My girlfriend has always claimed that she NEVER wants to give up her Sporty because it was her first bike and it holds a ton of centimental value.

She recently got to ride my Deluxe and unfortunately fell in love with the ride because of the comfort. I can understand fully her position after I had to drive hers home after a scheduled maintenance visit.

She has an '06 XL1200R and we have put forward controls, a solo seat, and the 4.5gal custom tank on it. So with that setup, when I left the parking lot of the dealership the bike almost took off right out from under me. I got a grip on it and pressed onward. After hitting the highway, I realized that with my feet and arms forward, I was pulling myself up constantlywith my arms to keep from slipping off the seat making the ride a much greater effort that it should be even with a windshield on the bike.

I think the comfort level would GREATLY improve if there was a backrest or even a seat/backrest combo that gave you something to sit back on to help with the sliding off the seat feeling. She really hates the thought of giving up her bike, but wants to be more comfortable to log longer hours in the saddle before tiring.

Suggestions welcome!

Thanks in advance.

 

Mustang has a great solo saddle with driver backrest available for the Sportster.

 

Saddleman also has a seat with a drivers back rest, I had one when I had my 06 sporty

 

+1 on the Mustangs, have them on both the 2000C, 87,000 miles, and 2006 R with 78,000 miles. Best run of 1400 miles in 22 hours, wouldn't have wanted to try it without the seat upgrade!

 

+3 on the Mustang

 

+2 on the Mustang Solo Seat with backrest

 

You know, I'm beginning to sense a consensus here...

 

F.W.I.W., After three trips to the "Deals Gap" area this past year, and a bunch of very spirited riding, my experience shows the Mustang seat to be excellant on the road, however- trying to hang off the side and switching from side to side is to much for these old bones. Was just trying to slow down the asphalt grinding to chassis parts. A smaller flat seat would be more appropriate.

 

Go with the Mustang solo with backrest. It solved my similar issues.

 

...with the constant tug-of-war with forward controls. Mine have actually been extended in FRONT on the front cyclinder exhaust pipe, making the reach even greater. I use a drivers backrest on the other bike and swear I'd never be witout it.