First big ride

[CoolHandLuke]

Well I took my 1100RT out for it's first big ride yesterday and I can say for certain that I have one sore A$$! How do you do it? I went out for 400 miles and I swear concrete would feel better after the first 100 miles. Other than that the bike handled great. I did notice some surging in 5th gear when I let it go below 4000 rpm. Is this normal? Well thanks in advance.

[Les is more]

Hi and welcome!

 

Yes some surging is normal. It varies in degree from bike to bike. Depending on how annoying it is people try different fixes, or not. If there isn't much and it's in identifiable spots, keep the RPMs up and it will be a non issue. I personally wouldn't let it go below 4000 RPMs in 5th. I ride an 1150 but I'd guess that 5th gear is similar. I think that these bikes do not like to lug and do better at higher RPMs.

 

As for your rear, my dear, do a search in the "Bike Related Forum" for +aftermarket +seats. WARNING! Do not do this unless you have a whole lot of time to sit and read!

 

Here's a link to a good tutorial on the search function.

 

Happy reading and riding.

[BFish]

no reason to let the rpms get below 4k in any gear really. it was prolly bogging not surging per se. ride it hard the engine wants to be pulling.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Luke,

Might just be you haven't learned to sit properly on the bike. That or a previous owner has fitted bar backs or the like. Back when I owned an 1100RT a few years ago, I managed quite a few 6-900 mile days with the stock seat on. You may also have the "comfort" seat on your bike. That is a misnomer if I ever saw one. The seat is so wide that it prevents you from getting into a good seating position. Talk to your dealer and see if you can borrow/trade for a low seat which used to be the standard seat. It is much more narrow in the front and will allow you to move you seating position off your butt bones and onto the back of your thighs where, so long as you don't wear tighty whities with a leg seam, you will be far more comofortable. A cheap solution might be to get a sheepskin pad for your seat with the caveat that if it is not properly installed your seat will get yet wider.

[toby]

no reason to let the rpms get below 4k in any gear really.

 

So how exactly do you go any speed less than 30-35 MPH? In 1st gear, that whole range is below 4K RPM. The fact is that a rider needs to ride in that range a good deal of the time around town - so riding around it is pretty poor advice.

 

I do agree to keep revs up whenever possible. Certainly there is little reason to regularly ride < 4K in 3rd-6th gear. Search on this site for extensive discussions about surging, but generally surging happens in lower gears, not 5th. Perhaps you have something else going on? But just do a search.

[Pilgrim]

You may also have the "comfort" seat on your bike. That is a misnomer if I ever saw one.

 

This is not an argument with Ed on the seat issue; what constitutes a comfortable seat is far too subjective for that.

 

That said, I think the BMW comfort seat, at $170, was money very well spent. I bought mine in L.A. on a trip to El Centro, my first real out-of-town ride on the machine. Either the seat or the bike had to go, because I wouldn't have ridden on as far as San Diego on the stock one. The new seat supported me nicely on a 1,000 mile day on the return trip.

 

Ed might be right (I noticed one time before when he was); perhaps your butt would be OK with the stock seat if you just adjust your riding position. But many of us wind up replacing the stock seat. If what I have is the "comfort seat" the the stock one should be labelled the "torture seat".

 

Find a way to borrow a couple other seats to try out. Look for differing shapes, not just different brands.

 

Pilgrim

 

p.s. Ed - you wanta buy my stock seat? I know you've moved on from the 1100, but you could have it bronzed, and when you wanted a taste of old times you could throw it on a sawhorse and saddle up for a few hours.

[BFish]

i'll concede in low gears at low speed.

[Ken H.]

Welcome,

 

Couple of comments. First, 400 miles is a pretty big first time for anyone. No wonder your arz is sore! But everyone's posterior is different and seats take quite a bit of (expensive!) experimentation. Try to get together with other R11xxRT riders and do some seat swapping to get a better feel for what might work for you.

 

Regarding surging, if you use the search function of this board you will find enough stuff to keep you reading for a month of nights.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Kent,

I can't disagree. Actually I do but, seats and seating positions along with physical characteristics vary so much as to make any seat recommendation moot. I'm 5'10", 240 lbs and have a 31" inseam. Most of my weight is carried in my upper and, OK, OK, middle torso. I have no seat to speak of.

 

I still manage to ride nearly every bike I own or have owned with the stock seat. Why? Cause I have taught myself the proper way to sit on the bike and modify the handle bars, wind screen and foot peg relationships until I can sit the way I want. Long days in the saddle then don't mean much in terms of seat.

 

In fact, therein lies the problem with most folks and their seat selection. They treat the thing like a chair rather than a saddle. Ride the bike like it has a saddle rather than a Barcalounger attached and the seat problem goes away.

[questrider]

I agree that it is not so much the saddle but how you sit in the saddle. I have learned how to sit more on my thighs by pivoting my pelvic area (how else do you describe what has been informerly referred to as the "t'aint"?) forward and leaning into the tank a little bit more. I can ride for miles and miles by sitting a bit upright like the RT wants you to do and then when your back begins to feel a bit uncomfortable pivot forward and sit on the your thighs a little more. You can do this back and forth all day. I still find my right ankle and knee get a little sore, but the ankle is remedied by putting the balls of my feet on the pegs, while the knee is remedied when I pull over for a 10-minute bathroom break/stretch.

 

Also, I thought a couple of years I'd want a new seat. Hasn't happened yet. However, I put 2,500 miles or so on a bicycle this year so my posterior might be more run-in (if you know what I mean) and conditioned from sitting while peddling for long periods of time because a bicycle saddle is a heck of lot more uncomfortable than our motorcycle saddles, stock or not. Perhaps you should try getting a pair of bike shorts to use as your main garment under your pants? I use a lot of my bicycle/motorcycle gear as dual-purpose to interchange between the two (my First Gear Rainman suit works great for bicycling in the rain too!). I find the biking shorts solves what Ed points out as the "tighty-whitey syndrome," in that they do not have the hem in the location of your backside's cuff (the place where your butt meets your legs) so that alleviates a lot of the discomfort of tradional underwear. Plus, they have a gel chamois in the seat right where you would need it, for either bicycling or sitting in the saddle of a motorcycle for long periods of time. I wear my bike shorts under my Savanna pants with great success because of the breathable nylon/Lycra fabric and that gel chamois pad. Try them out, you won't be disappointed and at $30 it's better to try first before some of these aftermarket seats! (Order them a size up since you don't want them to be tight spandex: I am a 38 waist but I order the 40-42 in bicycle shorts so they are still tight but not stretched.)

 

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?categ...=&pagename=

 

[scottfarm2]

I hated the comfort seat too. It made my back hurt no matter how I positioned myself on it. I sold it and very much prefer the stock seat. If I change anything, I will just put a gel pad under the stock seat cover.

[CoolHandLuke]

Where would you get the gel pad?

[SWB]

I haven't had the guts to ride more than about 2 hours, but I put about 4K miles on my bike in about 2-3 months of commuting to work. My knees or ankles have hurt worse than my butt, and I'm worried more about my lower back (re: previous problems). In part because of that, I've yet to try my first "endurance" test. I'm just gutless.

 

You might look into this option: Alaska Leather (Sheepskin cover) Folks swear by them, and it's a fraction of the cost of a new seat.

 

I've got a retired RTP, so maybe some 250+ lb cop softened up my seat for three years, and now it rides differently from other stock seats. My seat feels fine. Time will tell (hmmm... about 3-6 hours of continuous riding, I would imagine).

[90RedRider]

I find that what makes the seat uncomfortable for me is that it tends to make you slide forward. I have the standard and comfort seat. I used washers to raise the front end of the seat support. This has seemed to help. Waiting for my wilbers to see if I am going to also change to a low aftermarket seat.

[scottfarm2]

I have a friend who works in an upholstry shop and he can get the pad for $65 and install it for me. Will probably get it recovered too.

[Bakaboy]

Look at some aftermarket seats.....or try one of my tricks.....don't wear any underwear....I find it makes all of the difference in the world.....shhhhhhhh!