Saturday, July 20 2013 [562 miles]
The saddle of the 2013 R1200GS feels a bit better than that on the ‘05. Or perhaps the foam on the ‘05 was a bit worn after 8 years. It may feel better but the new saddle can still use a bit of help. This evening I installed the Alaska Leather sheepskin buttpad that I’d removed from the ‘05. It’d been thrown in the wash since removal so the wool is nice and clean.
Staples for the side
Velcro for the nose
Off the bike
Long ago I’d cut the strap that went under the saddle. Instead of using a wrap around strap I stapled the two short remaining strap ends to the saddle. That keeps the buttpad from moving around. I’ll do the same thing on this saddle. If I decide I don’t like the butpadd on this bike the staples come out easy enough. A bit of velcro on the nose keeps it from flopping back in the wind when I stand on the pegs. On the ‘05 I had to replace the velcro every couple of years. On this bike the nose wraps further under the saddle. The velcro may last longer.
On the bike
With the pillion saddle
This is what it looks like on the bike. I also adjusted the saddle to be high in the front and low in the back. Tomorrow I’ll find out how well it works on the ride to breakfast.
It’s not quite the final configuration as eventually I’ll replace the passenger saddle with a pillion plate to mount the tail pack. I don’t expect I’ll notice much of a difference when that happens, though.