Riding to Russell

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NightShine

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Location
Petaluma, CA
At the end of January I called Russell Cycle Products for a ride-in appointment for a custom butt-fitting at their shop in the city of Shasta Lake, which is about a 3 and a half hour ride from my home in the Bay Area. Overnighted six miles south of there in Redding, and showed up just as they opened up last Friday morning.

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Where I was greeted my their office manager, Kim, "the voice of Day-Long".

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She took a picture of me poised on my stock saddle, while trusty assistants held the bike upright as I smiled for the camera. They gave me a loaner saddle to use for the morning and said, "That's it! Come back at 11:00 am for a trial fitting."

After receiving some suggestions for seeing some of the local sites, I headed 20 minutes west to arrive at Shasta Dam. This is a view of the approach:

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Shasta Dam dams the Sacramento River at the north end of the valley of that same name, and forms Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in California. It was constructed as a public works project by the Bureau of Reclamation as one of Roosevelt's New Deal civil engineering projects during the great depression, and it's construction continued until almost the end of WW II. Today it's hard to appreciate the scale of these massive projects, particularly as they came in ahead of schedule and within budget. When does that ever happen these days?

The dam is one of the largest concrete dams. The first bucket of concrete was poured in July 1940, and the pour continued uninterrupted in three shifts, 24 hours a day, every day for 4 and a half years. To create this concrete, they constructed the largest conveyor belt system in the world, 9.5 miles, to transport sand and gravel from Redding to the construction site. My hat's off to the men who could envision this project and execute its construction.

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Dam wildlife:

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Power generation plant:

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I wandered around the visitor's center for a time, then headed back to Russell for the trial fitting, and then a tour of the facilities.

Purchasers of Day Long saddles, trustingly send their stock seats into Russell, where they are shelved here until their build date. That is, when they are not being used as "loaners" to ride-in customers (thank you anonymous FJR owner for the temporary loan).

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At which time, construction of the custom saddle begins. The heart of their system is the spring steel that reinforces their foam seats. They used to order these springs from another company, but that company went out of business some years back, so now they construct them in custom sizes on site from raw stock.

On the shelf in the background, you can see the various sizes and densities of foam blanks that they use to construct their saddles. At one time they also purchased the blanks, now they make them in house.

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This is Matt Bradford, who built my saddle that day. Matt joined the company just after high school and has been at Russell for 12 years now. I take this claim with a grain of salt. I suspect that he actually leaves and goes home every day, so his cumulative time there is quite a bit less.
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The build process starts with selecting a foam blank, based on the weight of the rider or passenger. They then carve out the stock seat to position the blank suitably per the customer's photos. They then reinforce the seat pan to provide needed support for the blank, and split the blank to widen or narrow it to achieve a more accurate fit (notice the black filler in this blank).

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At a separate temperature controlled room, they have their "Foaminator" machine, part of their process to create their custom saddle blanks. The device combines the two-part chemical components for the foam as it is poured into molds. The pouring room, the component, the machine and the molds are all carefully ramped in temperature throughout the pour and cure process.

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For the past several years, they've been using aluminum molds that they had machined for them. Prior to this, they used the original "hand made" molds. The black containers against the back wall are the raw foam components.

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After the saddle innards are completed, comes the really hard work - constructing the cover from the material selected by the customer. It takes several different, specialized skill sets to create their products.

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At the end of this process are finished, custom saddles all ready to be boxed and shipped back their owners.

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During the trial fitting, Matt trimmed the saddle slightly, and then sent it on to be covered. "Be back around 2:30 pm, and your saddle should be ready."

With a couple of hours to kill, and a fine stock loaner seat, I wandered off northwards to discover what was at the end of I-5 exits that I'd always bypassed these many years.

Here's a view of Turntable Bay (an arm of Shasta Lake) at the end of a road leading to a facility maintained by the Department of Agriculture, of all things.

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Found a great little restaurant about 11 miles north in Lakehead. Cheryl is the artist-in-resident, chef, proprietor and owner. Had the salmon burger, which was wonderful, and the best-by-far clam chowder that I've ever had. She bakes delicious cookies, too. The art work hung on all of the walls was notable and created a pleasant and welcoming atmosphere. No food porn. The meal was gone before I remembered to snap a photo.

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But, in honor of Señior Black, I have a picture of "pie" from another time:

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The final Russell product below.

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Matt was conservative about shaving too much off of the saddle during the trial fitting, with the explanation that the edges will sag about 5 percent during the course of the break-in period, which they suggested would take somewhere between 500 and a 1000 miles. My impressions to date:

  • The ride home was much more comfortable than the ride there. With the stock saddle, I was squirming after just a couple of hours on the road, but arriving home my derriere was fat (as it were), dumb and happy.

  • The shape and width of the saddle raised my ride height noticeably, which I knew going into this, as that was my experience with the second-hand Russell I had on my Gen I. For the inseam challenged among us, that equates to sliding your butt forward out of the saddle's "pocket" at stops. Where I was solidly on the balls of my feet, I'm now less so. Backing up and balance must be done more carefully than before, as my muscle memory adjusts to the new geometry.

  • The higher than stock seat, as others have noted, changes the ergonomics a bit. Where I had been putting off installing handle bar risers or setbacks, I'm now actively pursuing such accessories. What's this year's "hot" accessory of choice in this department?
I consider myself fortunate to live just a day ride away from Russell. It allowed me to skip the inconvenience of being temporarily without a saddle during the all-year riding season in my neck of the woods, and adjustments to the saddle require only scheduling an appointment.
Cheers

 
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Sweet looking new motorcycle, Sam! And I'm happy for your butt. ;)

Nice educational report, too.

 
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Very Good Stuff! That is the best description of the Day Long building process I have read anywhere. The seat looks good on that 2015.

As I read this RR I could not help but chuckle at the thought of folks "saving money" buying a Corbin or Sargent. There is nothing like a true custom seat.

 
Excellent RR - everything from the photos of Shasta to the RDL tour.

Looks like the weather gods were good to you, too.

I'll forgive the absence of food porn since you included photos of that beautiful '15.

Enjoy!

 
Wow - great RR for sure..... Great pics - nice to see the behind the scenes with the seat companies operations. Picked up a used Russel for the 05 and it allowed me to run all day as the name states, even though it wasn't made for me, the upgrade was notable...... They know their stuff and are a huge benefit to the riding world......

Fantastic pics and congrats on one of the best upgrades to the bike.... that 15 looks awesome !!

 
Most excellent report with great insider images of the process!

How much extra was the ride-in fitting? Looks like it was worth it at any costs... just for the experience you had! (and images for us!)
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Kim Elder. Had many of emails and a couple of phone conversations with her on my Seat build. She was awesome!

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The RDL website indicates an $80 additional charge for ride-in appointments.

Check out their language on what they offer - some special designs are only offered on mail-in orders.

 
The RDL website indicates an $80 additional charge for ride-in appointments. Check out their language on what they offer - some special designs are only offered on mail-in orders.
Sure was worth the 80 bucks just for the inside tour!

I saw all the options when I went to order mine last month. I was like WTF is this and that?. I went half moon pattern in full leather (just think leather feels the best). No fancy designs but RDL suggested (after viewing my images) that at my 6-4 length and small framed g/f, that we take an inch from her seat and give to mine. I was all for that idea as I didn't need so much saddle "back there". I also asked for some lower back support. Got that too! My legs feel much better sitting on my new RDL, but as most have mentioned, I'm also up in the air a tad higher.

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I got a suggestion for RDL. Install camera's above the build tables. Sync to the customer the build time and have them watch the seat build in live action video stream. It's what BMW did for me on my custom K16 build last January. Priceless to watch your bike being built piece by piece (actually it was in modular builds) right up to crating. BUT... how cool would that be to watch your saddle being built as well! In today's technology, this is already here.

 
+1 to the great job on your report. I always wondered just what those springs looked like and was unwilling to rip into my seat just to see.

Thanks!

 
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Cool write up, I am doing this exact trip in May. Hopefully the Sierra Nevada's passes will be clear of snow then....and the seat should be 'broke in' by the time I get home! In time for some great summer riding.

 
What a great idea for a ride report. I enjoyed every bit of it.

Kind of chinchie to charge $80.00 for the drive-in service, though. If you make an appt., wait your turn, and save them the trouble of shipment, storage, and handling, why should you have to pay 15% over normal for it?

 
Interruption of their normal daily operation costs a premium.... You against paying for special treatment....?

Walk in and walk out that day with your new seat under your @$$.... don't think thats too much to ask IMO...

 
Respectfully, I disagree.

If I understand correctly, you have to make an appointment to get your seat done - there is no interruption of any normal daily operation. There is no inconvenience for the vendor - they are assured this seat won't come back. They don't have to box your seat and ship it. They don't have to take care custody and control of your seat for 8 weeks and lose it.

If someone is willing to pay the extra amount, then why not charge it, I suppose. I just think it's kind of chicken shit.

 
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