Hours in the saddle or mileage

[loggamatt]

Yeah, Corbin seat or Airhawk is the decision I'm weighing up at the moment... Think I'm leaning more towards Airhawk for financial reasons though!

Anyone know what size Airhawk pad the Strom takes?

[Juvecu]

There's a place in Birmingham that sells large thick gel pads that strap onto the seal like an Airhawk would. They makes seats for Triumph and will do customer seat mods too for decent prices. I've seen the pads they make and it felt pretty good, was around £45 for one. The gel pad is sewn into a cover that has fixing straps. I just can't remember who they are now, "theshed" will know, he showed me the place. I figured if I ever needed a bum that can last longer than 1.5 hours (the longest I can manage) then I would get one of those. It might be worth an look as an alternative to the Airhawk. Then again, you could always find a gel pad for sale somewhere and make your own pouch. I think the Mighty Marmot did a seat mod with pics in the Howto section, he might have mentioned where he got the gel pad from.

[Orinoco]

Cycling shorts, £15, sorted, oh, and a sheepskin :-)

[Locky]

I done nearly 5 hrs with a 15min break on sunday , on the way back from ST5 and when I got home I was totaly fecked . I wouldn't ride for that length of time again without a few more breaks .

[Andy M]

Breaks only make a difference if you come back to the bike refreshed. I've seen blokes try and work to rigid plans that involved the motorway services. They spend their allocated time queueing up for overpriced food and drink, hacking through hordes of army ant style pensioners and worrying about what the local chavs are doing to the bike. Better to keep riding and pull off into a town or small road cafe, or grab a petrol station drink and do a few physical jerks while it's cooling.

The other issue though is training your body. I once rode from the Russian border to Leeds in one hit (on an F650 single BTW, the singles can't tour thing is MCN garbage). The difference is that I was at the end of a three week trip. By body was used to it so tank range-drink-tank range as a routine while unpleasant worked. I went to the pub when I got home!

I've also driven an outfit in Norway in January. We hadn't learnt to spend the time sorting our zips and visors and were fresh from the UK. The result was we had to stop for hot drinks every 30 minutes!

Andy

[Sharpy]

We have a defined and boring plan to get to Portsmouth on Sunday, after that the rule is simple minimise motorways and maximise fun roads.

Both of us used to be happy doing 6+ hours on a weekend but those days have been swapped for time on the push bike, but I think we will be okay.

Once we hit Spain I suspect we will stop more anyway as we will want to take it all in and take some photos etc. don't just want o pass through and miss something!  

Only 2 days now!

[Fatbelly]

Have fun, Sharpy!

[TravellingStrom]

Yeah, Corbin seat or Airhawk is the decision I'm weighing up at the moment... Think I'm leaning more towards Airhawk for financial reasons though!

Anyone know what size Airhawk pad the Strom takes?

Small cruiser m8

[loggamatt]

Yeah, Corbin seat or Airhawk is the decision I'm weighing up at the moment... Think I'm leaning more towards Airhawk for financial reasons though!

Anyone know what size Airhawk pad the Strom takes?

Small cruiser m8

Ta muchly!

[Sven]

Cycling shorts,

Agree that what you wear underneath makes a big difference. I haven't tried cycling shorts yet but do intend to.
I've done 600 & 750 mile days on a standard Wee seat. On those days I wore thermals & textile trousers with the liners in. But I did notice if I took the liners out or the thermals off, I suffered more discomfort in much shorter distance. So I'd recommend soft layers next to the skin.

[KLV]

I just done 3800 miles in 11 days From North Yorkshire down to Almeria in Spain and back, very little motorways, all interesting/scenic outes where possible. KLV 1000, Airhawk seat pad. I don't care how overpriced Airhawks are, I can sit all day on it and only have mild discomfort. On the box it says double your riding time but I can quadruple mine compared with sitting on the stock seat. Cheers, Kerry.