Seat comfort
 

Hi folks

Sorry, I was searching for a thread about the seat on the Tenere but couldnt find one so I decided to make a new one.

How do you find the seat comfort on your Tenere 660 to be?

My personal experience after 7000 mk in 2 weeks is that ist quite bad compared to other bikes that I have owned or have been driving for some distance. My behind aches long before I had one hour in the seat and that is litterarely a pain in the a**.....
I would like to do something about the seat comfort as I am planning a "overland" tour next year. I see that Touratech has a option that they are boasting a lot about - has anyone tried the Touratech seat for Tenere 660? Recommended or not?

Are there any other options that could be recommended?

Thanks so much!

In my experience, the OEM seat doesn�t cut it on long hauls, so I used an Airhawk for a while, which really worked. But then I got the Touratech standard height seat and that works even better! Somewhat wider, better seating, more comfortable, I can really recommend it, although it�s not cheap, it�s an investment for better ridin�!
Grtz., Hans.

I have never had a comfortable seat to ride long distance. Even the two cruisers i had i would eventually get either nut ache or arse ache. Worst scenario is both. I have just ordered an airhawk but have nt got much faith as the reviews vary. Be interested to know if keithblade had to choose between an airhawk or the touratech which one he would go for

The AirHawk is brilliantly simple, and you can ride all day, day after day with it,

IF

If you set it up correctly. It's there to fill in the gaps, not to act as a big cushion. Correctly inflated it's pretty flat and doesn't look like much at all (it should just provide support in the parts that don't touch the seat)

The problem with numb XYZ isn't the seat, well not totally. You have to move about a bit. The cut of the Z seat is such that you can really vary your leg/foot/hip geometry by moving between the far forward, mid and on the hump positions. This also changes your arm/shoulder positions too, so move about a bit on the long sections of road and you'll improve your comfort (don't wait until you are numb, it's a bit late then!).

The sheepskin is cheap and simple, and although I've not tried it, many other have and like it - for �15 it's worth a gamble (obviously prices vary for different parts of the world - we have lots of sheep in the UK so fleeces aren't expensive)

I had good experiences with the Airhawk, all-day ridin' stretches of around 800/900km's was very doable. It's very comfortable, but take care of the ties for a proper fit and don't use too much air.

Anyone got a link for sheepskin

+1 for sheepskin link ta

http://www.alaskaleatheronline.com/ don't know if this is to far from home for you, i got a dualsport sheepskin for the xtr from them use it daily and find it very comfortable.

My experiences with motorbikes are similar. No bike I have ever ridden feels comfortable after some hours in the seat. But some bikes are better than others. The best bike I have been riding was in fact a Royal Enfield and the worst was a Kawa KLX 250. The Tenere is just slighly better than that one. So I really need to improve the Ten.....

Thanks for all replies folks. The sheepskin is really not an option. I live in Norway and here it rains way too much for even thinking about the sheepskin option.

I might try the airhawk cusion before the Touratech. Its veeery much cheaper....

if it helps ..ive had a airhawk now for 8 years ..its been on a lot of different bikes ..the one to go for is the pearshaped one ..

its had two punctures easily repairable ..patch no glue
it works and makes a bad seat a good one
..things move on and when your bike moves on your 300 quid seat moves with it
the airhawk is still thre when you need it

it works very well for me i find it extreamly comfy ..idont find the xt seat too bad but when i head on a long trip its one of the first thing i put on the bike and its paid for itself many times over ..i cant fault it it does a really good job for me
the key to it is to use very little air ..sit on it realease the valve until it feels right keep inflation to the minimun otherwise its like sitting on a water bed
you will be surprised just how little air is needed ..when you move the air moves to a different pod so there are no pressure points irrispective of how you sit ..
the picture below shows it fully inflated [deflated ] thats al i need in it ...when my fat ass gets on it it redistrbuts the air ,..so you are just a couple of mls fron the seatbase
it must have done idunno 70/80 000 by now and has proved very durable ..the seat cover shows no sign of wear still

same seat in every picture
http://imageshack.us/a/img545/3860/p1010012po.jpg


http://imageshack.us/a/img837/8416/photo0070q.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img225/3171/img2395kq.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img812/8918/photo0174uo.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img10/860/xoqn.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/8803/p1010011tds.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img641/6115/airhawk.jpg

i don't find the rain a prob with the sheepskin we get plenty in the west coast of scotland if anything i find it keeps your ass dryer than the bare seat as it wicks the water away as it runs off your jacket you just remove the cover anytime you stop and give it a good shake the lanolin in the wool sheds the water and your ready to go. p.s you can pick them up a lot cheaper in the uk now i just don't have any links for uk suppliers.

iv'e never used an airhawk but my way of thinking is if you sit on a air cushion your ass bones sink in making a nice wee pool for water to gather don't fancy that idea.

I have used, and still have an AirHawk. It's covered thousands and thousands of long distant miles (and it's moved from bike to bike - just like Steve AKA Minkyhead). I can say, I have never witnessed any water pooling, and I've ridden in some very wet rain.

That said - I am going to try a sheep on the saddle - or rather Mrs GULG is (she just doesn't know it yet!)

Had both
7000kms in 17 days Morocco and back made a massive differance , i'll still be using it but managed to get an Airhawk for �25 ,guy couldn't get on with it, didn't tell him you're not ment to blow it up full :loser:

All that said my ares is 53 years old now !!!! so more and more fag brakes :bigwink:
Phil

:hahaha[1]:



"Clearly, you've never been to Singapore" :newhere:

Thanks ian. Do the fleeces loose hair or any hair stick to your trouses?

nope no prob with hair loss still got a full head myself. my sheep is about 5 years old and it's still like new, when it gets wet shake it out and it fluffs up like new again. have a look at http://www.alaskaleatheronline.com/ they have a section on how to look after yer sheep.

Seat comfort
 

Hi there I found the standard seat was ok but after any distance and not been able to move and stuck in the one position I found it was a little uncomfortable after a while also my knees would ache. I did not the pads such as the Air Hawk so I took the plunge and got a high Touratec seat Hmmm I have to be honest it was not as good as I had hoped. The problem I found was the seat makes you seat way far forward for my liking and which hard on the arms as when you braked all your weight is pitched forward although on the trails what I liked was the ease of going from seated to standing on the pegs
I toyed with the idea of selling it to try and get some money back, then in fit of madness I took the kitchen knife to the seat and altered the foam base to reduce the angle of the seat to stop the way it pushes you forward.
Now I am very very pleased with it excellent. But I have to be honest if I could have tried the Touratec seat before I bought it, I would not bought it but instead I would have taken the original seat to a local upholster and had it altered for a quarter of the price.

I see that the Airhawk comes in 3 different sizes. Which Airhawk model fits best to the Tenere seat?

I have also experienced the horrible numb bum pain,
It totally ruins the fun factor, my wife finds the seat ok but
slides forwards when breaking, I have tried some comfort pads but
Cannot get on with them, I have just ordered a Touratech comfort seat,
reviews look good but the price is heavy, I will post review in a few weeks
& let you know how I get on.

Airhawk R- it fits the XTZ seat well
 

Airhawk R- I've had this Airhawk-R version for over 8 months now. It is specifically built for male riders with bikeseats that have a slope up toward the tank. (Warning: age appropriate discussion, following): :)

The inverted U-shape pattern of the leading edge alleviates the pressure on the "family jewels", thus there is no numbness normally associated with long distance riding. It fits the contours of the OEM seat very well.

I highly recommend this model, very comfortable. But your mates might tease you about it... until they are all begging for a butt break on your group rides and you're good to go another 100km...

http://i.imgur.com/EMWNRh.jpg

Hey Guys,

Just thought I would throw in another option - I have been looking at the modified seat from Off The Road ( http://www.off-the-road.de/en/XT-660...-XT-660-Z.html) - manufactured by Kahedo. Whilst expensive, I am interested as it as a flat, rather than two-step, profile which allows you to move back and forwards either for comfort or depending if you are on/off road riding.

As a taller person (6'2) I would go for the +40mm option and hope that this improves my comfort when seated as I find my legs a bit crunched up on the pegs when doing long trips.

Has anyone tried/bought one of these? Any comments? Thanks!