[ST] non-stock seat

[Otterboy <jong@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

  Yesterday I spent a whole bunch of time being fitted for a new seat for
my ST.  For those local to Washington State, I went to Rich's Custom
Upholstery.  Rich is a long distance rider (he's leaving Thursday for
his coast-to-coast-to-coast in 100 hours attempt), so he knows what he's
talking about when he builds a comfortable seat.

  I arrived, and we spent a little while talking about what was wrong
with my current saddle, and how you really need a seat made to fit your
specific body and riding position.

  He then took the vinyl cover off the stock seat, and glued a bunch of
foam on to make kind of a butt bucket, and shaped it very roughly with a
saw ( foam only, no mods to the hard plastic ).

  We set it on the bike, and I climbed on, and he had me lift my self
out of the saddle really slowly so that he could mark high spots, and
see how things fit, then he recut the foam a bit, and then had me go for
a test ride.

  When I got back he shaped the foam some more, and when I thought I was
happy with it, he had me go test ride it again.  When I was happy with
how it felt, he installed a gel pad, and had me sit on it one more
time, and when we both agreed that it was perfect, he had it stitched up
in leather, and I rode away with a totally custom saddle!

  I'll post some pictures when I get a minute.  The workmanship is top
notch, and Rich really knows what he's talking about.  It's nice to know
that it's fit EXACTLY to my body and riding position, and that the man
who made it is an extreme long distance rider himself, and practices
what he preaches.

  It cost me about $480 (it could have been 100 dollars cheaper, but I
chose leather instead of vinyl for the covering).

  Anyway, for anyone closer to Seattle than Hollister (where Corbin is),
I'd highly recommend Rich's.  I haven't done a long ride on it yet, but
Rich was adamant that I come back and they adjust things if it doesn't
fit exactly right, so even if I discover it's not perfect, I know that
he'll fix it until it is.

  Add to that the fact that he fed me lunch, and what a lunch!  He had
traded some work to one of the commercial fisherman, and the fisherman
came by with a huge box of king crab for the whole shop.  Mmmmmmmm!  New
seat, and a king crab lunch (I love living in a port town!).

  Pictures of the seat later today.

- -- 
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