Marietta, Ga. to Panama City Beach, Florida

[burkbuilds]

Spent about 6.5 hours riding down on Saturday. Nice easy ride and my seat was awesome. That last customization really paid off. After almost 7 hours in the saddle I unloaded everything and then went for a ride along the beach (Thomas Drive) road. Weather is in the 90's and sunny, light waves, really nice. I left Marietta about 8:30 in fog and 62 degrees. Peeled out of my jacket around 10 o'clock and went the remainder in short sleeves. Should have put suntan lotion on around noon, but wasn't thinking about it and got a nice "farmers tan" going by the time I got here. Oh well. I'll try and download a few pics but internet is slow here so might not be much until I get back home.

[geezer]

for that reason alone i ride with long sleeves. we gotta ride together sometime, i live in dahlonega so you should come see the mountains up here. my treat

[burkbuilds]

That sounds really nice, thanks. I'm having another great day here at the beach. It's about 1:30 local time, 90 degrees, surf's up a little so I spent about an hour or so jumping waves. The remainder of the afternoon I need to spend studying for some exams I have to take on line tomorrow, so I'm probably done for the day as far as the beach goes. I had a nice short ride earlier this morning, man is it nice down here.

Happy Memorial day to all our veterans and their families. We would not be able to enjoy such a great and free country if not for your service, Thanks!

[Water Warrior 2]

Awesome pics BB. Good luck on the exam but I have a feeling you won't need it.

Also greetings and best wishes to your military. They do some tough jobs around the world and don't get the proper rewards for putting themselves in harm's way.

[spicciani]

cool i'm in mobile . Is your seat not stock?

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by spicciani

cool i'm in mobile . Is your seat not stock?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Take a good look and ask yourself that question again. BB has a one of a kind custom brewed up from his need to be comfy.

[burkbuilds]

This is my second generation mod to the Vulcan 500 OE seat. First mod involved adding some foam and contours. It was an improvement, but when I made this same trip to Panama City Beach 18 months ago I was in pain and ready to get off by the time I arrived. With this design I built a new seat pan and then covered it for greater width and support and it was great. After unloading at PCB I went right back out and jumped back on the bike, no pain, very comfy. viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3924 Here is a detailed step by step of how I made that seat if you want more info.

Loving the beach this week. Today I've spent most of my time in school "on line" and taking tests. One down one more to go by 9 tonight.

[burkbuilds]

Yesterday was awesome, today promises to be more of the same. I can't remember ever having a solid week of practically perfect weather when I was at the beach. This morning while drinking coffee on the balcony, I watched a stingray slowly cruise up the beach in the shallows, it was pretty cool. My daughter and her friend even got up out of bed to see it, of course they went back to bed after it went by. I love the beach and especially the early mornings, they seem so relaxing and peaceful. Well, gotta sign up for Fall classes in a minute, isn't the internet wonderful. Then it's out to enjoy my last day at the beach for a while, probably until after I graduate, which I hope will come by the end of next Summer.

[Water Warrior 2]

Sounds like a wonderful working holiday. The weather seems to be in full cooperation mode for your stay. Just wondering, have you done anything to the other bike for future comfy and whatnot ?

[burkbuilds]

WW, I just rolled back to Marietta a few hours ago. It was 96 degrees at 9:30 AM when I left Panama City. Had to stop about every hour to drink water. Must have downed about two gallons today and never had to stop for a bathroom break.

I have done a few things to the 750 but I have not updated the seat yet. I did buy a drivers backrest (protac) similar to the one I put on the 500 and it really helps, but the factory seat makes me slide forward and sit in a bad posture, so it will have to be changed. While taking a class on ergonomics this semester I found some information posted by my professor that was interesting. He states that "a correctly designed seat should be about 18" across in width, and 16" from front to rear +- 1" and the seat cushion should be horizontal. It should roll off towards the front edge to promote circulation in the legs and it should be slightly concave in shape. If the seat is adjustable a backward tilt between zero and 8 degrees is often beneficial in shifting the body's weight against the backrest. The backrest should be between 13 and 18 " wide and adjustable between 4" and 9" above the seat cushion. If it is nonadjustable, it should start no higher than 4" above the seat cushion and extend about 18" up."- 2008, Robert Atkins, PE

Interestingly, the seat I made for the 500 is approximately 18" across and 15" front to rear with a fall off towards the front and it is horizontal and slightly concave. My backrest is smaller than his recommendation, but about the right placement from the seat top. So by basic trial and error, I finally came up with a very similar shape to the one he states as desirable to be ergonomically correct for sitting.

I'd like to come up with a design that still looks pretty factory but has the width/length and shape that I've found to be very comfortable for me. That's gonna take a little planning, so it might be a while. In the mean time the 750's seat with the help of the backrest is okay for trips under an hour but I wouldn't want to drive it from Chattanooga to Atlanta until I've modified it.

We had a really great vacation at the beach and the ride down and back was long, about 7 hours but other than being hot coming home, I was very comfortable, no back pain, no but cramps or legs falling asleep at all. When I got to the end of the ride I felt fine and not stiff or sore or anything, so that was really nice.