New Seat - Take Two

Well after the longer ride to Mudgee I spent the next day with a bit more back pain than normal. Hmm that cant be good I thought, and I have to admit that on the longer trip things didn't really feel right. It was great being able to put my feet flat on the ground while I'm wheeling the bike around but I didn't ever want to compromise comfort. And that's what happened.

I called the man who had fixed the seat the first time and asked if there was something he could do to make it more comfy again. He told me to bring it over, he also told me some other things but because I don't hear so good, specially over the phone, I missed those bits. I went over to see him and was hoping that he would have some good things to say.

He took me into his little workshop this time ... wow!! There was leather and seats galore in there, it was amazing!! So he had me sit on the seat this time and we talked about how I'd told him the wrong thing last time .. I obviously have no idea where I'm sitting when I'm on the bike. He suggested what he could do to make it more comfortable which involved a bit more shaping of the bottom of the seat (under my bum) and the back of it (to tilt my hips at a better angle). While I was there I had a bit of a drool at some of the work he has done, he showed me some different types of leather and designs. Why did he show me those? Well, he said, he might not be able to get the old leather back off cleanly again, he'd had to glue it down last time. Oh well I said just let me know if you cant take it off and we'll talk again.

I went on with my busy week then gave him a call a couple of days later. He was kinda hedging, he'd obviously had a lot of trouble getting the old leather off, but he said it's not too bad .. 'there might be a couple of lumps under your bum is all' ... oh that doesn't sound good. I told him to change the leather and told him which one I'd picked out. I also said go ahead with the pretty flame stitching he'd shown me .. and some white leather on it somewhere ..'you know what ya doin' .. make it look pretty for me' I said.

And he did. He called me while Terry and I were in Bathurst so I had to wait til we got home to go pick it up .. I was just about bursting with excitement by the time I got there. And so happy with the result. He's had to put some more foam back into it to make it comfy, but he's made it so pretty!!

I cant flat foot when I stop anymore, though I think it's better than it was before all of this, but at least I tried it out. The only other option that I can see if it's still too unstable, is to lower the bike either by changing the suspension or using a lowering kit. I'll try this out for a few months though, cause although I slipped today I am very proud to say I didn't drop my baby this time. I might just have a compromise here with a comfortable ride and just be able to get my feet down enough to move my baby around.

Anyway in the way of pics .. yeah I 've got to show her off don't I .. I'm gonna show you a bunch of pics that I took today for my entry into the SRA forums Autumn Photo Competition.

I also spent all day yesterday changing my baby. I took off the pillion seat, the saddlebags and mounts and the sissy bar/back rest. I moved my indicators back up to where they are supposed to be on the fender rails. To do that bit I had to drill a couple of holes bigger cause I have the new blinkers and the bolts are slightly bigger than the stock ones.

I took a lot of photos and have narrowed them down to just 10 that I really like. I cant decide even on which type of photo I want to enter.

There are all these ones which kind of show the whole bike with an Autumn themed background .. our Weeping Mulberry tree is finally starting to turn golden.

Then there's just a bit of the bike. With Autumn background ...

Then there are a bunch with bits of the bike and reflections of Autumn ..

I'm kinda hoping some of my blogging friends can help me out with a decision .. which is your favourite?

I only have one more thing to take off the bike to complete phase one of her new sleeker look, take off the pillion pegs. Then I just need to look at luggage options, I'm thinking about a fender rack and most likely the Kreiga bags to go on it when we go away. For shorter rides I'm thinking about tank bags .. just got to reassure myself that a tank bag wont scratch my paintwork, I already have a couple of new scratches to see to from the removal of the sissy bar.