| Author | Message | ||
     Svmotoman |
Anyone have pics of a tastefully done sheep skin application to the XB9S or XB9SX? and possibly where you purchased it from? Not sure on which side the padding is giving out (seat or ass), but I'm looking for something to extend the riding time. Open to other suggestions, but don't like gel. | ||
| Midknyte |
That'd be black sheepskin  | ||
| Reepicheep |
I built a bead seat cover for my Uly by tearing up and rebuilding one for a car from Autozone. I think it helped. Find one with enough black / dark beads if you want it dark. | ||
| Sifo |
The but beads work great for me on my XB. Cuts the heat and keeps the boys breathing. I reworked one I got at WallyMart, but I've seen them made for bikes too. I spend about 5 minutes each year to spray it black again to keep it fresh looking. Oddly, I tried this on my Triumph Sprint ST and couldn't stand it.???  | ||
| Svmotoman |
Wow, that's not bad looking at all... I imagine the increased airflow is awesome. What do you mean by "reworked"? Can you trim these things to get the shape you want without them falling apart? | ||
| Reepicheep |
I just redid mine by hand from scratch (a bucket of beads made by cutting up a car seat) with new heavy fishing line. It took a little while to figure out the best pattern to do it easily (one vertical row added at a time offset by one bead, tied at both ends), but once I worked out I could probably build one while watching one movie. Its kind of fun. I think the most important part of why they work is that they don't cut off bloodflow. With a flat seat, blood doesn't flow well, and you start to go numb (like foot going to sleep), then it starts to get really uncomfortable. If you can keep the blood flowing you still are a little sore after a long day riding, but it never reaches that "arghhhhh" stage. I did a 12 hour 800+ mile ride with mine. It was moderately miserable on my rear after about 4 hours, but never really got much worse for the next 8 hours after that. It won't make the seat go from a motorcycle seat to a big comfy couch. But it may keep the motorcycle seat from becoming an instrument of torture. I posted a thread here somewhere but can't seem to scare it up right now... It was a fun little project and you can mix and match the colored beads to make different patterns if you want. Or just paint them. | ||
| Dtaylor |
For me, it is usually the first day of a trip and the last day of a trip that I'm doing major miles. I find that a pair of padded cycling underwear works great, and they take up minimal space compared to the gel cushion I used previously. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Let's not start another "weasel squeezer" tangent.  | ||
| Sifo |
What do you mean by "reworked"? It started as a full sized piece for a car. I untied one of the knots and started to unravel it to make it smaller. I paid attention to the patterns they used as it was woven together. They use some good tricks as the shape tapers etc. It's not rocket science. I did another one and found that it had been put together with different patterns. I hate to think about some person in a far off land weaving beaded seat covers by hand that retail for about $7. I imagine the increased airflow is awesome. Yes it is. On a hot day that vinyl just won't breath and let's just say I've gotten pretty nasty from time to time. This will prevent monkey-butt 100%. If you find it comfortable is a personal thing, and I've found is also bike dependent. I've always heard good things about sheep skins, but really hate the look on a sport type bike. Butt beads are bad enough. I don't worry about the butt beads getting soaked in the rain either. They will hold a bit of water that tends to blow out when you start riding, but that will evaporate pretty quickly with the air flow. BTW, I just have mine tied on with a very thin bungee cord that can be found at any good fabric store. |
