Gladius Comfort

[quinnj3]

Hi,

I’m new here although I’ve owned my bike now for several months I’ve only just got it road legal (MOT, tax & insurance) so this last week I’ve been brushing up on my riding skills at any opportunity. I only just passed my test in August 2018 so I’ve been taking it easy to get used to biking.

This bike (Gladius SFV650 AL2 unrestricted) is very much a stepping stone for me to gain skills as it’s what I learned on with my instructor.

Anyway I don’t know if it’s because I’m new to this or if it’s the bike. I went for a one hundred mile trip with a friend with a stop for coffee and a bun at the 60 mile point. At the 40 mile point I was getting fairly uncomfortable, at the stop I was properly uncomfortable. Mostly my **** was numb. After the end of the trip my shoulders and neck joined my **** in being uncomfortable but I suspect that’s due to new rider syndrome and riding a naked bike.

Is there anything that can be done to improve the comfort of the seat without buying something extortionate like a Corbin? Or will I likely ‘harden’ to it?

Thanks


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[Craig380]

Hi and welcome. You will get used to shoulder/neck ache, your muscles in that area do get used to the windblast and strengthen.

As far as the seat goes, give it a little time and see if your **** is still going into a coma. If yes, you could try gel cycling shorts under your riding gear and see if that helps. They're about 15 quid a pair so not expensive.

The Gladius seat is similar to the current Gen 3 SVs, some people hate the seat on that, others don't mind it.

[Talking Heads]

Re the shoulder and neck ache, relax, don't be tense, don't grip too hard and do lean forward onto the air pressure.

[quinnj3]

Originally Posted by Talking Heads

Re the shoulder and neck ache, relax, don't be tense, don't grip too hard and do lean forward onto the air pressure.

Thanks, yeah I’ve been practising that. I’m finding I stiffen up in slow traffic. Anything above 70 and the wind pressure is uncomfortable on my neck. Good speed limiter.


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Good morn, and welcome to motorcycling,
Biking is never really comfortable (well, maybe it is on a Gold Wing, but that misses the point of motorcycling), but one gets used to the aching wrists, neck and bum after a while. It is a bit like taking up running - except different bits hurt.
Motorcycling is huge fun in other ways, which make up for the discomfort.
Good fortune,
Alan


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[daktulos]

Originally Posted by quinnj3

Thanks, yeah I’ve been practising that. I’m finding I stiffen up in slow traffic. Anything above 70 and the wind pressure is uncomfortable on my neck. Good speed limiter.

This may or may not be useful for you, depending on how your brain works (one of my frustrations in life was that people were constantly telling me to stand up straight as a child, but I now realise that no one ever told me *how* to stand up straight).

The best advice I've had is to keep the forearms parallel with the ground. This should increase forward lean and takes all the weight off the wrists. You should naturally be more relaxed as a result.

[Seeker]

Welcome.

A long, long time ago in ancient Japan, the Samurai had to master sitting on the saddle of a horse for many hours. As part of the training for this they would sit on increasingly large sized pebbles during their classroom lessons without indicating signs of discomfort. In addition they would learn how to crush walnuts with their butt cheeks. Only when their Master was satisfied with their pain tolerance would they be allowed to progress to a higher level.

Mr Suzuki (whose name means bottom punisher in ancient Japanese) comes from a long line of Samurai and firmly believes in strengthening the bottom strengthens the soul, so this philosophy is embedded in all of his motorcycles. Occasionally his family history shows itself plainly as in the naming of his bikes: Suzuki Katana.
People wrongly think that the Suzuki "Gladius" was named after a Roman short sword but it's a mistranslation of "Gladisan" meaning excrutiating bottom pain.
A little known fact is that Mr Suzuki was so happy with the discomfort of the Gladius he carried it through to the next generation of models.


*no actual facts were used in the creation of the above tale

You mentioned the Corbin seat, it is eye wateringly expensive and I get lost in all the options using the configurator. I just want a black seat please, what colour is "bomber jacket"?

The next step would be to either visit a local upholsterer - many of them would tackle a bike seat - but you need a firm idea of what you are trying to achieve. There are dedicated bike seat upholsterers, Core motorcycle seats in Lincoln is one example. http://edblade.simpl.com/

There's a firm in Germany that will take your seat, strip it down, insert gel pads, recover it and return it (they're on ebay).

There are gel pads/sheepskin pads that sit on top of your existing seat but look naff imho.

The cycle shorts have been mentioned and I suppose there's always a Kardashian butt implant.

We had a thread running a couple of days ago (where were you?) about comfort, I even posted pictures. Why do I waste my time j/k
http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=180771&page=12

My theory (ahem) is that the slope of (most) the seat caused by the curved subframe means you have little horizontal area to move around on. You try and move backwards but the slope pushes you back towards the tank. The lack of padding obviously doesn't help. If you take your seat to get it remodeled at an upholsterers I'd take a picture of a Holeshot seat with you.

I have an AL7 and have had mine re-upholstered 3 years ago (£140) but I wasn't sure what I wanted so I aimed for the look of the Suzuki "Tuck and Roll seat", with hindsight, I'd go for the Holeshot/Corbin look.
http://www.holeshot.com/suzuki/sv/2017

I think the pain-in-the-neck has been mentioned about tension and relaxing. I've been riding for 48 years and I still find myself occasionally gripping the handlebars so tightly my arms ache and I have to force myself to relax. (Maybe I'm just a bad rider)

Another area of potential discomfort is your body positioning - I have (another) bad habit of letting my weight rest on my wrists instead of using my atrophied stomach muscles to keep me upright. I have fitted handlebar risers to alleviate this and half hearted attempts to strengthen my core (don't laugh).

I suppose the bottom line is that now you've got the tests out the way, you can relax, have fun and start to modify the bike to fit you instead of having to force yourself into fitting the bike.

[SV650rules]

As other have said above as you relax more you will feel more comfortable, but the Gladius and my 2016 AL7 seat does not suit everyone. I still have stock seat and find it OK for a couple of hours, but also fitted Eazi-Grip tank pads so that you can shuffle back in the seat and grip the tank with knees for a while to change position. Don't be tempted to grip bars too tight and feel you have to 'muscle the bike around' - I find the AL7 has great directional stability even on bumpy roads and is very easy to flick around ( I will reach my limits long before the bike does ). The engine also has a lovely linear power delivery with no surprises on a sudden surge of horses.

A lot of the aches and pains may be due to being tense, which is expected as a new rider on a bigger bike. I will put my tin helmet on now** but investigate 'counter steering' which means you gently push the bar on the side you want the bike to lean in - it requires very little pressure and can be used to control angle of lean into and all through the bend. ( ** mentioning counter steering always causes a riot on the forum )

https://www.cycleworld.com/sport-rid...ering-part-one

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=223290

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=229381

[quinnj3]

Hi all,

Wow I wasn’t expecting such informative replies and especially not a fascinating story to boot.

Seeker, thanks for that, my arms and wrists are fine actually as I’ve found I don’t have a vice like grip on the bars and I do concentrate on keeping them parallel as much as possible. The gear I wear seems quite stiff and tends to help keep my arms in that position as well.

I’m just over 5’10” and find that my legs are just about fine on the pegs but I do have to hold myself closer to the rear of the seat where there seems to be less padding. It’s really quite a compact little bike.

Early on when braking I found myself constantly sliding forward during my lessons so I’ve been forced into the habit of gripping the tank with my knees, which I don’t think is a bad habit. As suggested in the last post I’ve already purchased the easygrip pads which have really helped with my positioning, comfort and confidence on the bike. A huge difference for a modest outlay (although £30 is a little excessive for a couple of stick on grippy pads).

When it comes to setting up the bike to suit me, I’m fairly confident this bike is not a keeper as I’m not sold on the looks. I know spending a little money can make it a bit more of a looker, and a bit more again makes it a little more comfortable. I’m just not sure I want to spend money modifying the bike only to want to sell it for a BMW RnineT or a GSX-S750 in a years time.

I’ll leave it another month or so to see if I adapt to the seat better before deciding if I should modify it. In theory any future owner should appreciate an upgrade of the seat anyway.

At the moment I’m enjoying my progression on the bike and actually do find it enjoyable through the twisties but without experience of other bikes I have no reference. I really love the torque of the V-Twin. It pulls nicely in 6th from 35mph. It’s so good it’s almost like having an auto box as it doesn’t require constantly changing gears.


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[Craig380]

You may already be doing this, but just in case: ride with the balls of your feet on the footrests, and just move your feet as needed to change gear / brake etc. This helps avoid all your weight being on the base of your spine, as your legs are acting like shock absorbers and helping to support your weight..