greg bender
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Review of Mark Etheridge's Police Solo Seat
I promised to write a few words about the Police Solo Seat that I purchased from Mark Etheridge and used on the trip up to the 2005 National MGNOC Rally in New Cumberland, West Virginia...
http://www.motoguzziclassics.com/mgcparts2.asp
- The look - What can I say? I think solo seats accentuate the lines of the loops and look cool. Personally, I like the police solo better than the springer solo seat. It is all personal preferance, of course.
- The price - USD $250.00 may seem like a lot until you start pricing out the cost of having your existing seat redone by some of the big - or even little - names out there (or the price of any little thing that has the BMW name stamped on it :>). I think it is fair and reasonable, this day in age.
- The quality - The pan is made of fiberglass and is very sturdy. It didn't seem to flex at all when I sat on it. Also, the rearmost studs that secure the seat just above the toolboxes are embedded well and did not seem like they would strip out. I certainly didn't torque them down super tight - but my seat isn't going anywhere, either. Paul Linn recommended that I put a couple of rubber washers between the fiberglass and the frame at the rear mounting points...just to keep the glass from wearing on the frame - I'll be doing this. The front-most securing tabs lined up perfectly with the holes in the tube and the securing bolt went right through. The cover comes from the hyde of the endangered Nauga animal (or some other vinyl) and looks very nice to me. It is secured with actual stitches - rather than being embossed onto a preformed piece of naugahyde. This does mean that water can get into the needle holes during the rain. While riding, this was not a problem. After the rains at the rally, some water did get into the foam. It didn't seem like very much, though, and wasn't an issue. I plan to apply some seam sealer and take care of it for good.
- The comfort - I find this seat much more comfortable than my worn-out dual seat. I think two things contribute to this (a) The shape of the pan is wider and more ergonomically correct for the gluteous maximus (b) The foam used is a lot better than the worn-out foam on my old dual seat. When I first got the seat, I road it around for about 50 miles or so and was quite satisfied. On the trip up to the Nats, I straped my gear in such a way that it would provide me with a little back rest behind the seat. I thought that this would be more comfortable. In the end, I found that - for me - it didn't work. The back rest kept me in one position and had a tendency to push me forward on the seat. On the iron butt trip home, I packed everything so that I had plenty of room to move around and no back rest whatsoever. This was the key for me. I never felt myself sliding forward AND I never remember consciously moving around on the saddle much. Paul Linn and I had been thinking about ways to raise the front of the seat...but I don't think I'll need to do that anymore.
- Room for improvement - There is only one area that I would modify with the seat: foam density. Even though I road all the way home on the seat (1,050 miles in 19 hours and 20 minutes and my butt wasn't sore), I think the foam needs to be more dense (stiffer, harder). This is coming from my 230 pound body. Mark is aware of this issue and is struggling to obtain the higher density foams he wants to use.
Finally, as with all things having to do with YOUR backside, your mileage may vary. As for me, I'm quite happy with the police solo seat.