Topic: How long can you sit on the seat?

[eigenvector]

Been a while since I've taken a long trip on the bike, trying to schedule one this summer or early fall.  Like maybe down to Mt. Shasta or possibly Donner Pass.  Training my glutes for that long distance trip.  Never really could make it much past about 2 hours before I HAD to get off and walk.  That works out really - since the tanks typically last that long - but by the 3rd tank the bike suddenly turns into something malevolent and vicious.  I don't think I've made it much past 300 miles before setting up camp for the night.

So yeah, I don't consider myself an Iron Butt contender - even on that cushy 1200 GS I have.

[754]

Listen to your butt and back and get off when it tells you.
I have ridden a rigid frame with 2inch foam slab for a seat, 750 miles in a day. I gotta get off, every 50-60 minutes.... for two minutes, walk around a bit , then I am fine.   Repeat this over and over, but rest longer if you need to..
 Next thing you know you are putting on some serious miles.

[faux fiddy]

I did all my iron butt on a bicycle, and never reall thought about it as a 20 year old. Surely I typically did 50- 60 miles without stopping some days, but often stopped halfway for a quart of beer.  I did do at least one 200 mile day and averaged 500 miles a week for one summer. Definitely working up to that mileage is what is necessesary, probably the same on a motorbike in some ways.

[Grnrngr]

This time last year, did 20 hrs/1140 miles, Portland to Chula Vista,  only stopping for gas and a burger or two. Close to 100 miles per tank, so more like 1.5 hrs between breaks, and could only stand walking around for about 5 minutes before I wanted to get going again.

[faux fiddy]

On the 200 mile ride on a bicycle i just remember seeing the road as if it was frames on a moving projector, One still at a time flashing at my face.  A field of vision of every pebble on the road at once , then the next frame. That was about the last 30 miles....

[WhyNot2]

I ride to DC every year for the Rolling Thunder, from Georgia. Only stop for gas.

I take the round about way, by cutting over off I95 to Virginia Beach across the Bay Bridge-Tunnel, to Delaware.

Meet up with my brother, then on to DC.

[70CB750]

On my trip Virginia to Barber last fall I would do 500 - 600 a day, often only refilling and pushing on.

But as was said above, you can get used to it and also there are other limits, noise and wind adds to fatique.

For long trips I plug my ears and for Barber I got windscreen and I belive it made a difference.

Here is some interesting reading on the seat topic:

http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/Other_Designs/Magic-seatboard.html

[spotty]

always used to think my (cut down to less than 2" of foam) CB750 seat got a bit painful after 3 or 4 hours (usually 2 tanks of petrol)...then i got a Vmax....theres a really good reason they only have 12 litres to reserve tank.
its not just arse numbing or uncomfortable, its downright bloody painful, by far the worst seat i've ever sat on.and because of it's design there's absolutely nowhere to shift around.
luckily it makes up for this minor shortcoming by being unbelievably stupid quick (which is where the seat design starts to make sense, no matter how fast you accelerate, you can't slide off the back of the seat) and for comparison/reference i've ridden CB750/4's, GSX11's, R1's, GSXR's and even a CB750/4 bored and stroked to somewhere near 1100. the Vmax is by far the most fun you can have with your pants on....just don't get caught

[martin99]

Miles never used to bother me as a youngster. But since I got older and developed TEH - Thrombosed External Hemorrhoids - I tend to get off to move about more often

[eigenvector]

Ewwww.  Don't have those.

Well I guess walking around every 1.5 to 2 hours isn't unusual then.  It's about a 700 mile trip from Seattle to Donner Pass, but I won't be taking I-5 or US-97, so the roads will be a bit more twisty and certainly slower.  If I can make it to Bend-over Oregon without getting serious pain - I'll call myself good to go.

[HondaMan]

When I had the original K2 seat, it beat the pants (!) off the K1 seat on my first 750, by hours. I could ride 1000+ miles/day on the K2 seat, and did many, many times. After marriage, this reduced to [her] ride of 500-600 miles, probably for lack of move-around space.

When I finally wore it out, Honda didn't offer it (now they do!) so I made my own custom seat. It's another 1000-miler, too, and the last time I did it was Midland, TX to Denver in 14 hours (900 miles).

I still remember Cycle magazine's first long-time test ride of the CB750: they described the seat as "Supersaddle in disguise". I always thought that phrase nailed it, compared to any others I have had. I once had a dual-bucket saddle (still do, in the garage attic), which lasted exactly 1 trip with her. Never again, for me!

[eigenvector]

I have the original seat for my bike - but pan and foam only.  The cover disintegrated.  For now I'm riding on a salvaged '76 CB550F seat.  Definitely not the same as the '77K.  Supposedly there's a guy down south of me who can do excellent work - but he's one of those kind of businessman who can only be dealt with once you find their super-secret lair and get past their "I'm only doing this as a tax write-off" attitude (problem).

Upholstery restoration is definitely a lost art in this day and age.

[simon#42]

On my trip Virginia to Barber last fall I would do 500 - 600 a day, often only refilling and pushing on.

But as was said above, you can get used to it and also there are other limits, noise and wind adds to fatique.

For long trips I plug my ears and for Barber I got windscreen and I belive it made a difference.

Here is some interesting reading on the seat topic:

http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/Other_Designs/Magic-seatboard.html

i may use my very limited woodworking skills to make one of these .

[754]

Just remember a lot of it is mental..you got to condition yourself to do it.
Conversely if you keep thinking you can't do miles, it will probably. Stay that way.

.don't think of it as a 600 or 800 mile day, look at it as a series of 100 mile rides or 130 mile rides...or whatever. Works for you.

[eigenvector]

My only real experience with long distance riding was on my KLR650 - stock seat.  Because that bike gets such incredible mileage the tank lasts a very long time.  Thinking of it in terms of tank duration would have had me adopting bizarre riding postures to get to the next filling station.  Instead I thought of it in terms of the next place I could safely pull off and give myself an epidural

Actually I have a few biker stories about that bike.  Wonderful bike - terrible seat, Corbin's replacement was a terrible seat, if rode faster than 70 mph I'd still have it even with all those issues.

[HondaMan]

Just remember a lot of it is mental...

Maybe that's it: my brother and my wife both call me 'mental'.