[burkbuilds]

Dave, thanks for the good input, not many here have actually owned the Vulcan 500 before, so it's nice to hear what you found out about yours when you had it. I've got several physical "characteristics" that don't work well on a sport bike for me. One, I've got several bad disks in my lower back and leaning forward, even a little just doesn't work for me, also having my legs up under me in a sitting position hurts so my feet really need to be out in front of me if I'm gonna be able to go for more than just a couple of minutes. The cruiser seating position seems to work best for my situation except that I can't take that little "turn up" right at the lower back that almost all the seats seem to have, so I always have to modify my seat so that it doesn't put any pressure on that part of my lower back. The back rest, which sits up higher, allows me to press back and get a little arch in my back which helps a lot with the comfort level in my situation. The mustang seats that I've sat on gave great "butt" support and that seemed to take some "pressure" off and let me relax my hip flexors a little more than my current seat which I may modify again to be just a little wider like that Mustang seat I tried out on the 650. A slightly higher seat height compared with most cruisers I've sat on, also helps my comfort level, I think mainly because I've got pretty long legs and it gets my thighs more parallel to the road and me in a more "upright" seating posture which works pretty good for keeping my lower back from getting "irritated". I found that floor boards made a big difference for me as well, probably just a little less tension in the legs vs foot pegs. So, in a lot of ways, my "position" requirements are very unique and probably don't fall into any of the stock categories in the bike design world. The standard seat height is better for me, but the foot position is not and the cruiser seat style seems to be the closest to comfortable for me, but it's almost always to low and seems to always have about a 4-5" turn up at the back which puts pressure where I can least take it. I always have to mod my seat for comfort and that doesn't really look as good as the stock "lines" for a cruise or a standard. That may just be the price I have to pay to be able to ride, my ride is never gonna look cool with the seat mods I have to make but at least I can ride that way. Right now I'm trying to design a new seat configuration for my Vulcan that might accomplish both comfort and "style" but I haven't gotten it figured out just yet, but I'm still in the design stages right now. Anyway, thanks for the input!