Thursday, May 7, 2009

Back in the Saddle

Wow. I cannot believe how busy I have been. I note that it has been 10 days since I posted anything here. Shame on me. Bad blogger! No cookie!

Well, Here come a few posts. Part of the busyness was getting set for a weekend camping trip. I was going on my motorcycle and Reena was going to follow me in the car when she got done with work, 7-8 hours later. I was eagerly awaiting the custom made seat I had ordered from Rick Mayer Cycle. After 7 weeks off the bike, the seat finally arrived, in the afternoon on Thursday. I immediately inspected it:

Rick Mayer Seat for MZ Baghira

The stock seat is a dirt bike seat, long and skinny, not at all conducive to a long ride. As you can see, this seat tapers noticeably wider yet remains skinny at the front. The textured vinyl provides a bit more butt-grip, and the slope of the seat was adjusted to prevent sliding forward (nuts up to the tank) under hard braking. A bit of inspection showed that the quality of the work was first rate:

Rick Mayer Seat for MZ Baghira

Pleased with what I saw, I was eager for a ride. I quickly reinstalled it on my bike and logged a 100 mile jaunt to see what my butt thought of it. I opted to ride both city and highway miles, so while the distance was 100 miles, the time was over two hours. The initial verdict was that the seat did what it was supposed to do.

Rick Mayer Seat for MZ Baghira

Installed on the bike it did not stick out too much, and even matched the general flow when viewed from behind. Fit was excellent.

I left around 10:45 AM on Friday, loaded with a light array of clothes, tent, sleeping bag and pad, a beer stein, pillow, and change of shoes. Everything a boy could want for a 2.5 day beer party over May Day weekend. I started the trip by blasting 40 miles up the Interstate to Wisconsin Dells, then jinked left and picked up Hwy 33, which took me a hilly, twisty route through Hillsboro, La Farge, Ontario (over Wildcat Mountain...Mmmm!) and eventually to La Crosse. There I crossed the Mississippi river and headed north in Minnesota. I cut back into Wisconsin at Wabesha and headed a bit farther north to the site of the party. Total saddle time for that ride was just over 5 hours and my butt was still ready to ride. On the stock saddle my buns would have been begging for mercy. I guess it is safe to say that I am satisfied with the new seat.

The party? That is for another post!


2 comments:

  1. Hello from Poland :) I own a Yelllow Baghira and the only thing that I hate is the seat. Even a short ride of 40miles is at the and a pain. Your seat looks very nice. Now here is my question: how much did you pay for it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello WW. Is the yellow Baghira faster than the red one? :)

    The seat was USD $425. Expensive, but it makes riding longer distances possible. Notice also that the wider part is back and I have no ability to take a passenger anymore. If you ride alone, try simply moving back on the seat. When I had the stock seat, for normal riding I would move my butt way back on the seat. It helped a lot. When I came to twisty roads, I would move back up to the front of the seat.

    ReplyDelete

If you don't have a blooger or "open" ID, you are free to use "Anonymous" for your posts, and leave your name if you are willing.