darryl@ism780.UUCP (06/23/84)
#N:ism780:15800017:000:3223 ism780!darryl Jun 19 20:29:00 1984 [Over the hills and through the curves, to Grandmother's house I go...] I have a strong recommendation to make to those of you in net.land that spend long periods in the saddle, and are not satisfied with the results (oh, my achin' behind!). I have just acquired a Mayer "Day-Long" Saddle for my steed (BMW R65), and am more than a little pleased! Rick Mayer runs this little operation in Paso Robles, where he builds about 2 seats a day, on the average. The whole thing is just him and two kids for assistants. But he knows what he is doing. I rode up there (about 220 miles from L.A.) and got mine in five hours. He takes your measurements and weight, as well as watching you and your passenger actually riding the bike. He carefully measures the seat and then removes it from your bike. While he did his magic, he loaned me a spare seat and I spent a few hours riding in the nearby hills. He selects a foam "tractor" style seat, in one of 4 densities, and a spring, in one of 5 guages, according to your weight and height. Rick will build either a dual seat, using two setups, or a single seat, which relies on the original foam for passenger space. The saddle is custom shaped to your riding position. Your original stock seat is stripped and the original foam is cut away to form a platform on which he builds the new seat. After building the new seat from the foam and spring, he proceeds to custom tailor a naugahyde exterior. Incidently, he uses a very heavy grade of naugahyde -- it seemed to be about twice as thick as my original seat. All stitching is done in dacron thread, which should not break down in the face of the elements. All seams are double stitched, just like Levi's. Rick uses a batting between the foam and naugahyde in areas where there will be constant friction, to keep the foam from wearing away. The result is a seat that is both beautiful to see and feel. The acid test was riding home -- my wife rarely likes to spend more than an hour per day on the bike. In fact, she was heard to complain vociferously on the way up. But not on the way home! (I found it pretty comfortable too. :-) Mr. Mayer's work is guaranteed to last a lifetime. If the seat ever fails to be comfortable (excluding reasons of neglect and abuse), he will repair it free. He also says that he will adjust a seat that becomes uncomfortable because you lose weight for free, but if you gain weight, you pay! He had a seat that had spent 80,000 miles on a bike... it had lost a little bit of the naugahyde's original lustre, but there were no tears, not a loose stitch anywhere. OK, so here's the catch: the dual saddle seat is $220 and the single is $190. All I can say is that quality is rarely cheap. If, after reading this blatant advertisement, you have tears in your eyes, you may want to wipe them away and copy down this address and phone: Rick Mayer Fabrications Touring Equipment, Ltd. (he shares garage space) 825 Riverside Dr. #4 Paso Robles, CA 93446 (805) 238-7477 He does most of his business by mail, so don't despair if you live out of riding distance. Give him a call, jobs are done on an appointment basis. --Darryl Richman ...!cca!ima!ism780!darryl