Oct. 5, 2025

Turning Being Uncomfortable On Your Rides into Enjoyable Journeys on Bikes

In this episode of the Throttle and Roast podcast, host Niels Meersschaert addresses the common factors that riders face on motorcycles, resulting in them being uncomfortable. He introduces the concept of the rider triangle, which consists of three key contact points: the seat, footpegs, and handlebars. Niels explains how the configuration of these points varies across different types of bikes, impacting comfort and weight distribution. By understanding the rider triangle, listeners can better grasp the reasons behind their discomfort and learn effective ways to improve their riding experience. Tune in for valuable insights and practical tips to enhance your comfort on the road.

Products mentioned
Slacker preload suspension tool

Airhawk seat cushion

Grip Puppies

Kriega Backpack hydration pack

Hydration compatible backpacks:

Kriega R25 v2 backpack

Kriega R22 backpack

Further reading
Motorcycle triangle: The ergonomic key to a comfortable ride

Cardo motorcycle comfort modifications

Comfort is more than just ergonomics

Harley-Davidson - How to make your motorcycle comfortable for you

5 reasons your motorcycle seat feels uncomfortable

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00:00 - Introduction

00:47 - Rider Triangle

05:05 - Ergonomics

07:58 - Seat

09:28 - Vibrations

11:48 - Suspension

12:53 - Wind Buffeting

16:46 - Ways to mitigate these issues

44:08 - Wrap up

WEBVTT

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Uncomfortable doesn't mean bad. Uncomfortable simply means you're doing something you haven't done before.

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Niels Meersschaert. Welcome to the Throttle and Roast podcast.

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I'm your host, have you ever found yourself in the midst of a ride and something starts aching or your hands are feeling numb from the vibrations or that last pothole killed your back? Being uncomfortable on a bike is a common complaint. And sometimes it's because it's something you've not done before, but does it always have to be like that?

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We'll look at both the issues riders face and how to address them.

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So if we're going to talk about being uncomfortable on a bike, we really have to start with the aspect that's much the foundation of what contributes to whether you're comfortable or uncomfortable on a motorcycle.

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And this is something that is called the rider triangle. Now you've probably heard this term quite a lot, but you may not understand fully what it really means. I'll try to break this down into a simple of a description as I possibly can.

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But fundamentally, a rider triangle is referring to the three points at which a rider interacts with the bike. And this is really, if you think of it as you sit on the bike as you're riding, where are your body parts touching? there's three primary points that is referenced, and that's what creates this triangle. So the first one is where your butt is on the seat. The next is where your foot intercepts with the foot pegs. And the last one is where your hands are connecting to the grips. So now that you think of those as three points, So that if you at the motorcycle from the side, you would see those three positions that we've described. Well, if you draw a straight line from that seat touch point, to the hand grip point, and then another line from the hand grip point to the foot peg, and then back up to the butt to the seat, you'll have a triangle. Now, all motorcycles have a rider triangle. Now, all motorcycles have a rider triangle, but the relative to the butt to the seat to the seat. And in general, if you can see all the bike. If you don't have a triangle, you can see that if you don't have a triangle. Now, all motorcycles have a rider triangle, but the relative position of the triangle varies. And in general, a bike like a cruiser or a scooter will have the handlebars higher and further back compared to the seat. So the triangle will almost look like it's, it's a little bit more lifted up the angle from the seat to the seat to the handlebars. And the footpeg will be closer to the seat vertically, but it will be further out forward.

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So if you think of forward controls, this makes sense.

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You'll start to get that visual image of that triangle in your mind. Meanwhile, if we were looking at a sports bike, they'll typically have the handlebars lower and further forward and the foot pegs will be further back. So almost imagine that same triangle that we had from the cruiser and now rotate it, keeping the butt position or the seat position the same, but rotate it a little bit forward. And what happens is you'll see the handlebars will now start to rotate down and the foot peg position will rotate back. And that's generally what that starts to look like. Now the distance between each point can also change between different bikes, but it's also that just rotation is, is usually contributing to a lot of the feeling. Now a standard motorcycle compared to what I just said with like the cruiser or scooter and the sport bike, a standard bike will be somewhat in the middle. And ADV bikes will look somewhat like someone is on a horse, as their feet are below their hips, but their back is more upright like a cruiser.

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So it sort of takes a, almost like a combination of that sport bike and that cruiser. But the foot position of your feet are more below you rather than behind you, as you'll typically have in a sport bike. But position of the handlebars and your back effectively will be more similar to that of a cruiser. So kind of have a little bit of further back position on the foot pegs than you would have on a cruiser or a scooter. And this rider triangle impacts how your weight is distributed amongst those three points of contact. So on a sport bike, you're gonna have more of your weight onto the handlebars, so you're holding up part of your weight with your arms. And this can feel tiring to a certain extent for some The other thing is those different positions can cause different points of pain. And so the rider triangle really is the most fundamental reason for discomfort on a bike, is that position for you and your body.

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Now there are some ways that we can tweak this, so we'll get into those a little bit later in the episode. But I wanted to really start with the triangle because this is the foundation, and if you understand the triangle, everything else will start to make a lot more sense.

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So let's get into some of the issues that motorcyclists can experience with discomfort on a motorcycle. So we touched on a little bit with the rider triangle of how this fits into how you sit and feel on the bike.

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And when we describe this, we're describing something that we call ergonomics, which is really the positioning and the feeling and the comfort level that one has on a motorcycle. It has nothing to do with the materials.

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It's really about the foundational positioning that you have on a bike. So some common complaints that someone may have on a bike is they may feel that they're too cramped.

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You'll hear this sometimes on a sport bike where people feel that they're cramped because their knee angle is very tight because that foot peg position is very far behind them, but also up high. You'll also hear about being too much, so you'll hear that. Your arms are...you have no bend in your elbows whatsoever, and it just feels really stretched out, and that can actually be tiring. The other one is if you are feeling that you're on your toes at lights. And this is very common for shorter riders on bigger bikes. So the seat height in that case might be too high for you, or it could be a result of the bike style. As an example, ADV and dual sport bikes will typically have higher ride heights, and so the seat height is also higher, which means that you might end up being on your toes at lights. The other one that you'll see kind of in the opposite direction would be that your knees are too high. And this is very common for taller riders on smaller bikes, or even if you think of something like cruiser, where they make the seat height fairly low. So now the foot peg position has to be further up, and what happens is that for a taller rider, their knee position actually ends up being sometimes above the seat position. And this can be very uncomfortable for longer rides for a tall rider. We talked about that, you know, feeling stretched out on the bike and that reaching out too far as being something that can add in.

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But the other thing that's important in regards to this is you have to think of that on a motorcycle, unlike in a car, we don't typically have a seat that we're sitting in that has a backrest. We're usually sitting on a saddle, and what can happen is that your back now is having to hold the whole top of your back upright. And so you that small of your back can start to get a little bit of exhaustion because it's being stressed too much. And this is a combination of that position of the handlebars and how far outstretched you are, because as more weight is put forward on the handlebars, What you actually end up getting is reduced amount of stress on your back. And then you're trading off one for the other, and this is where some of those those pain points can really come together. So one of the next sort of common complaints that we'll think of for being uncomfortable on a motorcycle is in your seat. Now, one of the things to remember is that on a lot of motorcycle seats, especially the OEM seats that you get from the factory, the foam can compress unevenly. And the other thing that can happen is that it can break down in the elements. So if it's left out in the sun or in weather, the elements that make up that seat can actually start to break down.

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And this is the one that's probably the most surprising as how most people will think of it.

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Most stock seats are actually too soft, and this seems contrarian because a lot of people will say, oh, my bike seat is too hard and that's why it's uncomfortable. In actuality, it's usually that it's too soft.

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And here's why. What happens is that as you're riding, the foam will collapse just from the normal weight that you're applying to it by sitting on it.

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And eventually it may collapse so far that you're sitting right on the seat pan, and now you have no cushioning from the seat whatsoever. So it actually gives you a little bit more pain because of that. So it feels really good in the showroom, but after an hour or two it's really horrible. So in general you want a stiffer seat than you would expect. Now that doesn't mean that you want the seat to be rock hard. There can be too much in the other direction, but too soft is a problem, and hard is a problem. So it is that sort of Goldilocks that you have to think of.

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Now another thing that contributes to discomfort on a motorcycle really is foundationally about what is driving the motorcycle, which is the engine. Now the engine adds vibrations, and those vibrations actually can be wonderful and add character to the motorcycle, and we enjoy them for that aspect of it. But they also can induce some secondary and tertiary sort of effects. So the thing is vibration can actually add a bit of fatigue to you. And the point is that you're having that vibration, and now it's actually moving your body, and you're having to have, almost hold your body against that vibration and that muscles acting in a dampener for that vibration does put more stress onto you and does exhaust you a little bit more.

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And where this really starts to bother you is where those points of contact are. So we go back to that rider triangle.

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Your handlebars are gonna have some vibrations that are affected by the engine. And sometimes at certain engine RPM, you can have these vibrations hit at just a point where it's really really annoying. I had this on a sport bike that I had previously where at highway speeds between 60 and 70 MPH, the vibrations would make my hands go numb.

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If I was going faster, it was OK.

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If I was going slower, it was OK, but right at highway speeds, it was this horrible numbing sensation.

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The same thing can happen in the footpegs, where the vibrations can hit at just the right frequency and tire your feet.

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So these are things to be aware of that the engine vibration is contributing to your discomfort.

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So while we love the character of the engine, the specific frequency at which it's occurring. Can make a difference in being uncomfortable or comfortable for us.

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The next one I want to switch into is the suspension.

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Now, if you've ever been riding along. And you've found that the bike seems to almost be wallowing. It's kind of just like very spaghetti-like as it's riding. It doesn't feel sharp.

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It doesn't feel that it's hugging the road and responding.

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It's sort of a, you put in a control. And then it's kind of like a delayed reaction before you see something happen. The other one that you might find is you hit a bump stop on potholes or expansion joints on the highway. And this jolt can be very surprising and very uncomfortable. Because you hear that bang right into the back of your spine as you hit that bump.

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And this is really something that happens with suspension for a few different reasons. And we'll get into some of the ways to address this. But that is something it's very common for some motorcyclists to complain about. Is the suspension on their bike. Either that it uncomfortable because of bumps.

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Or it's just, it feels kind of wallowing. And it just, it doesn't really feel that you have a lot of control.

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Another one that people will often complain about is wind buffeting. Wind buffeting.

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Now, wind buffeting does not mean wind at all. Because I think some people do confuse these two. Buffeting is not referring to that you're having wind hitting you. So sometimes people want a full windscreen.

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And if they feel any wind, they go, "Oh, I have buffeting." That's not what buffeting is.

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Buffeting is actually a vibration induced from the way the wind is coming in. That is actually shaking you. And most commonly what this refers to is it is shaking your head. Because of just the way the wind is coming in. And then this pulsing that's happening. And it's usually that it's pulsing from two different sides. So what you'll have is you'll have this kind of oscillation that happens.

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And it's sort of shaking your head. And that shaking of your head from the wind is exhausting.

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It's fatiguing. And that's what we mean by wind buffeting. Now, of course, when we are out on a motorcycle -- and we've talked about this in episodes -- you are out in nature, which means you're fully exposed to all of the elements. So you can get moments where you feel like it's too hot on the motorcycle. And this is another thing that's going to add to that discomfort-- we don't have an air conditioning that we can turn on and make it feel cooler like we can in a car. On the flip side, in the cooler weather months, in the winter months, for example, we don't have a heater, so it can start to feel a little too cold and the cold, just like the heat, can start to make us feel uncomfortable. And hey, you know, sometimes it rains. Certainly, we have a lot of U.K . listeners.

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It rains quite frequently in the U. K. and in Northern Europe. So, it can be too wet, and now that's soaking feeling -- it can feel really exhausting and just disgusting on your body if you don't have the right gear to protect you against it. Now, another one that happens with the heat -- and this is one that I think a lot of people don't think about too much, I'll say-- is that you lose moisture through your skin. And what I mean by this is sometimes riders will say, oh, it's really hot, so what I'll do is I wear any riding gear. With the feeling being that because my skin will be fully exposed, out to the conditions, it will be cooler feeling. And the irony of this is that that's not entirely true.

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What you actually have is that because your skin is fully exposed, the sun is beating down directly on your skin. It is now taking any moisture that you have in your skin out, and you're going to become dehydrated even faster. If you think of this, think about some of the desert cultures around the world. Why do they wear full, open, loose clothing around them even when they're going out?

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They're not sitting there with just exposed skin. And there's a reason for that. They live in that climate all the time. They know what is most comfortable for it. You do want to actually have your skin covered will actually make you feel cooler.

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there's some sort almost contrarian or counterintuitive things that actually happen for riding. Now, of all of these issues that we've just contributed to, and you've heard me say it a few times as I've been describing them, fatigue is a aspect of these. And that's what this discomfort is really bundling down to. It's there's a ache that you can have that's more of a complaint about the discomfort. But really, all of these are contributing to fatigue. And ultimately what that does is it makes you want to get off of the bike sooner.

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And that's really what the complaint is for motorcyclists is that we feel that we cannot ride as long as we might be able to drive in a car. And it's because we have all of these factors that are applying onto us and making it more uncomfortable and difficult to actually ride. Now, there are, of course, some ways to address that. We're going to get into that into this next section. So let's start with the ergonomics, because a lot of your comfort on the motorcycle starts with your ergonomics. And we talked about initially that rider triangle.

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Well, the thing is, you can tweak the rider triangle and oftentimes for free on your motorcycle and little tweaks can actually make the bike feel very, very different. some motorcyclists will say, but this is how it came from the factory.

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And some motorcyclists will say, and this is how it came from the factory. So I have to leave it exactly like that. It's like, no, that's just an initial setting.

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And you have to adapt it to you because your body shape, your body dimensions is not like everyone else's. So you have to tweak the bike to your comfort level. Now, one of the easiest things that you can do is you can actually loosen the bolts that are holding your handlebar.

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And now rotate the handlebar.

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Don't think that the handlebar has to be in the specific position that it was when you got it from the factory. You can actually loosen the bolts and you can rotate it. You could rotate it forward. You could rotate it back. So you can actually adjust the relative position of your hands Now, that's going to adjust the rider triangle and you can tweak it to make it comfortable for you. And the specific direction that you'll move, you'll just find like, what's the most comfortable for me? As you kind of set what naturally feels a good position for it and start with that. That's a good beginning point for you, but this is a way that you can adapt it. Now, another one that does involve a slight amount of cost, but still works with those handlebars. So it's called a handlebar riser. So if that handlebar, if you feel that you're still leaning over too far, even if you've rotated it, and sometimes you can rotate the handlebars. Kind of forward, but that also makes them rotate up a little bit. So you can kind of get it. But if that's still not enough, or if, for example, if you're riding an adventure bike and you want to have when you're riding off road and you're standing, the handlebars are way too far down. You then might add in a handlebar riser and this will effectively raise the base level of the handlebar. You can now still further tune it with the rotation, but it just gives you a little bit more height on the handlebars. Same thing goes for your feet. Now, the feet, you can, in some cases, adjust the foot peg position a little bit. And what this allows you to do by adjusting that foot peg position is really adjust it to you. So you can get those foot pegs maybe a little bit further forward, a little bit further back, a little bit lower, a little bit higher. Each motorcycle will have some different ability of what it can do. Now, some will have no adjustment, but you can buy some aftermarket adjusters that you can put on and that allows you to tweak that position of the foot pegs. So at least your starting point is a little bit more comfortable and tuned for you. Same thing goes for adjusting the levers, the foot controls. So you can adjust the gear shift level. You can actually tweak it and move it onto the teeth that are there.

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And so you can move it slightly up, slightly down, whatever is appropriate. Same thing goes with that brake lever. And so these are all adjustable on your motorcycle and you want to tune it to your comfort. Now, another thing that you can do for adding a little bit more comfort is you could add on highway pegs. And that's when you want to switch gears, one thing is that if you've ever been riding on your bike for awhile and your feet are in that one position on the foot pegs, well, sometimes you want to stretch out. Sometimes you want to change your position a little bit, and this is where highway pegs can really help.

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sometimes if you think of for a cruiser, for example, they'll have highway pegs, but it's really not that much of a change.

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They're moving from their legs being out in front of them to their legs being out in front of them and slightly over to the side. It's like, yes, it is a little bit of a change, but it's not as radical of a change.

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Whereas what I would say probably is the more helpful for a lot of people is when you have a more radical change. So as an example, if you have a motorcycle which has mid controls, and now you put highway pegs such that you would stretch out almost like a forward control motorcycle would be that stretch that you can get there actually can start to feel more comfortable. Same thing goes in reverse for those ones who are riding with a forward control, you might actually want highway pegs that let you get your feet a little further back.

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Because again, you're trying to move your legs and get that change that actually can give you a little bit more comfort than you would get with a very small, subtle change in a typical highway peg on a cruiser.

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Now we talked about one of the concerns for people who maybe they're on their toes at a stoplight because the bike seat is a little bit too tall for them. Well, a couple of options you can do with this. Number one is you can actually have your suspension lowered. And this can be done in a couple of ways. One is you can get a lower suspension travel shock, or you can add a linkage in which adjusts the throw of the shock, therefore can make the bike sit by default a little bit lower.

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And therefore your seat height will be a little bit lower than it would have before. You can also look at getting a low seat for your motorcycle. Now the low seat will of course have less cushioning than a normal or a high seat would have. But it allows you to get a little bit closer to the ground. And usually these will shave off about an inch and that can make enough of a difference for you.

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If you're on tiptoes and now you're able to get an inch, you might have your heels starting to hit or be very close to hitting the ground. And that can make it feel a little bit more comfortable. Now, if you're in the opposite direction, like me, I'm six foot four. I usually suffer where most motorcycles feel too small to me. So a higher seat is something that can help in the other direction.

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I did this on my sport bike years ago because the stock seat was just so tight that my seat to foot peg distance was so tiny.

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My knees were so bent. It was really uncomfortable. And adding the little bit taller seat gave me a little bit more comfort for that. And that stretched out my knee angle just a little bit to be a little bit more comfortable.

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Same thing on my ADV bike. I went for the seat sitting in the tall position and then I even got a taller seat. I still flat foot my adventure bikes, even though they're, what, 34, 35 inch seat height. for me, it's totally comfortable. this is another option. If you're on the taller end of the spectrum, you may want to get a higher seat.

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Now, another one you can do, of course, is your grips. Now, the grips is the interface that you have of your hands to the motorcycle. And going with a thinner or a thicker grip can help. Now, that does involve a little bit more. You have to physically remove the whole grips, put on new grips, so it's a little bit more involved. It's not that it can't be done by someone, but it does take a little bit more time. And if you have heated grips, this can be a little bit more challenging, because of course, there is wiring that's involved in there, and you would potentially have to replace an entire heated grip with a new heated grip, and it could be a bigger expense.

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However, if you are in the situation where the grips feel too small for you, you can use something like grip puppies to basically make the grip feel a little bit larger than it would have otherwise. And the way that these work is they're foam, and you wrap them around the grips.

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And by virtue of that, you've now made the grip a little bit larger radius. But the foam also can help reduce some of the vibrations that you feel in the handlebars. And I mentioned earlier that sport motorcycle that I had where it was very uncomfortable at highway speeds because of just the vibration at that particular engine note in top gear perfectly harmonized in the handlebars. And it just was really, really uncomfortable.

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Well, I put the grip puppies onto there, and it does help dramatically. And it didn't work for me totally because it made the grips a little bit too large for it to be comfortable for me around there. So you can get different thicknesses of these.

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And so you have to tune it to what makes sense for you, but these are another option that you can do to adjust it without having to fully replace the grips. Now we did talk about the seats and how they can oftentimes be a cause of aggravation for riders. Now, one of the simplest—and it's something I actually bought many, many years ago and I use it across all my motorcycles—when I'm doing an extended trip.

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Because you're going to be in the saddle for a longer period of time. And what this is is you can add something to your seat.

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So you're not replacing the seat.

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You're just adding something to the seat that can give it a little bit more comfort as you're doing these long rides.

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Now, I don't use it permanently because there's a few factors that I'll describe about what it does. But the one I use is something called an Airhawk. Now, what an Airhawk is is it is an inflated device that you put onto your seat. And it has effectively a couple of different capsules of air. And you fill it to a certain extent, not full, so it's not tight, but a little bit. And what it allows you to do is your butt can kind of move a little bit on it. And it feels more like a seat cushion would on, let's say, a couch. So your butt can kind of move a little bit on the seat with this cushion in place. And it allows you to sort of switch and adjust positions a little bit as you're riding. And that can aid to avoiding that sort of monkey butt feeling of you're stuck in one position all of the time. Now, the downside of this is because your butt is moving around, if you want high precision, like on a sport bike, for example, you want to feel that touch point onto the seat.

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So this can make it feel a little bit more disconnected, which is why I typically use it for long travel rides where I'm going to be in the saddle for a long period of time. And I can take it off if I need to ride with where I want to have more of a tight connection to the bike. So you may have also seen these things like beads that one will put onto the seat, Sometimes they're sheepskins that are used. All of these are there to add that other layer of interface between you and the seat just to provide a little bit of more comfort. So what you can do is certainly the air hawk does is this is providing a little bit of vibration absorption because it is air that is sitting between you and the seat. So any of that normal vibration that would have been felt through the seat itself is dampened through that air. Now, if you want to replace your seat permanently with something, you could look at something like a seat with gel, which also provides some of that same vibration absorption. And it can provide something that has, maybe that gel is right at the surface layer, so you have a little bit of a softer edge right at the top, but you still have enough firm, so you're not going to collapse and hit against the seat pan immediately.

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And this can give you a little bit more of a comfortable run for the long term. Now the bigger thing, and this is something that has happened in recent years with seats, is the OEM seats that you get from the factory will be very narrow. It looks great on the motorcycle.

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But it can be a torture device when you're actually trying to ride it. And I had this with my BMW R18 Classic. The stock seat that's on the bike, it looks great, but it's so narrow that half of your butt is hanging off of the seat on either end. And it's just not providing the support that you need. So what happens is I found that that seat was maybe a 45 minute seat for me after 45 minutes. I'm like, I want the hell off of this bike. So I replaced my seat with a aftermarket one. This was actually made by Mustang seats.

00:29:20.925 --> 00:30:16.835
what that does is it was, first off, it was a lot wider than the stock seat. So because of that width, I had more support. So if you think of the weight of your body that is put onto the seat area, all of that is spread upon whatever surface area that of your butt is, is being touched by the seat. So if you have less surface area, more weight is being concentrated. So more pounds per square inch in a very small area. So by having a wider seat, you have more width. And once you can spread the weight load out, you don't have as much of this hot point that you're going to get otherwise. So it really can help getting a wider seat. Now, the next thing I want to talk about is how you can switch in almost tweak your suspension. And I talked about some of the feelings that you might find. You might find that the bike feels like it's wallowing, or you might feel that it just, it goes through the suspension really quickly.

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Now, I'm really surprised how often this happens. And I've spoken to so many motorcyclists who are unaware or didn't even think to tweak this on their motorcycle when they first bought it. And it sort of relates a little bit into that.

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Well, this is the way I got it from the factory, so I just leave it. And this is preload.

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are in a car, yes, you don't adjust the suspension to you when you get into the car. But if you think of the relative weight of you as the rider or the driver in a car's case to the weight of the you're a rounding error in a lot of ways.

00:30:53.393 --> 00:31:20.667
Whereas on a motorcycle, you may weigh half or maybe even a, more than that of what the bike weighs. So as a proportion of the overall vehicle weight with you on the bike, you are a significant portion of that. And therefore, the weight that you are as a rider relative to the bike, you have to tweak the suspension to fit you as the rider.

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And for most motorcycle manufacturers, that's usually a motorcycle assuming that you will ride, you weigh 170 pounds.

00:31:34.788 --> 00:31:59.077
If you weigh less than that, or if you weigh more than that, the suspension's not going to feel right. And that's where adjusting the preload makes a difference. In some cases, and especially with like the, the R18, I heard about this when it first came out. When it's shipped from the factory, they actually don't adjust the suspension to a 170 pound rider.

00:31:59.298 --> 00:32:31.428
What they do is they actually have it in the shipping position so that they can compress the suspension more fully to pack the crate smaller. And then what the dealership is supposed to do is they're supposed to adjust the preload to a normal 170 pound rider weight. What happened is a lot of the dealers weren't doing that and just Selling the bike as is and then riders were complaining and saying, oh my god, this bike bottoms out all of the time. And what it was is the bike was basically set with zero preload.

00:32:28.167 --> 00:32:43.907
So effectively, yeah, when you sat on the bike, you had used up 95% of the suspension travel just sitting on it. So of course there was nothing to absorb the shocks and bumps that you hit.

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Whereas if you adjust the preload, all of a sudden the bike is a lot better. Now this is going to affect, as I said, two factors. It's going to affect that wallowing feeling as well as whether you are feeling the impact of bumps because you're setting that initial preload appropriately. Now in general, for most and on most suspension I'll And as you sit onto the bike, you're going to now dynamically compress it a little bit further.

00:33:15.806 --> 00:33:19.306
And then you're going to go to the bike. And then you're going to go to the bike. And then you're going to go to the bike.

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If you have a measurement device like a slacker, this can be very precise. I use this on my F900GS, for example, and it's great because I can, I can put the sensor on and then I can actually look on my phone and I can see exactly how much suspension movement I've used up.

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And then I can set that as a percentage and then look at the total variation that I have. It makes it very easy to make adjustments and tweak the bike to get the preload exactly where I want it to be. But don't think of your preload as being a static thing that you set once and you're done. You have to remember, if you add in baggage or pillions, you need to tweak that preload. If your weight changes, either you gain weight or you lose weight, you have to readjust the preload and don't get on the bike with nothing on and set your preload and then be surprised when you're riding the bike in your full riding gear.

00:34:18.168 --> 00:35:18.159
They're like, Oh wait, the bike feels weirder. It feels like it's bottoming out more. Well, cause you said it when you were wearing less riding gear, it, it's surprising how much you're adding another 15, 20 pounds of weight in totality that you didn't accommodate for when you first set that preload. So make sure you do it with the full riding gear that you're going to do. Now, another thing that you can tweak on your suspension that can really help is if your motorcycle has fully adjustable suspension, you may have both rebound and the compression dampening adjustments available to you. And what this does is it, it's sort of like a comfort setting. You can make it such that the suspension will be a little bit more compliant, or it can be a little bit tauter, more sporty feeling, and you can adjust that according to how you like to ride the bike and what feels comfortable for you. And this can really make a difference on the motorcycle.

00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:23.550
Now, sometimes your motorcycle won't have preload adjustment.

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It won't have any compression rebound dampening available to you, and you're kind of stuck with what you have. Well, in that case, one thing that you can do is obviously you can look to the aftermarket. You could get a replacement shock that would have more of these capabilities into it. The other thing you can do is even if you don't want to go to that expense, you can get at least a smaller set that can actually adjust this, which is where you can set the spring rate appropriate for you. As I mentioned, most motorcycles, they assume about that 170 pound rider. And if that's not your weight, your riding weight, then getting a spring that is assumed for your riding weight and replacing your spring with this new spring will actually really help a lot. So suspension tweaks, another wonderful thing that you can do to help tune the motorcycle to truly be comfortable for you.

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And we talked about windscreens and how they can really help with wind buffeting. And if you don't have a windscreen on your motorcycle, this might be something to consider is adding that in. And if you have a windscreen, you may need change what kind of windscreen you have.

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So oftentimes you can change just the glass part to be taller, wider, whatever, and use the same frame. And this makes it easier to just replace the glass, if you will, to be appropriate for your particular needs. Now, a windscreen also helps when it's cold. I actually have the windshield on my cruiser and on my scooter off most of the year because I like having the actual wind come through and that helps to cool me in the warmer temperatures. but as it gets a little bit cooler, I'll add that windscreen that I can also help to get a little bit more of a windscreen in both to extend the conditions in which I can ride.

00:37:20.786 --> 00:37:43.385
But also, this helps to reduce my need to even need to use heated gear. What I found is that at least for me, with a windshield on either my scooter or on my cruiser, I can usually ride down to the low 50s with no heated gear whatsoever, and I'm still perfectly comfortably fine.

00:37:39.465 --> 00:38:04.599
Sometimes I can even stretch it out into the 40s just if I put in a little bit more of layers inside of my riding gear. So, a windscreen really can help extend the conditions that you can ride. Now, on the flip side, in the hot weather, one thing that you can do is take advantage of a hydration pack.

00:38:00.179 --> 00:38:36.409
And this is, in my view, one of the best tools you can use for hot weather because you can sip water at any point. No need to pull over and grab a drink. No need to have a giant, big cup holder sitting mounted on your bike and then be forced to wear either an open face or modular helmet so you can take sips and grab the bottle and take a sip of water. This, you don't even have to take a hand off of a handlebar to use. You actually have a bite valve. You just bite on it and then the water can flow. So, really, really easy.

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Makes it super convenient to be able to get a lot of water through. And they're usually larger volumes. You can usually have at least a liter, sometimes two liters of volume. And they're usually kind of like a backpack. Some backpacks actually have the ability to work with them. So, the Krega backpacks, for example, have this capability. It really makes a huge difference helping you in those hot conditions. Now, the other one that I'd say when you're riding in the hot conditions is really think about your riding gear. You want to make sure that you have adequate airflow in your riding gear for those hot conditions. So, this is where a mesh jacket and mesh pants really can help. As I said, you don't want to take the riding gear off and just have skin exposed. It actually will be hotter and less comfortable feeling than if you have the proper riding gear. But if you've got one that has adequate airflow, it will actually flow more air, but it will still keep you protected from direct solar radiation hitting your skin and making you feel directly hot.

00:39:38.358 --> 00:39:49.251
The other one is having appropriate protection from the elements. You want to make sure that you have things that are, if it's going to be raining, make sure that you have something that is waterproof.

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You can use Gore-Tex as a liner that allows you to have it working all of the time. It still will be a little bit hotter than when it's not raining. So, use your judgment of whether you want to have Gore-Tex or put on waterproof liner when it is actually getting into raining conditions.

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And another thing you can do for the hot conditions is a cooling vest. Now, a cooling vest is the closest you could get to air conditioning on a motorcycle.

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What this is, is it's typically a vest that is filled with water.

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There's two variations.

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Typically, one is where you soak it in water. The other one is where it has a valve and you fill it with water. But they all work in the same way that they will evaporate over time. And that evaporation, of course, requires heat. It takes the heat from your body, evaporates it out, and this helps keep you cooler. And it usually can feel like about a 10 to 15 degree Fahrenheit difference in temperature. So, it's a pretty significant change. However, and this is the thing that you have to think of as a caveat, they only work when the relative humidity outside is low enough that it actually can evaborate.

00:41:04.153 --> 00:41:16.893
if it's very muggy, it's not going to do much of anything, because there's no more water that can be absorbed by the air.

00:41:16.893 --> 00:41:29.744
And therefore, you're not going to get any cooler. So, they work great in dry, hot conditions, but if it's muggy and hot, they're not going to really help.

00:41:26.164 --> 00:42:02.195
Unfortunately, that's sort of the downside of motorcycling. If it's hot and muggy, we don't have a lot of options. I wish there was. But if you're in the colder conditions, heated gear really makes a difference. I've ridden in as low as 3 degrees Fahrenheit, which is well below freezing and been toasty warm with heated gear. Of course, with a windscreen. You need to combine both of those. And if you have heated grips, or heated grips combined with heated gloves, that really can help.

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Because your hands are usually the ones that are the most exposed. You may not have hand covers that are going to block some of that wind. So, the windshield is usually blocking your body, but your hands are exposed. So, focus on the heated gloves and the heated grips first, because that's usually where you feel it the most. And finally, the last element that I want to talk about of a way to become more comfortable on a motorcycle is something that is going to feel a little odd in some ways. And this is really about exercise. Now, contrary to what your partner might say, riding is actually a physically demanding activity. My wife will sometimes say to me, she's like,"Oh, you were just riding the bike. That's not working out." I'm like, "No, it's a workout." And especially if you're doing adventure riding, it's a good workout. But the thing is that if your point of exercise of your body isn't aligned with the kind of riding that you're doing, you can actually feel more fatigued and therefore uncomfortable. So, your core is what's really keeping you in that riding position. So, if you've not exercised it enough, those muscles can feel very fatigued on a long ride. And a lot of riders will discover this at the beginning of the season.

00:43:16.864 --> 00:43:54.311
They haven't been riding all through the winter months. They come out, they go and do a long first ride and their lower back is killing them. And it's because they haven't been exercising their core. And now they're getting into where that suddenly is being exercised on the motorcycle. Now, you can use sort of like a backrest to help alleviate a little bit of this, but your body of the body or the body of the body, the more that you're able to exercise your core and keep it strong, really makes a difference. I would say, no matter what you do for your exercise routine, stretch both before and after a ride can actually really help too.

00:43:51.231 --> 00:44:04.885
Because it just gets your muscles a little bit looser and ready for being in that position handle all of the vibrations and the other elements, the wind vibration that comes into riding a motorcycle.

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And then on the top of the side, I'm going to be in that direction. So, I knew this was going to be a bit of a longer episode, but we covered a lot. We talked about the rider triangle and how it is the foundation of comfort on a motorcycle. We then looked into what kind of issues you can run into that cause discomfort on a motorcycle, ranging from ergonomics to the seat, engine vibration, suspension, wind buffeting, and temperatures. And finally, we looked at a few examples of how to address these with some tweaks to your motorcycle, many of which you can actually do for free. Now I've added links in the show notes to more details about many of these, as well as to some of the products that I mentioned.

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But my question for you this week is what has been the most uncomfortable experience you've had on a motorcycle? Share your thoughts through the text to show link in the show notes, or leave a voicemail at throttle and roast dot com slash voicemail. Thanks for listening.

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I'll talk to you next week.