Newbie on a new bike!

[Tasslehoff]

Hi everyone, as I wrote in the thread title I'm a newbie (I got my bike license in February), and yes, despite everyone seems to discourage newbies to buy a T7, I did it as my first bike and don't regret it at all

Now I did a little bit more than 3000 Km on my beauty and she feels great, the bike works greatly and the more I ride the more I wanna ride again and again.

 

The only problem I have with my bike is the comfort.
Before buying her I read almost every review and video test online, I was expecting to have some issues with the comfort, and despite things are slowly going better I'm still looking for something to solve this problem once and for all.

I bought my T7 with the 2021 rally seat, regarding the height it's perfect for me, I'm  able to flatfoot easily and honestly the new rally seat with the Yamaha logo looks really cool. 

At the beginning I felt sore butt and some tingling on my legs after only half an hour of riding, now things are going better, for example this evening I did a 2 hours riding with only one small break.
Despite of that I continue to feel some butt sore after an hour of riding (no more legs tingling), maybe more if I stand on my footpegs from time to time to feel better.

My dream is to be able to do long journeys with my T7, at least a couple of thousands of Km in 7/10 days, so I was thinking to approach this problem from different perspectives:

1. Ride, ride and again ride to get used to longer trips.
2. Ask to a doctor or a physiotherapist for some help.
   As far as I understood the problem came from the compression of the nerves under the butt muscles, maybe a doctor can suggest me some exercise to reduce this compression or can help me to solve any other issue in the area.
3. Go to a gym and do some training to develope butt muscles to reduce the compression of the nerves behind it
4. Change seat

 

Regarding the last point I read there's a thread about Seat Concepts comfort seats, do you have any feedback on those products?
Are they really better than the OEM (in my case rally) seats regarding confort?

What do you think?
Is there any suggestion you can give to help me reach my goal?

Thanks

[Seakan]

I have the stock seat, its not the most comfortable but I've been on 5+ hour rides, my trick is standing up, even putting a foot on the rear peg to counteract the wind force.  That being said, the oem pegs are not wide enough (for me at least) and by wide I mean they don't stick out far enough from the bike and my foot would only be sitting on half of the peg. If you're relatively good at welding/fabricating you can make peg extensions out of flat bar or if you ain't a cheap bastard like me by better ones.  Honestly, best mod I did to the bike. 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Seakan

[mpatch]

Highway pegs are a lifesaver. 
Easily the best $30-40 you can spend for comfort on longer rides. 
 

[Hobes]

All our butts are different. Mine for example is exceptionally demanding and I usually end up making my own seat custom made for my specific needs. Riding helps but to certain point. After that you need to start checking alternatives. Most important thing to figure out is what actually causes these issues. If the problem is that your pelvis bones are creating pressure points (which is the case for me) no amount of physio nor riding will ever make that go away. You're built like that and unless you're planning to go surgically flatten your pelvis bones, you are like me and you need to go for more hard core to fix the issues.  But the numbness and tingling seems more like an issue of bad blood flow to your muscles.

 

Overall numbness, soreness and tingling on your buttocks is usually caused just by bad circulation. This is usually a sign of either not yet used to riding or you don't change your position enough while riding. I've never encountered a rider (except for those who ride on touring bikes with very wide and soft saddles) who could ride ie. 5 hours straight without constantly changing their position. some do it naturally, some have to learn how to do it (or so I've figured out discussing this matter with many riders). We never sit 5 hours straight when we're off the bike (or at least we shouldn't), why should this change when we're on our bikes?

 

mpatch and Seakan had some good suggestions for accessories that help you to move on a saddle, but don't underestimate the power of small break. I've ridden saddle sore few times (1000 miles in 24 hours) but it would be impossible if I wouldn't have regular breaks when I stretch myself throughly. 2h is an absolute maximum that I can ride without a break, at least if I want to do at least 8-10 hour riding day. So to key is to get blood flowing. You can do this standing up and sitting down few times in a row. Another trick is changing your position on the saddle or lifting your legs up to highway pegs so that different part of your butt is under load. You can also do a small exercise with your glutei maximi  One solution is also that  you can just ride more actively. Change your body position transferring weight to curves. Make those muscles move.  Best of course is combination of all above. Sooner or later you're still gonna get your butt ache. That's why you need those breaks. 

 

If every trick above fails, it's then time to get out the big guns. There is a wide selection of different pads and cushions designed to make seat more comfortable. Air cushions, gel pads etc. some cheap, some really expensive. Some even use pelts (synthetic or natural), but they are not very practical if it rains or you do a lot of trails. They all have their pros and cons but the key is to get the lad distributed more evenly. I like air cushions because my biggest  issues are with bones sticking out, but that's not necessarily best solution for everyone. Try out different solutions and you find a perfect one for you. 

 

I could next rant on and on about the intricacies of form and shape of the saddle, but this post is starting to be very long as it is. I just say that the shape of a saddle is a big contributor too. Rally seat (I'm assuming you are referring to bit softer and taller saddle available from yamaha and not the T7 rally edition seat that I have not yet tested) is very nice for active riding but not necessarily so good for touring. All because of the shape. If you have a very narrow butt, it can be a bliss compared to stock saddle, but with riders having wider pelvis, it can actually make things worse when riding long stretches, even though general soreness will kick in later than with a stock seat. So buying an aftermarket seat isn't necessarily a solution, unless you actually understand why you are having issues with comfort.

[Bryce19]

13 hours ago, mpatch said:

Highway pegs are a lifesaver. 
Easily the best $30-40 you can spend for comfort on longer rides. 
 

More info on your pegs? Is Highway the brand? 

[mpatch]

1 minute ago, Bryce19 said:

More info on your pegs? Is Highway the brand? 

Cheap Amazon ones 

https://www.amazon.com/HTTMT-U-Clamp-Footrest-Heritage-Softail/dp/B00XILLW5K

Edited June 3, 2021 by mpatch

[Bryce19]

3 minutes ago, mpatch said:

Cheap Amazon ones 

https://www.amazon.com/HTTMT-U-Clamp-Footrest-Heritage-Softail/dp/B00XILLW5K

Thank you. 

[JayD]

Took the sheepskin off the couch (dont tell my wife, I blamed our son) and strapped it with a bungee net. I folded it in half for even more cushioning.

 

This is one of those ‘dont knock it until you’ve tried it’- tricks, because this is suuuuper comfy, and the sheepskin is a nice seat pad in camp or as extra insulation against the ground while sleeping.

Edited June 3, 2021 by JayD

[Hobes]

 I think that's a marvellous solution. Sheepskin is great it just tends to get bit dirty on the road. At least mine did. Was mostly reacting to "dont tell my wife, I blamed our son"-part  

 

 

When I tested it, mine was stolen from our dog . She wasn't using it so I decided some one should, why not me 

 

If some one else wants to try this who don't have one lying around, sheepskins are dirt cheap in ikea, considering it's an actual sheepskin. They also come in dark grey if natural white isn't your cup of tea. Rens it's called in Ikea. Note that you can also find faux-versions with fraction of a price from ebay and amazon. They are even arder to keep clean than the real thing.

[mpatch]

I used beads on my vstrom and they helped.

Wasn’t so much for comfort as it was airflow when it was hot out. 

[JayD]

@HobesA dirty sheepskin thrown across the seat of a dirty, well used Tenere is as sexy as it gets my friend