I know there are a million posts on seats. I have been researching them for months. I have a Road Glide Ultra and want to find the perfect seat. I know this has many factors and not all seats have everything everyone is looking for. I have a seat done by Mean city and was looking for another option as well. I have owned many over the years and want to put my review in of the ultimate seat, I just received. When I search the threads, I like to find the best info out there, be it good or bad. Yes this is my opinion only, but it may help someone in deciding to make a purchase.

I ordered the seat last weekend on Saturday. They are in Florida and I am in California. Great customer service, answered all my questions and I decided to purchase one, with the rider backrest and rain cover. $820 this included 3 day shipping and it arrived to my door on Thursday morning. I know a lot of money, however if you order directly from them you can try it for 14 days and if not happy you can send it back ( I am returning it, but I will get to that part) the only thing you pay is shipping. So I figured it was a pretty good deal.

First off, great quality on the seat and backrest, much better than some of the others I have owned. The seat also seemed lighter, I think this is due to the pans they use. I put it on the bike and looks better than stock and flows well with the lines. At first sitting on it, much better than stock and did not raise me up more than 1/2 inch, which I liked. On the site it says you will keep the same riding position as stock. Passenger section much bigger and seemed very comfortable as well for the wife. Drivers backrest is very well done and slides into seat like the C&C models. Very well engineered and easily adjustable. So far so good.

Yesterday the wife and I head out to San Luis Obisbo, CA, a more than 400 mile roud trip run. I wanted to test this ASAP, as I am doing a trip in May to my daughters gradation, 2600 miles each way.

First impression it felt good, backrest I liked and seemed like seating position was good. I am 5'10, 180 lbs. 30 inch inseam. After about 50 miles it started, I felt I was pushed too far into the tank and could not get comfortable. Padding seemed to bunch up in the nose also. My wife and I have scala rider, so we are able to communicate, she said the passenger area was comfortable so far. When I stopped for gas I was glad to get off. I filled up the tank and we talked about the seat. There did not seem to be much support under the thigh area, I felt I did not have enough room between the seat and tank, this is not due to the backrest, because I also rode without it to see if it helped (it did not) and they were numerous pressure ponts. As for the passenger section, my wife said it was adequate so far, nothing great. Now I know it takes a while to get used to seat, so we got back on and headed out. Ultimate says for the return policy, ride at least 100 miles.

Did the remaining miles and got to our destination, again glad to get there and get off that seat. Stopped by the Harley dealer and got some lunch. Filled up and got back on for the trip home. I figured I should be able to ride 200 miles, to the next gas stop at least. Well I did , but I was squirming the whole way and could not get comfortable. My *** was hurting and I can't believe how uncomfortable the seat was. I was really expecting something great, not so. Now they have great reviews and some people say this is the best seat they have ever owned, but I am not one of them.

I know this is long winded but when I am spending almost $1000, I want all the info I can get and hopefully this helps someone. Here is their site and some pics from their site. Again great company, quality seat, but it does not work for me. The search for a seat continures............

http://www.ultimateseats.ca/Harleyabout.html

 

I gave up chasing the perfect seat. I've tried a few and the best I found was an Air Hawke cushion. What works for me is highway pegs in the right position. Without the highway pegs, I don't think they make a seat good enough for me.

I've got my highway pegs set so I can lock my knees and push against the back of the seat. I do that ten minutes for every hundred miles or so. It's as good as getting off the bike and walking around for me.

Good luck in your search.

 

Thanks for the review, I am also looking for a new seat for my 2012 FLTRU. I have always had great results with Mustang seats so I was thinking of one of their Super Tourer Vintage seats but when i heard about them I was wanting to try a Ultimate seat . I am 6'2 so I want one that moves me back, I know Ultimate seats make a Tall Boy but now after hearing your review I think it's the Mustang.
Thistle

 

I've always had a Mustang. I've got the sport touring on my Streetglide and love it. 400 mile days with no seat problems ever. Now my knees and shoulders etc hurt but not my behind.

 

I have ridden many different seats and have given up as well. I had an Ultimate 4 piece (great quality and wonderful folks) but I still had to get off regularly to stretch. My stock Ultra seat was just as comfortable. I notice I do better as the riding season goes on. I guess the *** gets used to being back on the bike. Mrs. spiz says I don't stop enough anyway, so the stock seat is just fine for us.

spiz

 

For the most part, it really isn't the seat that's the biggest part of the problem for most of us, but we still blame the seat. Three or four hours of sitting in one place, in one position is hard to do on anything, whether in a car, couch, office chair, whatever. At least on some of those you can move around and stretch out, not so on the bike. You are very limited in your position choice, so I suggest another option ........ stop more often! I know, nobody wants to hear that and I myself am a long distance rider, but I find this works for me. Instead of riding three hours, then stopping for an hour and trying to stretch out the kinks, I stop every 80-100 miles and take a 5-10 minute break, walk around, take a drink, stretch ....... with that thought process, my *** and body are a lot happier after a 600 mile day. Don't get me wrong, you have to have a seat that is comfortable as you can find, but there is no perfect seat for sitting an extreme length of time, that's not what our bodies were designed to do.

 

I had the Ultimate seat on a previous bike and while I found it fairly comfortable I would like to point out a couple of things. First of all they recommend not letting the seats get very wet because the seams will let water in and over time the foam will break down. They suggest you purchase their frog togg rain seat covers. The seat covers do work but they are a hassle to take on and off every time you think it's going to rain. At one point I tried just leaving them on but they are really ugly. My only other issue was I found the riders backrest to have alot of movement. I contacted Ultimate and was told that is just the design of it and not a defect.I ended up putting some felt pad tape on the post to snug it up.Looking back I would not make this $900 plus dollar purchase a second time. I am currently using the stock Low seat with a Mustang backrest that works fairly well.I hope this review will help someone that's on the fence.

 

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I just got back from San Fran and looking at purchasing a Russell Day, from a member here that doesn't work for him...........we will see.

 

sorry to hear, I told this story back in november I think-
I had an Ultimate on my Valkyrie($1100). absolutely perfect, you may get something else fitted to you better than that.
When I bought the RK I emailed Des(ultimate owner) and he said his seat for a Harley would never compare to the Valkyrie seat, the Harley is too small to build the same wide/deep/long comfortable seat. The owner of the company talked me out of buying his product. He did tell me they were trying to make one "correct" and comparable to his others for the Road King, but it is difficult because it is so much smaller.
I have a Hammock on and we both are finding it acceptable, not close to what we had, but acceptable, we have yet to ride all day. Please don't bother telling me about any of those hard non padded big name seats, I have nothing to prove by riding in a hard pretty stylish seat. I may be 260, but my butt has no padding.

 

Is that Russell custom made for that person? Will it need refitted for you. If it is used, is it "broke in to him" ? just asking