Atlanta to Savannah & Tybee Island

The day after my Thanksgiving celebration I drove my 2003 S'wing, Big Red, from Atlanta to Savannah, GA on Friday. It was a 200 mile, 4 hour drive eastward down the interstate.

Big Red has now 23,000 miles and is fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport SC tires (rear 1 week/500 miles old, front 4 months/6000 miles old, both slightly over-inflated), Dr. Pulley 26g sliders (2000 miles), NGK iridium plugs (4000 miles), K&N air filter (about 15k miles, never cleaned). I changed the belt at 18k miles and changed the oil about 1000 miles ago (usually Mobil-1, this time Valvoline conventional 10w-40).

My accessories include (front to rear) a tall GIVI windshield, a Sirius radio fitted to my left handlebar with a RAM-mount reservoir mount, a RAM-mount medium Aqua-Box containing my Motorola DROID Bionic Phone/Navigation/ Pandora/MP3 Player powered with a cigarette-lighter charger off of a harness connected to my battery. On my left grip is the remote control for my Parrot SK4000 Bluetooth headset and on my right grip is a Cramp Buster II.
I am using a gel seat-pad from Walmart, a pair of smallish textile saddlebags from Walmart.com and I have a GIVI rack mount with a large JCWhitney Givi-style trunk clipped in to it.

After my 2 nights in Savannah (Which included a wonderful sabbath and a last-minute blind date Saturday night) I drove another 20 miles eastward to Tybee island to see the ocean, then drove my 220 or so miles back home to Atlanta.

This has been my second-longest trip to date on my S'wing at 450 miles (My first being a 1200mi round trip-from Teaneck, NJ to Winston-Salem, NC).

Even though I didn't exceed 70mph (indicated) I got only about 45mpg, which was disappointing. I am not seeing mileage gains from my Dr. Pulley sliders but bike is definitely smoother at takeoff and quieter at speed.

As much as the Crampbuster and the gel seat pad (which was designed for a car seat) helped, I think before I plan another trip longer than 2 hours I will want to install a more comfortable seat pad and hopefully install/adapt some kind of electronic cruise control (that doesn't cost $800).

Jesse in Atlanta

x

I want more than a throttle lock that won't hold it's speed on hills- I want something fully automatic. The better cruise control units use an electronic stepper motor instead of a vacuum-controlled mechanism and external reservoir. I am not so frightened by the job as long as i know I can get it to work.
As far as a seat pad, short of a Corbin what's the best solution for long-distance riding? An Airhawk?

And $200 for the brakeaway? Yikes!

x

Oh yeah i forgot to mention the back rest- I did a similar conversion using some spare brackets and that is helpful (not only for the backrest but the additional leg room it gave me). It didn't help much with the "numb bum" as you say. I am thinking of a bead seat, which I know is inexpensive but can cause damage and are not always durable, or some other seat pad like an Airhawk if there's nothing better.

x

Oh that's so interesting. I had an old car sheepskin seat cover headrest that I wonder if will work in this case. I gotta try to find it (I moved last year and may have thrown it away). It would be cool if it works as long as water isn't an issue.

I've used a couple of Alaskan sheepskins on my bikes for the past few years. I don't see that they do anything for the numb butt syndrome (NBS)but they do work well to keep the seat from getting scaulding hot in summer, or freezing in winter. Maybe a little comfort, overall, but not a lot. I've tried and discarded the beads, various blow up pads, and foam. Never tried the Airhawk but some of my friends swear by them.

In my experience, NBS is caused by the seat simply not suiting your butt. We all have diff anatomys, and you have to modify the seat, or buy one that suits. On a previous 05 Burgman 400, the NBS was horrific for me.

I pulled the cover off, cut/sanded out a pocket where the buttocks fit, and stapled the cover back. That pretty much solved it for me.

MY previous 09 B400 and current SW are OK and the Can Am, with its super soft foam, that a lot of folks can't stand, is the most comfortable I've ever had.

Corbin and their insistance on super hard would never work for me, but obviously do for a lot of folks. You just gotta find what suits you.

I have the "Three Brothers" seat back on my 2005 Swing and it works for me. Was inexpensive and really helped with NBS.
Old Dave

Thanks for your input guys!