Sorry for the long post:

Well from 1-14 Aug wife and I rode from Richmond, VA to Sturgis area, stayed a week riding roughly 200 miles a day and then back home. It was 1808 miles out there (we visited brother in Ohio) and roughly 1825 back (we went south from Rapid City to Sidney on 385 to I80 and home through Kansas City and St Loius). On the way there, I rode from Amana Colony, Iowa (Iowa Colony Resteraunt rocks!) to Mitchell, SD. Called my uncle and he asked that I finish the 240 more miles that night because they wouldn't be home the next morning. I obliged and logged 740 miles that day (I normally do 500 a day and shut down). My right pelvis area paid for it and the stock seat started giving out on me! I could see where the padding was starting to collapse on the right side along the frame rail and up towards the tank. I almost bought a Mustang at the vender in Black Hills Harley, and in hindsite, I wish I had!!!!!

We rode Sturgis area just fine, but starting out home on the 11th, after the first tank of gas, my right side started killing me!!! I HAD to do something on the road to be able to get home. Now keep in mind my wife LOVES the stock passenger pillion on my Electraglide Classic. So in St Joseph we stopped at St Joe HD and I bought what I thought was a Sundowner and a back rest (turns out its a reach seat!). It was OK for me, not great though. The wife HATED IT after about 100 miles and started complaining about the seat and my new backrest!!! I was starting to wish I had just sucked up the pain and kept going at this point...cause hearing my wife complain was almost worse if you know what I mean. So now its another day and after St Loius we were stopping for breakfast and so happened there was a HD dealer there. They had a Road Zeppelin in stock for my 09 electraglide. They gave me a discount and I bought it... I LOVED it, but the wife after initially liking it, again was not all that happy. My backrest had to come off first of all... So it was bungied up on the bike... and we did eventually make it home and my **** was just fine. In fact on the RZ I could do a lot more then 700 miles a day if I didn't get so tired otherwise.

Today I have been messing with the back rest to get it where I wanted.... And finally got it comfy for me. In the process, I decide to sit on the pillion.... How the F$%K does a passenger ride pillion when the driver has the backrest on for any sort of miles!!! I had to spread my legs to get around the backrest and it still cut into my thighs. My wife has bruises from the thing to boot!!! Also, any ideas as to how to get the pillion on the RZ more comfy for the wife? I thought of pulling the cover and rebuilding the seat with memory foam for her... Also, my stock seat is being shipped home and I plan on rebuilding it myself with memory foam etc since she is so happy with the pillion, but I spent a lot of money for the RZ and want it work for the both of us! I can always remove the backrest, as I use her thighs for my backrest when riding 2up. It is so hard to find a seat where the driver AND the passenger are both comfy for the long haul!

 

Wow you went through alot of seats.

I'd give Mean City Cycles a shot at fixing your orginal seat.

http://www.meancitycycles.com/

Have you thought about floorboard extensions especially for the passenger? I'll help get your wife's feet out a little and no pressure on the thigh area.

Check out Soos's website for floorboard extensions.

http://www.mike5959.com/Soos/productshdf.html

 

I do not have any answers for you. However, I am interested how this does work out. I am looking at maybe getting a Road Zeppelin. I thought the bladders were adjustable on the fly? Adjusting the bladder did not help your wife?

My girlfriend hates my the seat I have now.

 

The new Road Zeppelin seat for 08 and up have 2 adjustments for the rider and 1 adjustment for the passenger. I adjusted on the fly every once in a while. It allowed me to shift my weight around etc and once I found a good position it was great for me. I had no more problems riding the rest of the way home. Thing is her **** was hurting before she got on it... So we are gonna give her some time to recoup and then try a 2 up test with the seat to see if that was really the problem.

 

We rode from Richland, WA to Sturgis via Billings, around 1100 miles one way, not quite as far as you guys.

Same issues though - after 2-3 days stock seat was challenging to get comfortable on.

I bought a Mustang solo/pillion/backrest set from the Mustang booth at Black Hills H-D. Made the rest of the riding in the Sturgis area and the trip home 1000% more comfortable...around 2,600 miles total. I compared the Mustang to the Road Zeppelin at Black Hills H-D, but wasn't satisfied with the entire "electric air pump", switches, complexity, etc. The simpler solution seemed what I was looking for, and besides I could remove the pillion and run the solo seat alone with the Mustang option, but the H-D RZ is a one piece. Prices were comparable either way - Mustang set was ~ $700 installed; RZ listed at $799.

Mustang worked for me.

Haven't gotten my wife's opinion yet....but for your issues, I recommend going with the Kuryakyn adjustable passenger highway pegs. They offer your wife a lot more options and comfort - worked for my wife. Being able to shift her butt around and put her feet in different locations reduced her discomfort and aches. Here's a link:

http://www.kuryakyn.com/index.cfm/go...D/20/IMID/1596

Best with your seat issues --

Doc

 

If you're planning on rebuilding your own seat, have you thought about tearing apart the driver backrest and rebuilding it? With some ingenuity you might be able to reshape it, make it more narrow and taper the edges so your wife's thighs aren't pressing against it so bad. Might be able to make you both happy that way.

Rider backrests and passengers don't mix, but my cousin has a Corbin w/rider backrest (their rider backrests are pretty narrow) and he says his wife doesn't complain about it at all. And she's got the thighs to put it to the test too.

Fatguy

 

Great idea. Just took a look at how to get the cover off and it is doable. I have the cutting tools etc and think I can make it work for both of us. I also just checked to ensure my tourpack was back as far as it will go, and it is... my wife is a thin model BTW.

 

and that answers my question. the tourpak. harley doesn't have much adjustment available for the tourpak. i recommend the george anderson tourpak relocation kit. its very well made, reasonably priced, and works great. do a search here on the forum, i no longer have his contact info. he'll ship it out to you right away, even before you pay for it.

 

+1 on the Soos floor board extenders. Who knew an inch could make your wife so happy? LOL

 

OMG! I hope neither of them read this forum! I seriously LOL'd