How long does the pain last.

[playgtar]

Took my first multi hour ride yesterday. I have a road that is well paved and twisties galore. I cross the river and it's a straight shot back home, Throttlemeister style. I know you've all probably heard it before, but my A** is killing me. This is my first non-cruiser type of bike. I have been mainly commuting back and forth to work, which is 20 miles each way. Trying to build up to a longer ride. I had my wife on the back. The riding was fun, but my upper legs and glutes hurt. My wife said her feet hurt sitting in the back. I got the numb hand a few times as well. I have a crampbuster, but still had to shake it out a couple of times. I tried keeping the yoda position as much as I could. I have a pair of highway pegs I haven't put on yet as the riding back and forth to work is pretty comofrtable.

I read about many of you taking these long trips, and mine was only a 100 miles or so. I wonder to myself if I'll ever be able to do a long ride. Any suggestions to ease my pain?

 

[Foxhuntr]

I used to get very sore after a couple of hours until I got my Bill Mayer saddle. Now I'm good for multiple day rides. Long days are still tiring, but 3-400 miles a day is fine. I'm 66.

 

[ionbeam]

Buy a Corbin. Then when that doesn't work try gel inserts, a beaded seat cover and a sheepskin wool cover. After trying that, buy a RickMayor seat. Then a Bill Mayer seat. You may almost be there... now try a Sargent seat for a lot of money and a small improvement. Finally, try a Russell Day Long. Ahhhh, now why didn't you do that in the first place? Ya, the Day Long is fugly (beauty is in the eye of the buttholder) and expensive, but it will most likely be the seat that works. I got a pretty good price in the last off-season group buy.

Passenger peg extenders relaxed my wife's bad knees and un-cramped her legs. Heat shields stopped her from melting the soles of her shoes to the pipes and eliminated the hot-foot. Recently, several people have mentioned good results with passenger foot boards.

Gen I peg extenders, without the heel guards.

 

[johnny80s]

Do the throttle spring unwind. That will help your hand. If you have large hands try grip puppies too.

Get a custom seat like ionbeam said. I love my Bill Mayer seat and they are great people to deal with. But as ionbeam said "beauty is in the eye of the buttholder."

 

[03HiYoSilver]

Play,

Here are the Throttle Spring Links:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s...st&p=220804

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=18322

 

[playgtar]

Gracias, but once again, I can't see the pics.

 

[playgtar]

I told the wife yesterday. This is why you always hear people talking about a custom seat.

 

[BwanaDik]

I read about many of you taking these long trips, and mine was only a 100 miles or so. I wonder to myself if I'll ever be able to do a long ride. Any suggestions to ease my pain?

I think you need to contact dcarver about a CBA membership. I'm sure there are some folks in that club that can give you some suggestions with those grueling rides :lol:

 

[Bigbeavk]

Someone just posted a group buy for the Russell seats is going on in another forum. We love ours and can ride all day without a problem. I highly recomend. CHeck our group buy section and you should see the post.

 

[luvtoride]

Ahhhh, now why didn't you do that in the first place?

Probably because of those hideous wings. :lol: Oh, just kidding, Alan. I know that those Day Long saddles have a large following.

But note to Playgtr... for sure, you have not adjusted to the bike, yet. It takes me a few rides at the beginning of the season to tune my ass to the seat. I rode 800 & some miles this past weekend & my butt doesn't hurt at all. Your soreness... if it hasn't started subsiding yet, I'd image by tomorrow, it will.

If not already mentioned it is a huge help to butt & leg fatigue to start taking some ibuprofen (or painkiller of your choice) early b4 pain sets in.

 

[SebringSilver]

I started this Thread a few months ago with the exact same problem; My FJR is Killing Me

I learned a lot from that thread and have made several changes to my riding habits and I can now do 400 to 500 miles a day with only slight discomfort. These are the changes that helped me the most.

1. Stretch and exercise; work your upper thighs and stretch those thighs around the gas tank and your seat.

2. BMX bike shorts; seriously, the best change I have made.

3. Stop every hour to hour and a half and stretch, hydrate, relax and walk around

4. Yoda Riding position; keeping the weight positioned correctly took the pain away from my butt and thighs

5. Confidence and Familiarity; now that I am more comfortable with the bike and it’s higher COG and weight, my muscles and riding style are so much more relaxed. I was very tense thinking I was going to drop my new machine every time I got on it.

6. Ibuprofen; I take at least three before I ride, that’s the key, sorta loosens the muscles up before they get sore

7. Airhawk seat: I only use this when I will be doing long Freeway rides to the mountains and then remove for the Twisties. But, it sure helps my a** on the way home.

Good Luck. You will get used to it.

 

[FJReady]

I'll also recommend some LD Comfort shorts. Pricey but good. I've been pretty happy with long rides after getting my Rick Mayer seat. But was still nagged by monkey butt. Yesterday I had my first ride with the LD Comfort Rider shorts. Even though it was just a three houre ride I knew I had made a wise purchase. It was warm and humid yesterday and that typically means undergarments clinging to your legs and butt. Not so with the LD shorts. I'm looking forward to further evaluation.

But the first thing is getting a good seat. the stocker (Gen 1 anyway) was so bad.

 

[Big Sky]

I started this Thread a few months ago with the exact same problem; My FJR is Killing Me
I learned a lot form that thread and have made several changes to my riding habits and I can now do 400 to 500 miles a day with only slight discomfort. These are the changes that helped me the most.

1. Stretch and exercise; work your upper thighs and stretch those thighs around the gas tank and your seat.

2. BMX bike shorts; seriously, the best change I have made.

3. Stop every hour to hour and a half and stretch, hydrate, relax and walk around

4. Yoda Riding position; keeping the weight positioned correctly took the pain away from my butt and thighs

5. Confidence and Familiarity; now that I am more comfortable with the bike and it’s higher COG and weight, my muscles and riding style are so much more relaxed. I was very tense thinking I was going to drop my new machine every time I got on it.

6. Ibuprofen; I take at least three before I ride, that’s the key, sorta loosens the muscles up before they get sore

7. Airhawk seat: I only use this when I will be doing long Freeway rides to the mountains and then remove for the Twisties. But, it sure helps my a** on the way home.

Good Luck. You will get used to it.

All these are very good suggestions and I especially gunny #2 and #6. I drop three Ibuprophen about a half hour before mount up, then two more about three hours into the trip, then two more etc. A lot of us suffer pain elsewhere besides the butt including wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck and so on (a lot of it due to old injuries, arthritis, etc., not necessarily the bike) so the meds help everywhere.

If you are doing long-haul solos, you can use the passenger pegs to shift weight and stress to new spots, though your foot is a ways from the brake pedal.

At 53 and 58, we still do 400-mile days in pretty good shape, and this spring I did four of five days that were close to 500.

 

[fjrrider]

I started this Thread a few months ago with the exact same problem; My FJR is Killing Me
I learned a lot form that thread and have made several changes to my riding habits and I can now do 400 to 500 miles a day with only slight discomfort. These are the changes that helped me the most.

1. Stretch and exercise; work your upper thighs and stretch those thighs around the gas tank and your seat.

2. BMX bike shorts; seriously, the best change I have made.

3. Stop every hour to hour and a half and stretch, hydrate, relax and walk around

4. Yoda Riding position; keeping the weight positioned correctly took the pain away from my butt and thighs

5. Confidence and Familiarity; now that I am more comfortable with the bike and it’s higher COG and weight, my muscles and riding style are so much more relaxed. I was very tense thinking I was going to drop my new machine every time I got on it.

6. Ibuprofen; I take at least three before I ride, that’s the key, sorta loosens the muscles up before they get sore

7. Airhawk seat: I only use this when I will be doing long Freeway rides to the mountains and then remove for the Twisties. But, it sure helps my a** on the way home.

Good Luck. You will get used to it.

This is good stuff here, plus I do some things that some others are not to comfortable with, which would also be alot harder riding two up.

Stand up, stretch it out. If I'm on a realy long ride I'll stand up for a long enough period of time that it feels good to sit down.

 

[RadioHowie]

This will probably get me flamed to hell and back for doing something perceptually stupid, but something I do on REALLY long rides...at the 400 to 500 mile point in the ride...I lock down the VistaCruise, slide my ass back to the passenger seat, with my feet on the driver's pegs, and drive "hands free" for a couple of minutes at a time. ONLY on the slab and ONLY in light to no traffic. Really gives my feet, ankles, calf, thigh and butt muscles a break.

I've never seen this mentioned before. Anyone else ever try it?

Oh, +1 on premedication, N-Saids, like Aleve, work better for me than anything else , plus making gas stops last a little longer than just the time to get gas.

Finally, to prevent A.D.D., Adult Diaper Disorder, (the REAL monkeybutt) wash your nether regions when you stop. Don't rely on just toilet paper. 'nuff said.

 

[FJReady]

This will probably get me flamed to hell and back for doing something perceptually stupid, but something I do on REALLY long rides...at the 400 to 500 mile point in the ride...I lock down the VistaCruise, slide my ass back to the passenger seat, with my feet on the driver's pegs, and drive "hands free" for a couple of minutes at a time. ONLY on the slab and ONLY in light to no traffic. Really gives my feet, ankles, calf, thigh and butt muscles a break.
I've never seen this mentioned before. Anyone else ever try it?

I do it alot. very nice way to change position for a bit. Same prerequisites as yours. Also give you a chance to learn a little more about shifting weight ever so slightly to change direction while underway. Simple entertainment for simple mind.

 

[RadioHowie]

This will probably get me flamed to hell and back for doing something perceptually stupid, but something I do on REALLY long rides...at the 400 to 500 mile point in the ride...I lock down the VistaCruise, slide my ass back to the passenger seat, with my feet on the driver's pegs, and drive "hands free" for a couple of minutes at a time. ONLY on the slab and ONLY in light to no traffic. Really gives my feet, ankles, calf, thigh and butt muscles a break.
I've never seen this mentioned before. Anyone else ever try it?

I do it alot. very nice way to change position for a bit. Same prerequisites as yours. Also give you a chance to learn a little more about shifting weight ever so slightly to change direction while underway. Simple entertainment for simple mind.

I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D DO SOMETHING SO STUPID AND DANGEROUS!!!

[SIZE=8pt](just thought I'd be the first to say it)[/SIZE]

 

[Fred W]

Haha... you crazy guys.

I prefer to stand up on the pegs for a while, doing my best Travis Pastrana impersonation (if Travis rode big fat sport touring bikes). I must chime in here though... I thought my '05 FJR seat was a bit uncomfy after about 2 hours or so. My VFR seat would get me squirmy at around 90 minutes if I wasn't sliding around on it to cut corners. Then I recently bought a Triumph Trophy. Those funkin limeys have no goddamn idea how to make a seat. I'm wriggling in buttock orient ed pain in 30-40 minutes and doing my TP standups...

Russell is the answer. True ass enlightenment.

Ommmm....

Ride all day with no thoughts about your butt.

 

[Art FJR]

I agree with the list of stuff to do except the ibuprofen. It is really bad for you (expecially your liver). Just try to take it rarely. I plan on destroying my liver with beer. And beer and ibuprofen is way bad.

I got the Spencer modified seat and I got no ass and I don't have ass problems. I am active in the seat. I switch positions alot and stand on the pegs and my ass isn't a problem.

I got wrist issues that perhaps the heli bars will fix. Interestingly, it is my left wrist that complains the most. I got the AE so my left wrist doesn't have too much to do. Except for clicking through the gears, all it really does is wave to other riders. I am guessing that my left wrist is trying to delegate that job to my left foot which doesn't wave nor do much of anything.

And when I get home, after two beers my wrists are Ok. I think I remember how long the pain should last.

Art