Saddlemen Tattoo Seat Winner

Thunder Bob and Tom Monroe award the first Tattoo Saddle

This profile orginally appeared on Metric Thunder’s web site.

MetricThunder.com conducted the Thunder Saddle Tattoo Contest sponsored by Saddlemen, which ran monthly from November 2006 through June of 2007. Thunder Bob and Tom Monroe introduce the first winner of the contest in Indianapolis.

It’s an online tattoo contest where the winner receives a custom Thunder Saddle for his/her motorcycle with the tattoo embossed in the seat of the saddle.

Contestants submit a photograph of their tattoos at the MetricThunder.com website. Celebrity judge Keith Ball of www.Bikernet.com selects the best of the best for that month to be stitched into a custom Thunder Saddle.

We have seen some really outstanding ink work from Bikers and I’m excited to see the finished product on the Thunder Saddles.

- Keith Ball, Bikernet.com Owner.

SaddleGel Puts You in the Comfort Zone

SaddleGel Technology Keeps You in the Drivers Seat

Without question SaddleGel is the most important breakthrough in motorcycle seating in decades. This amazing product will totally change the amount of time you spend on your motorcycle. Every type of riding just got more enjoyable. When you throw your leg over your motorcycle, you know you will be comfortable!

I rode from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on my custom seat with SaddleGel and it made the ride immensely more enjoyable!

-Metric Thunder Bob

SaddleGel provides the following benefits:

• Redistributes weight over a larger surface area
• Particularly effective in a fixed seating positions
• Reduces high-pressure points or “Hot Spots”
• Dissipates weight concentrated by hip joints
• Increases blood flow previously restricted by compression of muscle

When it comes to motorcycle seating comfort, nothing compares to a Saddlemen seat with SaddleGel. Whether you’re looking for a large, touring seat for long-distance riding, or something low and slammed to the ground, SaddleGel gives you unsurpassed riding comfort. If SaddleGel isn’t in your seat it can be on your seat. Saddlemen’s original SaddleGel Gel Pads are available in three sizes to fit on top of your seat or anywhere else you want to use them.

Reduces Vibration, Eliminates Pressure Points
By evenly distributing your weight across the surface of the seat, SaddleGel absorbs and elminates the extra pressure that is normally experienced at hip bones and the tail bone. These pressure points or “hot spots” create a loss of blood flow, causing discomfort. By increasing circulation, your aching butt is eliminated.

Comfort Technology
It is true that SaddleGel works wonders for seating comfort, but Saddlemen doesn’t stop there. Saddlemen’s integrated seat designs include a selection of materials that work together to make our seats as comfortable as possible, while still giving your bike show-quality style.

I just finished an 8,000 tour and the most important change to my bike was the Saddlemen Stealth. The stock seat is slanted slightly toward the front, forcing you to push on the bars to maintain position. The level seating of the Stealth, and the gel material, provided a huge improvement in comfort over my previous tours. I knew from my last trip that it would be a painful for me to ride long days on a stock saddle. Thanks for providing a superior alternative.

- Steve S.

Saddlemen Adds Style to Hawaiian Suzuki M109R

Steve Kai from Hawaii wanted to build something unique and special, and since Steve’s son Garrett works for American Suzuki, Steve started out with a brand-new Suzuki M109R, the baddest power cruiser out there.  The M109R is a big, fast, mean bike that begs to be ridden hard, and it would have been a shame to take away any of that rideability.  The list of modifications was extensive, but since this bike is a rider and not a trailer queen, Steve wanted a seat that not only reflected his bike’s new style, but was also comfortable to ride on.

The Saddlemen Solo you see here was built on Steve’s custom steel seat pan, which was hammered out to fit between the wider rear fender and the stretched gas tank.  SaddleGel inside the seat, plus Saddlemen’s proprietary Black Magic foam, provide maximum comfort while the deep sculpted Tattoo flames, leather cover and custom contours offer the looks that will surely garner Steve some trophies in the coming months.  If he can stop riding it long enough to show it.

Click on the picture links below to see these great looking images full size…

Custom Seat for a Custom Machine

Kenny from Signal Hill Cycle Works stopped by to show us his newly completed custom, a rubber-mount, Daytec framed non-bagger. We call it a non-bagger because while there are no provisions for hard bags, it has a dual-shock rear setup and a rubber mounted engine, so it’s definitely comfortable and has a bagger feel while riding it.

Kenny came to Saddlemen for his custom seat, a SaddleGel-equipped Solo with custom, color matching leather laces. If you have a custom seat project and want a comfortable, good looking seat to match your bike, contact a Saddlemen rep at 800-397-7709. We can offer you exotic hides like alligator and ostrich, custom embroidery options, a variety of flame choices, etc., limited only by your imagination!

Parts Magazine Profiles Saddlemen

Behind the Scenes
The Saddlemen Story
A History of Quality and Comfort
This profile orginally appeared in Parts Unlimited’s online magazine.

The Saddlemen/Parts Unlimited relationship has been as long (20 years!) as it’s been successful. In fact, this team-up is so strong that you won’t find Saddlemen’s products in anybody else’s catalog. The synergy here has resulted in more Saddlemen product reaching more happy riders, and those riders are smiling for good reason. Saddlemen is a motorcycle seat, bag, and luggage specialist and that expertise–along with decades of experience–is plainly evident in everything Saddlemen makes.

And speaking of synergy, Saddlemen designs every seat with complementary luggage and accessories in mind, and vice versa. Whether your look is smooth, flames, studs or conchos, with Saddlemen products it’s easy to get an integrated look from front to back.

BST Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1987 by Tom Seymour, initially specializing in comfortable seats for touring motorcycles marketed under the Travelcade brand. Two years later BST started working with OE motorcycle manufacturers and grew that involvement to include most of the leading U.S. and Japanese based OEMs. In 1989 BST also began production of Pony Express-style throw-over saddlebags and matching tool bags and in 1991 the Saddlemen division was started to concentrate on the custom Harley and emerging cruiser markets. Today Saddlemen is the only brand the company is known by. Ever the innovators, Saddlemen introduced strap-on gel pads in 1993, spawning a copycat industry that continues to grow today. Saddlemen was first, though, and is re-inventing this product segment for 2008. Watch for it.

Saddlemen blends artistry and engineering into every seat it makes to provide show-quality saddles that are also a comfort improvement over the stock seat. Every seat is manufactured from the ground up in the USA, too. All design, R&D and seat production is done in Saddlemen’s manufacturing headquarters in Rancho Dominguez, California. Computer driven controls are used for key processes including foam pouring, shipping and even customer service. Those Saddlemen seat covers, for example, are cut out using a computer controlled cutting table that guarantees consistent pattern sizing every time.

An exclusive foam formulation is poured into custom contoured molds and the famous SaddleGel is inserted. Saddlemen is the innovator in gel use for motorcycle seats, developing this long-life formulation after dozens of trial-and-error attempts and lots of miles of testing. SaddleGel dampens shock and vibration, it reduces pressure points and makes for an enjoyable ride no matter how many miles are covered or how many hours are spent in the saddle. Once the seat cover, the foam and the pan are all finished they’re assembled using high-quality stainless steel rivets to bring it all together and every seat is closely inspected before leaving the facility. Higher volume luggage products are also produced overseas where manufacturing is done under Saddlemen’s strict guidelines to produce the broadest range of high-value motorcycle luggage on the market.

And right from the start Saddlemen has supported the sport. This is a company of enthusiastic riders. Tom Seymour, Saddlemen’s founder, was a racer from the ‘60s to the ‘80s and is currently an AMA Life Member as well as an active trail and road rider. In the ‘60s Tom was president of the Yonkers M/C Club, the oldest AMA Charter Club. It was back then that Tom rode to Daytona for the first time, and he’s missed nary a year since along with attending most rallies like Sturgis, Americade, Laconia, Laughlin and all the others. Saddlemen has always been a big sponsor in motorcycle competition, too, including road racing, motocross, enduro, drag racing, speedway and flat track. Racers who’ve received Saddlemen support number in the hundreds and include names like Hayden, Bostrom, Carr, Springsteen, Hale, Pegram, Eslick, Poovey, Coolbeth, Mees–plus the land speed record BUB 7 streamliner that achieved 350-plus MPH. And when those guys get off their racebikes and record-holders to hop on their streetbikes you know those bikes are set up with Saddlemen seats and luggage. And as we said, most everyone on the Saddlemen staff is a rider, too. You might have been lucky enough to ride across the country with them on the Kyle Petty Charity Ride, or possibly at one of Drag Specialties’ annual dealer rides. Their enthusiasm extends beyond the product and right into their daily lives.

All of this–the total involvement in the sport, the decades of experience, the innovative seats and luggage, the constant R&D to keep those seats and luggage in tune with the times and assure perfect-fit applications for the newest machines, the quality of the materials and construction–all of that and, of course, the coordinated Saddlemen look makes Saddlemen seats and luggage a great choice. Parts Unlimited has it all.

Why SaddleGel™?

Why Motorcycle Seats Need SaddleGel™!

We at Saddlemen have always been proud of our pioneering designs using our SaddleGel™ technology for better rider comfort and endurance.

To help better inform the public about the benefits of SaddleGel™, we’ve added a new “FAQ” (Frequently Asked Questions) page to our website’s support area. For more info check the following link at saddlemen.com:

Why Your Motorcycle Seat Needs SaddleGel™!

We love to show our pride in what SaddleGel™ can do for you!

Saddlemen’s Latest “Pro Tour” Seat – Streamlined Comfort and Support Without Compromise

INTRODUCING "PRO TOUR" SEATS FOR CURRENT HARLEY-DAVIDSON TOURERS

An Inside Look at Custom Seat Production

A Saddlemen Specialty:
Building New Seats To Order, From Scratch

Saddlemen End-Of-Summer Seat Spotlight…
Seasonal Surplus Ready For Immediate Shipment

As the busiest seasons for riding wind down each year, we sometimes end up with some extra seats on our shelves. This can be a great opportunity for buyers to get a top-of-the-line Saddlemen seat shipped out to them immediately. We’ve opened a new section on our web page listing these seats on our shelves, ready to head home to you, and your motorcycle.

These items are likely to clear out fast, so we strongly advise calling our sales staff here, toll-free, at (800) 397-7709 when ordering from this “on the shelf” list, to make sure that the saddle in question has not been sold. Some of the types listed have only a single seat left.

As always, Saddlemen produces new, made-to-order seats throughout the year. Any of the saddles highlighted in this section will still be available as normal production items. We offer this listing of inventory to help clear our shelves, and so that the riding public can immediately get Saddlemen saddles installed on their bikes before prime riding weather fades across much of the nation…

Saddlemen Seat Reviewed: A Ride Fit For A King?

Retailer Tries Our King Seat – Back Pain And Discomfort Left Behind

Dan Ludwig, owner of OneStopMoto.com sells lots of Saddlemen seats and luggage. After hearing all the positive comments about our saddles, he decided to give our King Seat a try on his Harley-Davidson to see if it would improve his riding experience.

Dan contacted us to let us know how the seat worked for him…

“I just installed a new Saddlemen King Seat with backrest on my 2001 Fat Boy. I have been shopping for a new seat for some time – because of back soreness after only an hour or so riding.”

“I heard a lot of hype about this seat, so I decided to give it a try, but not expecting too much. Well, I was pleasantly surprised.”

“After several hours of riding, I was trying to figure out why my back wasn’t sore. I noticed I was not sitting on my tail bone like most seats. I understand this is attributed to the unique “split-cushion” design of the King Seat. Keeping your weight off your tailbone is critical to keep the seat comfortable and your back in check, especially for long rides. Additionally, I adjusted the backrest significantly forward (yes, you can do this with the King Seat) which helped me maintain an upright sitting position, and allowed me to lean back and rest as I rode, without being way back on the bike. I believe this also helped to relieve back stress.”

“Bottom line is this. If you want a good looking seat with great lumbar support to relieve back pain, and a comfortable ride, this is the seat for you.”

We are always happy to hear such positive feedback. Our goal and design philosophy has always been to provide greater comfort and more enjoyable riding time for our customers. We know what our technology and craftsmanship can do, and it’s gratifying to see that our seats are helping the riding public improve their time on the road.

For more feedback from real riders, please check out our Testimonial page.

We invite you to see what our expertise and technology can do to your motorcycling experience.