using Rick Mayer since 1999, in 5 different bikes (BMW LTs and GSs) and very happy with the final results.
I can stay all day long on the saddle and no pain after.
Highly recommend. Customer Service is top notch and quality is great.

You say a GS, I have an '02 R1150GS. Will the seat fit it? Interested.....

I have had 3 Bill "rocky" Mayer seats on my 3 bikes and they have been great. I have done ss1000s easily. I always do ride ins for my saddles.

I got one of the first attempts he did. Fit nice, looked great as all his saddles do. He told me they had comments of sliding forward and boy howdy was he correct.I did not like it. You might give him a call and ask if he fixed it.
I tried a Sergeant and it works well if you have an airhawk............ I need to sell it.

Then I got in on the Rick Mayer holiday sale last year, he built a very nice saddle on my pan. Each time I ride it I try to find a fault with it and cant. I had him make a regular height seat instead of the skyscraper height GSA seat and it works well for me .

I could never get over the looks of the RDL, so I went with a Sargent. It's better than stock for sure, but not a "day long" seat by any means. Especially for my boney ass. I rarely hear bad things about RDL for comfort though.

Honestly, the best BMW seat I've owned, as one that was gone over by Cee Baily. Everyony knows them for their shields, but their seat business is much less publisized. They will replace the foam with a combo of different density memory foam. Not the cheap stuff, but the aerospace quality foam. Anyway, the seat on my 1150 looked stock, and I could easily ride it all day. I had bought the seat from another inmate when I got my 04 GSA, but I'm tempted to send them another seat.

I have a Seat Concepts on my '02 GS,,,,,,,I really,,,,,,,like it, I should say. It's a flat seat, which I like and lower than stock. Good firm foam but your kinda set to one sitting position, not a lot of room to move around. They did address the forward slide and it really is a pretty flat seat. Much more comfortable than the stocker for long mileage. Only drawback is they don't do the passenger pillion at all so there is no exact match.
I do have a Seats Concept seat on my DRZ and being much longer and flat it's a great seat and I'm really happy with it.

I "like" it but not in love with it for the GS. I have had Corbin's on most of my other bikes but went with the seat Concepts since it was considerably less expensive,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but wish I would have gone with the Corbin.

Has anyone tried the RDL "Sport" seat? Supposedly it isn't as high as the std. seat and allows you to slide around in the twisties. It sounds like the answer for me, but I wonder just how comfortable it is...maybe no better than my Sargent...?

From what I understand it won't. (09 R1200GS) people really seem to love those seats and it sure does look like a well made seat, in fact I think the receipt I found in the box of receipts that came with the bike was around $700 (total, after tax and all. not 100% on this, but it struck me as "wow, these custom seats are a chunk of change) I guess for a nicely crafted hand made leather seat it's fair, one of those "you get what you paid for" deals, and I have an estranged wife that has a converted bedroom made closet with coach purses hanging all over so I do "get it". I rode it once cause I just had to see for myself and was "uh, nah". just didn't feel right. I felt like I should be stretching my legs out while leaning back cruiser style... ok so the seat probably wouldn't work well for that since it is perfectly styled for "upright" sitting in place. I think for a lot of folks that can try it out first or already know what they want it's probably extremely good. It sure seems like a nice seat. but really I think people should try it out first before making such a commitment, especially since it is so different than the oem. speaking of which imho the stock design works so well on the bike... it just starts burning after a few hundred miles. a few 500 mile or so days of that can start getting painful.

I know a couple guys that are really happy with seat concepts. Good price too.

DD

I did a ride up to their shop in San Jac. a few weeks ago. Met Brandon - fellow gs rider - and he personally did the seat (new custom foam and vinyl). BIG difference from stocker.
Thoughts;
- Slightly raised crotch area keeps the butt planted to the back of the seat.
- Added padding in the back area spreads out the contact areas.
- I 'had' the low seat option originally and could flat foot w/ street shoes. The extra padding raised the seat height about 3/4". Now I wear boots to compensate (not a deal breaker) or just go to toes. Inseam = 31".
- Stock seat would kill my butt after an hour. I can go tank-to-tank on this seat with only mild irritation.
- Sitting further back in the saddle has altered the ergos of posture for me. I now lean forward a bit more to keep the elbows flexed. Barbacks might be in my future.

Overall ratings (1-10);
Comfort - 8
Fit / Finish - 9
Style - 9
Durability - Too early to tell. Brandon did say there is a 'break-in' period for the seat to conform to each rider of about 1k. mi. Almost there.

For the price point and turnaround time, I would repeat the deal again.

Sorry, no pix yet.
M