Riding position question and clues needed

I am six foot tall with 34" inseam. On my third ST1300. I keep coming back to the ST1300 for every reason except the seat. Still have never found the seating combination that is really comfortable for more than an hour or so. I have tried the OEM seat, The Sargent Seat, Mayer Seat, and now trying the Corbin seat. I also have the MCL standard lowering pegs.

Question... DO you guys tend to ride up front on the driver's seat close to the tank or try to sit back on the rear? I have the Helibar GenIII risers. I guess I have always tried to sit back on my arse avoiding the heat in a position like riding my crusiers instead of up on my nads. The pain I have is more like on my hip bones because I cannot sit back fully on my butt even though I have the risers and have arms long enough that I wear 36" long sleeves. The best I can seem to get is to be right up against the tank. I sometimes just let my shins go up against the fairing and rest there. My feet ride in different positions though out a trip to alleviate any fatigue. I am just curious if I am still going about it wrong after all these years, and maybe I still don't have the right clue as how to solve it. I am trying to get this worked out before a planned week long trip in October.

Funny - dimensionally, you're my twin. 6', 34" inseam, 35/36 sleeves. And I've had the stock, Corbin and now Sargent seats. Helibar Gen II risers, and I had the lowering pegs but got rid of them. But - I have no issues with any of the seats except for the stock, which just doesn't work for me. Everyone's physiology is different tho. If your hip angle is different, wider, narrower, everything changes.

I move around a lot tho, forward, back, side to side. (My bike doesn't throw heat up from behind the tank/under the seat, so I don't have to contend with that.) I end up with tired/burning back muscles rather than butt issues. I'm guessing you're tried all three height adjustments - what about mixing and matching? High setting at the back, low in front or vice versa? They do change the angle of the seat. Unfortunately that probably won't work if you've got the once piece Corbin, but if you've still got the stock seat it would work.

Bernie

Thanks bkra13. Yes I have tried all of the seat height combinations. The jury is still out on the Corbin I just got. The first ride was not that great, but I am going through the adjustments now to see what works best. The Corbin I have is the driver's seat only. I have the stock pillion seat behind.

SO tell me. DO you sit up against the tank mostly or back away from it towards the rear of the driver's seat when riding?

I'm on an RDL front up as high as it'll go and rear down as far as it'll go (middle setting, can't seem to get it to go all the way down.) I noticed you don't have the RDL as a seat option yet...

RDL here. 34" inseam. I ride back in the seat to avoid the heat. It is easier to do when I have my feet up on my MCL blades. But I can do it in both positions.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Try an RDL, I've spent hours in mine!

A guy on the SabMag email list just posted a ST1300 RDL seat for sale at a good price. PM me for the info.

Jerry we need to go to Mancherster and talk to Terry Adcox, I think he goes by Terry's Custom seats. He gets by good reviews on th Yamaha ST, VStrom, groups.

I ride in multiple positions. Up against the tank when riding hard on the twisties and more back on seat when riding the slab. Lots of rocking from side to side to keep the blood flowing to all the important parts! . Two different Corbin's. First was way too firm. Second has a little more padding. No experience with any other seats.

ToddC

Seats are an individual choice. You might want to contact Spencer and see if he has a combination that will help. I'm shorter so had my seat lowered with his long distance mod which is a foam package. It works great and maybe the long distance mod will work for you.

Milk,,, is the photo you have posted as your avatar before you lowered the pegs ?? It shows a quite a sharply bent hip angle,,, that I would find uncomfortable. If you are not having any problems planting feet on the ground at stops,,, try throwing a seat pad in,, as a test to see if that makes an improvement. I do not have long legs,,, but one of my bikes has a low seat,,, which causes me to overbend at the knees and hip. On longer rides,,, I throw in my multi layered gel/foam/sheepskin 1" seat pad,, and that really helps the hip angle. Cat'

Milk,,, is the photo you have posted as your avatar before you lowered the pegs ??

Click to expand...

I have the MCL peg lowering brackets then and now. My hip joints are NOT hurting when riding. That has happened on other bikes I have ridden where you get what feels like a cramp in the hip joint.

The uncomfortable part is that I sit up on the front of my hip bones instead of back on my arse. Sometimes I have to pull my junk up to not feel like I am sitting on it. Yesterday I actually wore a jock strap when riding. It was the most comfortable ride yet!

I have changed the seat since that picture. I still have that Sargent seat, and now I am trying a Corbin. I plan to keep both until I figure all of this out and settle on the best fit for me.

We are about the same height. I have 34 inches inseam. We meet at John's house RTE Theta Tn. I do not know if you looked at the pad that I had on my bike but it was just a gel pad throw on. It worked pretty good until the gel deformed and slide inside the cover. I un sewed it and added a 1 inch foam under the gel pad and made it a tight fit and sewed it back together. Day and night difference with the added foam under the gel. The foam pad is the ridged pad that you buy that is square and is sold as a easy carry stadium seat pad. I did this before I started spending big bucks so I would know how much padding I needed to have added. Now I may just stay with what I have until I wear it out.

I almost did not recognize you with the new avatar. Paul

I remember you Paul, but I don't remember the pad. I had a Sargent seat at that time. Now trying a Corbin. It's an improvement, but not quite there yet. Considering the beadmaster or a lambs wool pad. Trying to get this all figured out before a long trip to Norfolk VA in October. Cooler temps will do wonders for sure, but I don't want to depend on that all the time.

I purchased an Air Hawk 2. I would never take a long ride without it. It will give you a little more lift depending on how much air you put in it. Takes a little getting used to but in my opinion no seat on the market will give your butt the comfort of this cushion
. And an added bonus is it acts as a barrier from the head penetrating through the seat.

tjhiggin said:

A guy on the SabMag email list just posted a ST1300 RDL seat for sale at a good price. PM me for the info.

Click to expand...

Be advised that if the person that had the RDL built does not match you 'physically', it can be a very uncomfortable seat. It's really a crap shoot if you don't know the build specs. An RDL built to your body will be a good investment if you plan on keeping the bike for any time at all. If you just get the front built without a backrest and cover it with vinyl, you may be surprised that it is not much more expensive than any other of the custom seats with similar options. ;-) I had 200,000+ miles on my and 14 years of riding before the vinyl finally starting coming apart at the seams a little bit. The seat was still comfortable but it was past due a 'refresh'.

JWM59 said:

I purchased an Air Hawk 2. I would never take a long ride without it. It will give you a little more lift depending on how much air you put in it. Takes a little getting used to but in my opinion no seat on the market will give your butt the comfort of this cushion
. And an added bonus is it acts as a barrier from the head penetrating through the seat.

Click to expand...

A friend of mine let me borrow an air hawk he got at a trade show. I used it for about 30 miles and thanked him for letting me try it.
I felt completely disconnected from the bike and could not get use to it, especially on the ST because you move around a lot on the seat to begin with. It was not for me.
I got the seat beads from Walmart and trimmed them to fit the seat and have been very happy with them. You can also get commercially built motorcycle seat beads but for the money it was just as good to get the Walmart ones and fit them to the seat. I figured 1-million taxi drivers can't be wrong.

Are you riding a 200-300 mile day at least a couple times a month "in training" for the NFK ride?

ST-Traveler said:

I figured 1-million taxi drivers can't be wrong.

Click to expand...

I'm a big devotee of beads myself: CLICKY

--Mark

Are you riding a 200-300 mile day at least a couple times a month "in training" for the NFK ride?

Click to expand...

Right now about 200 miles per weekend. That mileage will increase as the heat dissipates in the coming weeks.