Ducati Monster Forum

Hi all

I know it's been discussed a thousand times but I still can't find a solution.

My wife loves the bike and we do the odd 2 up weekend away with friends but the seat is killing her.

Step 1 was a sheepskin cover.  Did little good for her

Step 2 was an AirHawk cushion.  Helped a little but only a little.

Given that changing bikes ain't an option!!! next step is either a new or rebuilt seat.

DP Gel, Sargent and Corbin all seem do little for the pillion from all online reports. Corbin have a new 2 piece Monster seat on their US website.  Says it has "touring class" comfort for the pillion.  I emailed the Aussie distributor so we'll wee.

Anyone got any thoughts/recommendations?

Cheers

Andy

Monsters aren't really made for long haul pillion riding.
I haven't seen the two piece seat you are talking about but do poke around in the US.
You might well get it for a better price than via an importer here.
Remember they are in retail so 100% mark up is almost mandatory.

Sargent's usually go for $600 odd US, at the moment that will cost you around $700 AUD plus shipping.
Which should cost you around $80US for a seat.

Happy hunting.
And if you want a try out of a Corbin I have one sitting out back un-used at the moment.

I'm surprised the airhawk did very little. It can depend on how much air is in them - too little and it doesn't help, too much and it's very uncomfortable. I'm guessing you probably tried those things though. I think one of the issues may just be the position  for the pillion. their knees are bent more, so they are more in a squat position.
Stretching those legs can help, if only for a few minutes of relief.
Sorry, can't be of more assistance and haven't heard of the seat you mention.

I bought a second seat, pulled off the cover and carved out the foam, added some memory foam for comfort and stapled and glued the cover back on, With a piece of sheepskin over the whole thing it is as good a touring seat as you could hope to get and the changeover only takes a minute or two, very happy with it, you should be able to pick up a second hand seat for well under $100 from someone on the board.

What about trying a 900SS seat I dont know which model monster you have but maybe something from the 1990's series SS family might fit, the only other thing I can think of would be to go to an upholsterer (?) with your seat and get it fitted up for more comfort, the down side of this is that your tail piece wont fit anymore.
Good luck !  [thumbsup]






                                         Mmick

Tell your missus to harden the f#@k up! [cheeky]

My missus went to the extreme of buying me a Harley for a little comfort. [moto]

Well guess what? she went back to the Monster as the Harley was hard a nails.


Cheeky [bacon]

Brimo I will have to experiment with the AirHawk air volumes for sure...

And no mate it's not the body position for her...its all in the backside that hurts so I'm told.

I was just about to say the same thing.
My Wife loves being pillioned too, She can manage it if we have a break every 90minutes or so.
Please keep us posted on the two piece, that would be great.

We have booked 8 days on a Minsk in Vietnam, that will keep her quiet.

Just got some local prices on the new Corbin 2 piece seat.

CNDM97F  Front Seat $465.00
CNDM97R Rear Seat $308.00

Ouch!

Looks the good tho.  Here's a link

http://www.corbin.com/ducati/dm97f.shtml (http://www.corbin.com/ducati/dm97f.shtml)

I reckon that's about what you would pay for a corbin. Jukie got a shortened one a few years ago and Corbin would not deal direct because they have an Australian distributor.

Yes it was expensive but realistically it was more expensive having the bike sit in the garage not getting used. The problem you have is that you don't know if it has fixed the problem until you have shelled out some serious moolah.

My wife just provided me with some feedback on comfort and she recons it's better than some bikes we've had, namely XT600 and TRX 850, but not as good as my old faithful CB900 or CX500 (yes hasn't everyone owned a CX at sime time in there life?). She recons the Monster is also a bit better than our SV650. Her main issue is the bend in the knees not so much the seat comfort.

Rather than modifying the bike have you tried bicycle shorts underneath leather pants (not the kind with the cheeks cut out)?

In the end she may just need to harden up? On my last big trip (solo) I did 1200km a day and got off pretty stiff (to put it mildly) but some of the pillions on things like BMWs and Gold Wings were complaining.............seems there is no way of pleasing some.

cheers

Oh yeah, forgot about this one. Jukie used to do it all the time for long rides (but as rider not pillion). To avoid being pillion on the Monster (as has been said before) she bought me one of my own.

Well it would seem like a lot of you guys have never had to be pillion much. Spent 8 years on the back of this (http://classic-motorbikes.net/images/gallery/8198.jpg)
Ah I can remember the pain. It's bloody boring and uncomfortable. Spent most of that time sleeping. Is it any wonder I now sit on the front! Motorbikes are not designed with pillions in mind so telling the poor woman to harden up will not achieve anything.  Hats off to WRXMY99 for trying to make life more comfortable for his SO.  [thumbsup] And  [clap] to his SO for getting on the back.  I don't think I would like to sit on the back of a monster for any length of time. Hope you do find a suitable seat solution soon.

You've nailed it Heather, she also needs a front seat all of her own ;) ;)

Mate do you know if the 1 piece Corbin does any favours to the pillion?  From what I hear it doesn't do much...

You've hit it on the head Betty.  I'd gladly pay the 7-800 if it fixed the prob but give its an ordered in part I don't want to blow the bucks to find out that it doesn't help her.

My thinking is to get a cheap 2nd hand OEM seat and take it to a retrimmer and say "make this comfy for my girl!"  I don't really care if it ends up looking like a lounge chair as I'll have the original seat with cowl on for when I'm solo.

Which beings me to the Q.  Anyone know and good seat customisers in Sydney?  All the links I can google are for Melb for Brisvegas based companies.  I figure there's got to be someone around here.  Oh and if anyone has a late model seat lying around that they want to get rid of......

Cheers

Andy

Have a look at this thread, this is pretty well what I did with my spare one, only I did both sections of the seat, a piece of sheepskin on top and it works fine, the sheepskin  allows a bit of air circulation around the nether regions which adds to the comfort level. (The sheepskin covers up any lumps and bumps from my less than perfect foam carving too)

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=2513.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=2513.0)

I've got a "spare" seat which your welcome to borrow if you like, you could get yours modded while using mine, then decide whether you need another seat after you've got it comfortable.

Only gotcha is mines an older version, for a '99 model - they changed the seat/tank interface shape in 2000 or 2001, so you might need to check if my seat fits on your tank before sending yours away... (FWIW, I think I only paid ~$150 for my "spare" seat - I grabbed it 'cause it was cheaper than getting my original one (which has a tear in it) re covered... Maybe give Metropolitan Spares in Silverwater a call and see if they've got a good seat to suit your bike in stock)


As for experienced seat reupholsterers, I don't know any in Sydney, but I've heard _heaps_ of people rave about how good Johm Moorehouse from Brisbane is - not cheap, but _very_ good, apparently:

http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~maddoggy/ (http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~maddoggy/)

big

Andy I can't really tell you about pillion comfort because I have no-one who rides on the back of my bike.
You are welcome to give it a try if you like just fire me a PM if you want a spin with it.

cheers
Matty...