Re: Leather seat question

[Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:12 AM 11/24/1999 -0800, Stephen E. Hale wrote:
 >Mark Todd said that leather will hold water and I ride in the rain a lot.
 >Anybody have any experience with this...is it just that the seat is damp?
 >Or does your a** get really really wet?

Depends on how much rain - you could try a leather treatment (waterproofer) 
but they are of limited effectiveness in heavy rains - the water just ends 
up soaking through the seams and then soaks readily through the leather 
from the underside. On my Harley if I ran through a good storm I could 
count on having a damp ride for the rest of the day. But it would usually 
dry out over night and I would be good to go the next day (if it had 
stopped raining of course). Whenever we would camp overnight (expecting 
rain) we would wrap the seats with a plastic bag so that we wouldn't be wet 
in the rear the following day. The real problem I have always had with 
leather seats is the creasing that happens when they get wet - the leather 
will stretch when wet and if you ride it wet long enough it will form tiny 
wrinkles. Usually not too noticeable to the eye (or the rear), but on my 
last Corbin it was really bad.

 >Vinyl seats tend to have little
 >puddles on them that you can't exactly get rid of if your bike's been
 >sitting out in the rain, so is it really that different?

I've not experienced that. Usually a quick pop on the seat with it on the 
side stand will quickly clear it of any standing water.

- - Eric


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