Spiral Step Seat review

I posted this over on SMJ;

I bought this seat a couple of weeks ago from Wheeling Cycle Supply, and now have enough ride time to post some impressions.

Quality
The seat fits just like stock. The seat pan is pretty much identical to the stock seat, but black plastic instead of white. The cover is nice quality material, with contrasting patterns top and sides. The stitching looks good, but only time with tell on the durability.

Ergonomics/Comfort
The lowest part of the seat sits almost exactly 1 inch lower than stock. The edges are rounded, and there is no pinching. Being that it is lower, it causes more bend in the knee, but it is much easier to touch the ground. (I'm 5'10") The scooped out area does cause your hips to rotate forward a bit, and since it has the step, you cannot move around as much to get comfortable. As far as comfort goes, I would say it is equal to stock, but more vibrations get through. The extra vibes may cause your nether regions to fall to sleep.

Riding impressions
Like I said earlier, it is definitely lower, and I my first thoughts was that I felt like I was riding an XT250. It felt really low. As I road around I noticed that, when seated, my slow speed maneuverability was much improved. I figured that was due to the lower center of gravity. I felt locked into one spot, which I felt was a negative. I like to move backand forth depending on what I am doing. The step does not prevent you from sitting back, but it makes it more difficult. Also, I felt like the seat was pushing me forward at the hips all the time.

Conclusion
I love the look and the quality. I like the improved slow speed handling. The lower seat height is mostly appreciated when at stop lights and when walking the bike out of parking spaces, otherwise I liked being up over the bars more. The lack of room to move back and forth with ease is a negative, as is the way the seat pushes the hips forward.
I think this would be a great seat for the vertically challenged, in combination with the lowering link and built in height adjustment.

Brad

Thanks for the review.. i've ordered one already, & i'll chime in too after some seat time!

scotty

It looks nice!

SpaGuru wrote:

It looks nice!

I tried a Spiral stepped seat from Wheeling Cycle Supply.

It was exactly as reviewed previously here. I really liked being able to totally flatfoot my lowered X and then some. There were more vibes and less ease of mobility. However...

Unfortunately for me, I have a no good artificial left hip and a worn out natural right hip. So the stepped/lowered seat put the footpegs too close to my arse and caused me immediate and constant hip and back pain. This was made worse because the step seat does tend to roll the hips forward.

Forrest at Wheeling was very nice about it and agreed to take it back for full refund along with taking back an incorrect seat cover I'd ordered for the stock seat (they sent a stepped seat cover and that would not fit a stock seat). I was converting my bike from 2008X blue plastics and graphics to 2009X black "clothes". Hence the need for a black seat cover to replace the stock blue one. Ended up having a local trim shop stitch up a black seat cover for $50. Black grabber vinyl on the sides and some kind of motorcycle flexy vinyl on the top that the guy really recommended. Feels less hard than the stock seat, so maybe better there. Saddle time needed before I can know about that.

So hats off to Wheeling for being so agreeable! I purchased a LOT of stuff there recently for my "new bike purchase farkling binge" so it was good business on their part. Still, they didn't have to do it and I thanked them kindly!

Artoo
"am not"