Seats, Saddles and Ergonomics The best position is sitting straight up or w/ a slight forward angle. Sit on the bike, reach for the handlebars. Are you still straight or are you bent too far forward? Are the handlebars where your body wants them or where the manufacturer put them? Try adjusting the bars just a little; sometimes a 1/4" (1/8"?) up or down makes a big difference in comfort. You really don't want much of your body weight (or any) on the bars unless you can consistently ride fast enough to have the wind lift you such as on pure sport bikes. Still not enough? Change the bars or add risers. Depending on your stature, if the handlebar grips are too far apart you might even want to saw a little of the handlebar ends off and move everything inward to get your hands closer together. If you have bar end weights they would need to have the mounts re-welded. Some bikes seem designed for a gorilla build; long arms, short legs. If your knees seem overly bent in the normal sitting position, a few options are highway pegs, repositioned rider pegs (custom mounts), increasing the height of the seat padding to lessen the bend angle. Seats. Most manufacturers seem to build seats for the showroom. Nice and cushy. What you need is enough cushion so you don't have pressure points yet firm, complete support. This can be done by redoing the seat. Use an electric knife (your wifes turkey carving knife is great). Cut the top 2 or 3" off (3" is better). Replace this with fairly dense foam (if you squeeze it and think "its about right", go 1 or more steps denser). Shape: The better seats are like an old farm tractor seat; having a flat or lightly contoured pocket in the central area and "wings" on the side & rear so you are supporting part of the sides & back of your rear. This foam should be very dense also. Sometimes adding more material to the rear wing to force you forward can help if you're shorter. The easy way to add wings is to cut some wedge shapes and glue to the flat surface. The more square inches of seat in contact with your rear, the less pressure per square inch. Pressure = discomfort. Now go ride. check for pressure points. Carve a little out at a time. Where the top surface of the seat meets the side of the seat is an area to pay attention to as if its a sharp edge (like the Corbin seats with welting sewn right there) or is putting too much pressure on your thigh you will locate your sciatic nerve quickly. Add a gel pad (1" below the surface of your new foam by cutting a horizontal pocket & sliding it in). Some riders love them, some hate them. Now add about 1" of squishey foam to the top and recover. I am not an expert on this by a long shot and you certainly can disagree but I have found over the years what works for me. -- Terry Smith "If its too big to eat in one sitting, you really shouldn't run over it" Long Distance Pieces & Parts List http://home.earthlink.net/~webmaster10/ld/ Sampson Sport Touring products http://www.sampson-sporttouring.com/ Sat, 20 Jul 2002