Sometimes, I think I'm as sensitive as that princess, at least where it comes to motorcycle seats. When I bought the KTM, I knew in advance that the original seat was made for riding off-road while standing most of the time. It was incredibly narrow and firm, so it would never do for long distance riding. I planned changing the seat before I even bought the bike.
So, at New Years, I sent my seat off to BMS for their special treatment. What came back was beautiful and seemed like it would be comfortable based on riding around locally, but on my first long trip, I just couldn't stand it. My butt hurt so much that I spent all my time thinking about my butt rather than enjoying the riding.
Upon my return, I gave BMS a call and they offered to modify the seat to try to improve it. And I admit, it was improved. The picture below shows the revised seat with a larger, more open butt pocket. I was comfortable enough for the first day, but the second day and each day after I was back in the "pain in the butt" penalty box.
Compare that seat to the Russell seat on my old bike. The Russell is old school and admittedly ugly, but it's been comfortable day after day on long trips for 14 years. Hmmn. Maybe I'm not such a princess after all. There are several differences between the BMS and Russell seats. First, the Russell is 4 inches wider and more of a dished shape, while the BMS is flatter and narrower. The Russell is firm, but softer foam than the BMS. The result is that Russell seems to spread out the pressure needed to support your weight. The BMS seems to have a higher average pressure and I suspect high pressure in local areas. Also, the BMS has a seam across the back of the butt pocket that is just far forward enough that I can feel the seam as a pressure line.
That pain in the butt I have been experiencing feels like high pressures areas under my sit bones and at the seam. The flesh and muscles in that pressure area don't like that high pressure. As I understand it, high pressure on the tissue decreases blood and, therefore, oxygen flow to those tissue. When tissue don't get enough oxygen, they shift into a survival modes. Unfortunately, that mode generates lactic acid which your nerves react to as pain. In extreme cases, this leads to bed sores.
At least, that's one of the possible explanations. If you search on the subject of butt pain, you will find a staggering range of possibilities.
All that got me to thinking about the aging part of this equation. This certainly wasn't a problem when I was younger. Even 10 years ago, I didn't have this kind of sensitivity. Have you ever noticed that many older men have lost their butt? Some even need to use suspenders because their shrunken booty doesn't give their belt anything to hang onto. It seems we aren't as active and are thinning out our cushioning in the process.
As we get older, it seems like we need more stretching, more different types of exercises, and a balance between those exercises to keep the weaker muscles from screaming at us. Since I don't like suspenders and I don't enjoy butt pain on the bike or anywhere else, I decided it was time to work on this in the gym. I still need to redo the KTM seat, probably a Russell, but maybe I can improve my end (pun intended). The things I will do to ride motorcycles.😉
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