I hope you can help me with some comfort mods for my 2013 blade. As I am in my 40's......well late 40's.....well actually 50 next year, I am finding more and more that longer rides bring with it the discomfort of lower back pain. I could just get rid of the blade and buy a more comfortable bike but like everyone else on this forum I love my bike, I enjoy riding it, looking at it, cleaning and pampering it so why would I get rid of it? I'm 5ft 10 and feel I need to sit more upright to alleviate the problem. While searching the web on this subject I came across a thread from this forum about a guy in Falkirk that many members have used to sort out the comfort of their seats. If he is still doing this does anyone have any contact details, cost, pics of his work etc. I am hoping to go on a weekend ride to Belgium in September with friends but the lower back pain issue is stopping me from paying my deposit. Has anyone tried Heli bars or got them fitted to their bike. Looking forward to your suggestions and thoughts. Thanks all.
I think the bar risers and an E seat would be the answer . Truth is perhaps most of us have back pain and its the bike that gets the blame . I think the riding position of the blade is perhaps one of the best on a sports bike so any improvement at all may give you another few years of happy riding .
yes he still does it , he put gel in my riders seat and put foam in passenger seat , and I gave him the colour seats I wanted , took 4 days from posting to him and back and charged me £130 for both , great job , go on ebay and type in 1000rr seat , tophills . I have put some photos on my forum headed 2013 seats , a lot cheaper than an e comfort seat , and really well done.
Your seats look the dogs danglies! I also have a HRC blade and they would look great on my bike. How do you contact him?
I'm sure Gillies do adjustable bars as well as helibars!. bloody expensive tho! I've read a few thing's about these and the most common issue with them are because of the bars height, cables and brake line may have to be modified or changed Saying that I think it's better that than getting yourself an upright bike where most of your weight is on your bum and not a lot on feet(lower pegs) or wrist! causing even more stress on your lower back over our bad roads and long journeys!!.. I remember Bike or Ride mag took two bikes to Germany a Kawazaki ZZR1400 and a BMW adventure bike at the start they fought over the BM keys dreading backache and sore wrists on the ZZR but after a day in the saddle they were fighting over the ZRR keys as they both found with the BM after a hour or two their bum was totally numb losing sensation in their legs and backache in the small of the backs! Where as your weight is evenly distributed over the ZZR wrists, bum and feet taking the strain off their backs also along with the protection of the Kawasaki's fairing it came best out of the two for touring! Good luck with your quest for comfort mate I hope you find what you need to make your Blade a bit easier to live with! It's already one of the most comfortable sportbikes you can buy so that's a good start
Helibars apparently don't need any mods to any cables etc, make a massive difference. Bumped into a bloke who had some on his blade. Roughly £200
All the above mods are great but you can help a little more by strengthening your core as this would help your back pain, sit ups and crunches are good for starters
do on ebay tophills and message him really quick to get back to yer . I just printed the seats off here and put my colours to it , he can do what you want . let me no if or when you get them done.
Here's a couple of pics of the seat that I had Jimmy do for my SP1. I also had my Balckbird seat done by him. Excellent workmanship.
A big thank you to everyone for your thoughts, experiences, comments and input to my thread "More Comfort Needed". I have sent an email to Jimmy and am awaiting a reply as the first things I am going to do is get my seat sorted for comfort like most you and also pick up on the comment by sps170373 regarding lower back execises.
Also worth mentioning is that Jimmy now does gel seats for the blade. Here the eBay item number to 1 he has just now. 251574083625
I looked at loads of information on risers last year. Gilles are lovely but you need a mortgage for them. Helibars are also good but these too are around £270. Woodcraft also make risers and these are around £120 from the US, you have to get the 2" risers though as the Blade already has a 1" rise built into the standard bars.
Rider and pillion seat packed and ready to post tomorrow. Rider seat will be gel and pillion seat comfort foam done in black corben style vinyl with white trim and red piping, £135 + £14 P&P Can't wait to get them back, it's like waiting for Christmas Day.
I just fitted some trw raised clip ons to my rr4 last week, thy are only 20 mm higher and a 5 deg angle, not sure what angle std clip ons are but these are a lot flatter so my wrists and shoulders are more relaxed at lower speeds. Easy to fit with std hoses and cables. £169 off eBay. Just need a comfier seat now for the longer runs
I had a climbing accident that required spinal sugery and fusion so suffer with the back but find sports bikes comfy I think its because you ride with your whole body transferring weight across the bike from inner thighs balls of feet, arms bum etc I find that if I stiffen up and just sit there usually in slower trafic I start to hurt, soon as I press on and get back flowing comfort returns. Standing on the pegs and stretching the legs sticking your bum up in the air back straight, works well to..... but you do look a bit daft
Yes your right mate, faster you go the more ideal the std position is! I find anything above 80 or so is very comfy but lower speeds cause trouble in the old joints not to mention white fingers ffs! Could it be the double bubble screen takin wind resistance off the body/head and putting more weight on the wrists or just being a beaten up old fecker and need to man up hehe
PS..............and for that "Added Comfort" why not buy a pair of them Cycle shorts with the gel padding. A m8 swears by them, say's they're brilliant for longish hauls on his Yam....not sure they'll work when astride your Blade but must be worth a punt ?
