I'm a recent new owner of a 2002 1800 C and I find that the stock saddle is quite hard. What does everybody do, replace the seat, strap on a gel pad over the stock seat or go with Air Hawk seat cushion. I'm sure there may be other remedies. So what did you do?

That's a great question and one that comes up often and has a lot of answers to. When I first got my VTX I too found the OEM seat uncomfortable for me on long trips. I had MCC ( meancitycycles.com ) do the double decker memory foam mod to mine. The cost wasn't too bad and after six years, I'm still riding on it today. IMO there are probably more comfortable options out there, but MCC is a major improvement over stock and I'm just one of many that found that mod to be just right. There are lots of other options as well, Mustang, Ultimate, Corbin. There will be others along here shortly to tell you what they did. Good luck with whatever you choose.

When I first got my Shadow I found I couldn’t ride more than 45 mins without the discomfort being unbearable. I picked up an AirHawk and it changed that. The only issue is it changes your riding position. I didn’t like where it put me. Luckily I found a fella selling a Mustang seat. Vast improvement. I could ride a tank of gas before needing to stop.

My VTX came with a Mustang seat, of course I was looking for one that already had it.


Sitting on my VTX making vroom vroom sounds.

https://www.vtxoa.com/forums/members...4-img-1373.jpg

Keep a close eye on the for sale ads here and elsewhere- many times people selling their bikes, after they have spent $$ on an OEM replacement seat, will want to put it back to OEM before selling, so you can get a good deal on a well-taken-care-of used one. Please make sure the seat you buy is made for the same year and model as yours- the early years in many cases will not accept a later year seat, even for the same model. Seats can be modified, but unless you have good skills you wouldn't want to do that mainly for clean fitment looks.

Yep, stock seats suck. I tried those gel pad toppers and can say it was much worse, for me, than sitting on the stock seat. I took it off within 100 miles of use. MeanCityCycles.com did 2 of my seats for different bikes and they were great. I also had an UltimateSeats.ca on my Victory and that was also a great seat

Hmmmm, I’ve never heard of anyone complaining of the stock seat.

Each time Thinking I was saving money by not buying ultimate ....my seat progression went ...meancity,saddleman,mustang and eventually/finally ultimate....I still have the ultimate....good luck on your choice..

For me the stock seat felt like what I imagine a wild animal trying to eat it’s way in would feel. 45 minutes and it was painful. First replacement was a Saddleman gel seat which was a tremendous improvement for me, but I don’t think the passenger part was very comfortable. It was a one piece seat. After some formally lodged complaints, I bought a 2 piece Mustang seat and still have it on the bike. I’ve ridden 2 iron butts and 3 more that were within 25 miles of an iron butt ride. Seems to be working pretty well.

Are you sure you are looking at this the right way? Maybe the seat is fine and it is your butt that is too soft. Whatever the case I love my Ultimate seat, best spent money in my life.

my first vtx took 19,526 miles to break in the stock seat.

my second and third had a MCC seat within a month. Your butt will thank you for the $40 or so you spend.