Custom Saddles - Saddle Modifications

The SilverWing stock saddle gets a fair amount of bad knocks. But(t) let's face it - the comfort of any motorcycle saddle is very subjective. That said, several days of 500+ miles in the stock SilverWing saddle made us decide to send our saddles to a local upholstry shop (Norm's Upholstry) for a complete redo. The result was not less expensive than a new Corbin, but the custom saddle has been worth it from our comfort perspective. Corbins and the others are nice, but if you can - support your local craftsman.

http://silverwing600.forumotion.com/gallery/Personal-album-of-jdeereanton/Custom-Saddles-pic_51.htm

Dale,

The seats look great. So now, if the stock seat is a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10, what would the new seat be, in your estimate. Also, did you have to give your shop certain directions on how to make it or what to use? I didn't know that these shops could do things like this. They really look great.

Jeff,
All,

On a 1 to 10 scale I'd say mine is probably a 9, Kim says hers is a 10 and she is fully satisfied with hers. My assessment is not influenced by price, but rather the subjective value of comfort. For me a 200-300 mile ride is barely felt and is truly comfortable. 500+ miles still gets a little bit uncomfortable, but much - much less than the stock saddle. Kim says she is still good (other than fatigue) after 500+ miles and could go a bit more.

We were fortunate with our shop. I knew of Norm from some time I spent in an Acura Service Department. Norm was our go to guy for leather seat repairs. He also rides a really nice HD and does lot's of work on bike saddles, so we knew he was up to the task.

I had taken lots of photos of Corbin and Russell Day Long saddles and brought those with me when I went to talk to Norm about the redo. He asked lots of questions about what we were looking for in terms of our placement on the bike and riding range. He had been able to see both of us ride so he knew some of how we sat on the bikes. I'm about 2 inches farther back than Kim and she is about 1/2" lower in the saddle. Mine is also a bit more scalloped (bowl like) the front tip (pommel) was raised a bit.

We did ask him to come up with a way to attach Corbin seat backs, which he was able to do with out affecting the storage capacity.

We were able to pick our covers from the variety of sample books and had the ability to really customize the seats with leather/vinyl combinations and color selections.

Of course it is impossible to ever be fully satisfied so I've purchased a used Corbin saddle and am working with Norm to reshape it and see what can be done to give me a bit more range.