[sreenath13]

Thanks Navin_v8, given its holidays here, most of the seat shops are closed. I will go with the bum break in theory

I will see if I can get a hold of the gel pack for now. Thank you.

[fiorano88]

Originally Posted by sreenath13

Thanks Navin_v8, given its holidays here, most of the seat shops are closed. I will go with the bum break in theory

I will see if I can get a hold of the gel pack for now. Thank you.

I had the exact same issue with the seat on my Iron. I could ride it only for 45 mins at a stretch and then my tailbone started hurting. I searched all over the internet for a solution but didn't get a certain solution.
So to experiment i bought a gel seat pad from redline plus, Pune.
It helped to an extent and i could now easily drive for 50% more time but didnt solve the issue completely.
Then i took a gamble and bought a sundowner seat primarily because it had much more padding and voila, my pain was gone and i can now easily drive for 150 odd KM's before i need a break and the ride is much more comfortable.
Hope this helps

[sreenath13]

Thanks fiorano88, Is there a link to read more about the sundowner seat or pictures that you may have handy ?

[VW2010]

Tailbone pain to me is more of radiating paid due to posture. When you sit on the bull are you have a 90 deg bend at your arms while your arms are tucked within your body.

The tailbone pain is purely your posture and i get it even in cars sometimes only to realise i am either leaning too forward or i am too away from the handle.

1) Are you reaching out to hold the bike?
2) Are you bending down because of your heignt to reach the handle bars
3) How is your leg position.
4) Are you feeling cramped at the legs as well.


In a racing bike if you look at the riders position its fairly at right angles all around.

My aim always would be to correct this right angles.

I use a wider handle bar in my bullet and on long rides i ensure my back seat is filled with things to actually lean on

The RD handle bar is good, but you need an extended RD handle bar to free that crampedness it creates for tall folks. My handled bar before the wider one i have was RD extended. It was custom made and it has the same shape and form as RD but much wider and closer to my body.

I also tend to ride with my foot on the rear pegs. And post that made some adjustments and customization on where i keep the foot.

Not adviced but i ride 99% on front brakes and hardly use the rear and also since i used the CI engine i always had the neutral lever which meant i was either at neutral or riding at 4th gear at whatever speed

- Raise your seat if required
- Get rear support if possible including a belt
- Check if engine vibration is higher. If so try to find ways to lower then. Rubber support at points where it will help
- Check the suspension setting as well. If its too hard you are taking most of the road hits.
- Most importantly see if your shoulders are at relaxed position and your legs are failry relaxed as well.

Make modifications to handle bar and foot pegs that will make your position far more relaxed.

[Shanenanigans]

I have a feeling your tailbone pain is not because of the seat of the bike, but your posture instead. I used to ride an avenger, and since I'm 6 feet tall, I used to ride like I was reclining on the bike. But the thing is, it isn't a Harley and I started developing tailbone pain. I fixed my posture, sat more upright on the bike, (and specifically stopped crouching and stooping) and since I had long hands, stayed a little closer to allow more free movement of my rear end.

One more thing - your regular seating position (say while riding to work and doing chores) is very different from your touring position. The former should ideally be designed to have quick access to both the rear brake and the shifter, put the foot down in case of slowing or stopping, etc. The latter should be designed so that you're sitting in a more natural body position. An example on my current CBR250R is I sit in front, close to the tank, while riding to work and all, even though most of my trip is on the outer ring road in Bangalore. But while touring, I sit further back so my body goes into a more comfortable crouching position, my knees are less bent, and the balls of my feet are almost on the footpegs. At this point, for curves/lane changes, I'll be using my knees/feet to tilt the bike. While this may not seem relevant, your body works as one entity, and more pressure on certain areas result in lesser pressure on others.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong. After all, I've put over 70k miles in cars and only 10k on motorcycles.

[fiorano88]

Originally Posted by sreenath13

Thanks fiorano88, Is there a link to read more about the sundowner seat or pictures that you may have handy ?

I can surely send the details but these seats are Harley OEM and are bike specific.a seat upholsterer can do the same job for much lesser and will be equally effective.
The details are widely available online. If i can be of any help,please let me know

[gopalmg]

Originally Posted by shivshan

Hi
I have a 2003 TB that's sparingly used ( 13k km). I have started riding regulary within city over the last few months and while i am quite happy with the bike, am now facing severe pain in my tail bone. It's no fun riding in pain.

Shivshan

Shivshan, even I have the same issue with my TB but not on my Continental GT, the pain happens because our bum - from the tailbone to the coccyx region is being pressed. One solution is to get a gel seat with a depression in the centre so that the raised area ensures your tailbone is not being pressed. A lot of bicycle riders who do long distance riding have it put on their seat. The other option is to get yourself a Airhawk R seat which is available on amazon.com. It's basically a seat cushion with air pockets that stand up when filled with air like large blisters. This ensures that relief for the tailbone and coccyx region as well as the under side of thighs which get raw because of sweat. Hope this helps.

[dre@ms]

Reviving this old thread to communicate about a solution that worked.

Sole reason for purchasing the Thunderbird is the lower back pain while riding to office on my trusted Unicorn. But when I experienced the same pain on the Thunderbird, all hell went loose on my mind.

After much research, decided to cut the protruding support from the seat and voila it has stopped the tail bone pain once for all.

Still have bum pain, but changing the posture fixes it.

Hope this helps the community.

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by dre@ms

Still have bum pain, but changing the posture fixes it.

Shift bum with caution.

Once I decided to alternate each buttock to alleviate the pain and as a result my hip shifted a bit courtesy of riding from interstate highways to bumpy ghat roads the moment I entered Kerala from the south.

End result was that I was bedridden for close to 3 months and as we did not have access to a chiropractor hence I had to go to an old-school Kalari and only myself and god know the pain I'd had to endure to get my hip to slip back into its default position.

Now I don't bother shifting my ass at all unless vertically, I've managed to deal with the pain by mental training that has enabled me to totally ignore it to the extent that it doesn't bother at all on a good day.

[dre@ms]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

Shift bum with caution.

Once I decided to alternate each buttock to alleviate the pain and as a result my hip shifted a bit

Oops.. this is scary.
Will ensure to stop the vehicle and then adjust, this will help in stretching too. Thanks much for the tip.