Gel-Core Technology Makes Long Rides No Longer a Pain in the Butt
Tired of your tailbone soaking up most of the bumps in the road? Saddlemen redefines riding comfort with promising foam alternative.
Depending on the quality of the material, the foam in some stock motorcycle seats can be downright uncomfortable, especially when you’re enduring long rides on open roads. The foam may start to feel a bit too firm and does a terrible job of soaking up potholes and other types of rough terrain. And, of course, your butt’s gonna feel it big time.
So, you can imagine our elation when we were recently perusing motorcycle seats online and stumbled across a brilliant new option: gel seats. Yes, gel, the kind of soft, pliable substance that when used on something like a motorcycle seat embodies pure comfort.
The masterminds behind this welcome alternative to foam seats is Saddlemen, which makes motorcycle seats and bags and comprehensively covers the dynamic technology used to create the company’s Gel-Core seats in a series of new videos.
The first clip explains the technology behind the Gel-Core seats. By using a seismometer to measure the intensity of movements and vibrations, Saddlemen explains how a Gel-Core seat can keep a rider more comfortable. To conduct the test, a seismometer is placed on a seat pan with some saddle gel on it and again on one with foam on it to compare the differences.
The results speak for themselves: The saddle gel soaks up most of the vibrations while the foam lets a lot through. “It’s easy to see, that when it comes to absorbing engine vibration in road conditions, foam will fail,” says Saddlemen.
Gel seats not only absorb minor vibrations, like the ones from a motorcycle’s engine and minor imperfections in the road, but also ones from larger, harsh bumps. The second video from Saddlemen takes a look at how saddle gel performs against foam when confronted by larger bumps. Individual tests are done by first placing a picture frame in between two slabs of the gel and hitting it with a baseball bat. Then, the same experiment is done using the foam in place of the gel.
‘When it comes to absorbing engine vibration in road conditions, foam will fail.’
The results are once again staggering. The picture frame survives the blow when placed between two pieces of the Gel-Core substance but is completely obliterated when placed in the middle of two pads of foam. What does this mean for your body? Well, as Saddlemen puts it, “a glass picture frame would never stand a chance against a baseball bat, just like your tailbone doesn’t stand a chance at that pothole you just hit at 60 miles per hour.”
Lastly, Saddlemen drops an egg from a height of 14feet to, once again, compare the differences between foam and gel. This test, which shows the overwhelming disparity between the gel and the foam seats’ ability “to absorb impact,” may be the most eye-opening.
As soon as the egg hits the piece of foam, it breaks and rolls off of the oddly shaped material. The saddle gel, on the other hand, absorbs the egg’s impact and holds it in place.
It’s clear that the Gel-Core technology provides a more comfortable ride. So, if your backside hurts after a few hours of riding your Harley-Davidson, it might be time to check out a gel seat.
