Best seats - are Russell Day Long seats REALLY that good?

[Peteoz]

I have had Russell Day Long seats on 4 previous mc including 2 Spyders. This time I went with a Laam seat. I did a ride in and he worked on my seat for 7 hours. Turns out he worked for the original owner of Day Long Saddles. Did not like the lack of quality so when the business was sold to the current owners he went out on his own.
He did a fantastic job and it's just as comfortable as any Day Long I have owned. Best part is he warranties his saddle for as long as you own it , and for a lot less then Russell charges.

Yeah, I probably would have gone with Laam, except he never answered the phone or returned call messages or emails from the 3 separate times I tried to contact him, PW, so I ended up going with Russell again. :dontknow:I’m not sure if he didn’t want international business, or what the story was. But every review you see says he does great work.:thumbup:

Pete

 

[OverHillAndDale]

I’m reluctant to be negative about any Spyder vendor, particularly small motorcycle shops working hard to keep the lights on. But, I’ve thought about a long time and decided posting this was warranted. Take this for what it’s worth - Perhaps I’m in error, perhaps I caught this vendor on a bad day or before his coffee.

I went to the Laam website and decided to investigate. I called the number listed on the website and the owner answered. I told him I had some questions about his seats and he said “Why on earth would you call the owner of a company to find out information about their product? That’s rude! You wouldn’t call a Chevy dealer to find out why their cars are the best! There’s information on my website and you can read about my products on motorcycle forums.”

I was astounded. I’m trying hard not to exaggerate or embellish this story, but I can’t think of anything I did to warrant this response. If he didn’t want to answer my questions on the phone, he might let us know that the number listed on the website is for other purposes, and he could have directed me back to the internet politely. He did answer a question or two but I ended the call before I was done because I was getting angry. To his credit, he did not dog any other seat vendor.

This may be the Holy Grail of seat reconstruction, but I won’t be using this vendor. If I’ve been unfair to Laam I apologize, but I’ve always thought calling a vendor to ask about their product was not a rude thing.

 

[PW2013STL]

I’m reluctant to be negative about any Spyder vendor, particularly small motorcycle shops working hard to keep the lights on. But, I’ve thought about a long time and decided posting this was warranted. Take this for what it’s worth - Perhaps I’m in error, perhaps I caught this vendor on a bad day or before his coffee.

I went to the Laam website and decided to investigate. I called the number listed on the website and the owner answered. I told him I had some questions about his seats and he said “Why on earth would you call the owner of a company to find out information about their product? That’s rude! You wouldn’t call a Chevy dealer to find out why their cars are the best! There’s information on my website and you can read about my products on motorcycle forums.”

I was astounded. I’m trying hard not to exaggerate or embellish this story, but I can’t think of anything I did to warrant this response. If he didn’t want to answer my questions on the phone, he might let us know that the number listed on the website is for other purposes, and he could have directed me back to the internet politely. He did answer a question or two but I ended the call before I was done because I was getting angry. To his credit, he did not dog any other seat vendor.

This may be the Holy Grail of seat reconstruction, but I won’t be using this vendor. If I’ve been unfair to Laam I apologize, but I’ve always thought calling a vendor to ask about their product was not a rude thing.

Sorry to read this as my experience on the phone and in person was the opposite of this.

 

[Peteoz]

I wonder if that’s one of the reasons Laam’s pricing is cheaper than Daylong’s, OverHill:dontknow:. They employ full time front office staff to answer phone and email queries. I won’t be bothering with Laam again…..that is not saying others shouldn’t….but he just doesn’t “work” for me

Pete

 

[FrogmanDave]

Yeah, I probably would have gone with Laam, except he never answered the phone or returned call messages or emails from the 3 separate times I tried to contact him

It was twice in my case. They may as well have not existed. I never heard a word back at all. I gave up and will never try again. This was about 5 years ago for an ST1300 seat.

 

[Quickdraw]

I wonder if that’s one of the reasons Laam’s pricing is cheaper than Daylong’s, OverHill:dontknow:. They employ full time front office staff to answer phone and email queries. I won’t be bothering with Laam again…..that is not saying others shouldn’t….but he just doesn’t “work” for me

Pete

Question for you Pete, and this may sound odd, but I'm going to ask it anyhow because I have a sheepskin cover and frankly, I'd rather not use the cover if the Russell Day seat fixes that issue. Here's the question. Do you end up with swamp butt on hot days? Without the sheepskin cover on my OEM seat, it's a given.

 

[Peteoz]

Question for you Pete, and this may sound odd, but I'm going to ask it anyhow because I have a sheepskin cover and frankly, I'd rather not use the cover if the Russell Day seat fixes that issue. Here's the question. Do you end up with swamp butt on hot days? Without the sheepskin cover on my OEM seat, it's a given.

Not an odd question at all, QuickDraw. I used to get a bit of swamp butt on some of my 2 wheel OEM seats, but since I swap out the stock Spyder seat as quickly as possible, I can’t confirm that for my OEM seats on my F3 or RT. We are all different.

What I can tell you is that I have not had a case of monkey butt on any of my RDL seats, and a couple have been leather, one has been vinyl and two have been Sunbrella. I believe the shape of the seat with its wings lifting the outer thighs is a big part of this, along with thighs to knee angles. I also wear LD Comfort shorts under my pants on rides over 3 hours or so. Also, RDL tell you NOT to put sheepskin on the seat as it alters the dynamics and therefore performance……and since they are all about comfort, I assume that is the performance to which they are referring.

Unfortunately, the above is all seat of the pants observations (see what I did therehyea: ). However, I have not seen anyone referring to getting monkey butt on any of the RDL reviews, but you never know:dontknow:

Pete

 

[PJveetwin]

I have had Russell Day Long seats on 4 previous mc including 2 Spyders. This time I went with a Laam seat. I did a ride in and he worked on my seat for 7 hours. Turns out he worked for the original owner of Day Long Saddles. Did not like the lack of quality so when the business was sold to the current owners he went out on his own.
He did a fantastic job and it's just as comfortable as any Day Long I have owned. Best part is he warranties his saddle for as long as you own it , and for a lot less than Russell charges.

Bill Mayer was the original Day Long saddle owner, He sold the business some 20 years ago , there is now a third owner. I currently own 3 bikes with a Russell, with some 300 K on them. They work. Does Laam build a sprung seat?

 

[jnt]

.....
For those of you who’ve had one - is it really that good?

In a word - yes. You get what you pay for.

 

[PW2013STL]

Bill Mayer was the original Day Long saddle owner, He sold the business some 20 years ago , there is now a third owner. I currently own 3 bikes with a Russell, with some 300 K on them. They work. Does Laam build a sprung seat?

No he doesn't, but he does warranty it for as long as you own it. I am not saying that Russell are not great seats. What I am saying is that Laam seats are as good as Russell's for less money!
The only issue I see is that he is a one man shop so it looks like depending on what's happening in is life could be effecting how he handles business.

 

[Motorcycledave]

Sep 27, 2022

Hi everyone Dave here from Valley Customs ... motorcycledave.com [email protected]
There have been over the years many folks asking me if my custom made for me Gel pads
made for motorcycle seats are worth a damn..
I know there are a bunch of things out there for your seat but I know mine is by far the best of them
If you click around you will find I own Valley Medical Repair, I work on Hospital , Dental, Doctors office tables
and more, this gell is the same I use in the medical field it is much higher quality than others. Here is a letter I just got last Friday
from one of our Spyder Riders.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave, good Friday afternoon.

I am way late here with this note.

Modified my original F3 seat a month ago. Ridden over a thousand miles. Couple of day trips totaling 750 miles.

Dave, the seat is transformed and my F3 is finally a pleasant all day mount. Thank you for suggesting this upgrade. It is better than advertised.

The F3 seat pan is almost like steel when attempting to staple cover back into place. Forty Five dollars was well spent to purchase pneumatic Arrow stapler and some 3/8 and 1/4 inch staples.

From seat off to seat back on.... with all tools at hand... hour and a half.

I did change out box cutter blades 2 times. Perfect cubes taken out.

I briefly had a Seth Laam seat. One ride. Hundred and sixty miles. I rated it a 7 out of ten. I rate my properly modified Motorcycle Dave seat a solid Ten.

Best regards,

 

[Steve W.]

Bill Mayer was the original Day Long saddle owner, He sold the business some 20 years ago , there is now a third owner.

Waaaay back in 1979, I went to the shop, Bill Mayer built up a custom seat for my KZ1300. 20+ years later, I wanted a Day Long seat for my Voyager 1300, but it had been sold to Russell, so I had Russell make one. Not quite as satisfied with it, but they had insisted on using the heavier foam because I was at (not over) that magical 225# gravitational attraction that required the denser foam. That seat never really "broke in", but it was still a lot better than the stock seat.

That said, was the seat "that good"? Yes. Sure, it's far from cheap, but in this case, you do tend to get what you pay for.

.

 

[Rafterd]

I have the Ultimate. I know RDL are great seats, but I can’t imagine them being that much better than the Ultimate.

 

[pegasus1300]

Back in post #31 Dave tells us about his gel pad for the stock seat and that he can make you a custom seat if need be. Right after I bought my Spyder I knew the seat wasn't going to work for the kind of long distance riding I wanted to do. I had heard of Dave's gel pad and decided to buy one and put it in. The instructions were great, the cutter very useful and the fact that when I called Dave with a question, he answered himself, & on a Saturday. I made a new friend; got the help I needed; and rode comfortably until the seat cover rotted away. I wish I had realized Dave built custom motorcycle seats, I would have had him do one.

 

[Peteoz]

I have the Ultimate. I know RDL are great seats, but I can’t imagine them being that much better than the Ultimate.

If you are fortunate enough to be exactly the right height (inleg), weight and body shape, there is no question that you will be just as comfortable on an Ultimate as on a Daylong, Rafterd. However, for the other 90% of us, who aren’t that perfect fit to it, the Ultimate (like Mustang, Saddlemen etc) is a one size fits all and as such can not provide long term comfort to us.

That’s where the Daylong or Laam come into their own. They are made, using seating photos, to your leg length, your seating position, your body shape, with foam suspension to suit your body weight, and wings to support the outer thigh. This is what your car provides, and most of them work very well. You can also get the seat covered in Sunbrella, which holds its colour and provides a cool seat after sitting in the hot sun, a warmer seat in winter, and a fair degree of waterproofing.

I have tried, on various bikes, Mustang, Saddlemen, Ultimate, gel inserts, Corbin etc etc etc, and none have been comfortable for more than 45 minutes (there was no way I could sit on the Corbin for 1000 miles to see if it breaks in.) I gave up buying “one size fits all” back in 2004 and have always factored the cost of a Daylong into every new bike since then. They get it right first time every time and are worth every penny to me.

So no, they are not “always” much better for the reasons mentioned above, but for the vast majority they are indeed much better.

Pete

 

[Cirhere]

I have a Russell Day-Long. Would I get another? NOPE! After getting my seat back & riding a bit, the back of my thighs became sore, which they say can happen, I called, and they said send pictures; so I did. I called later, and they said, "oh yeah, it's too high there!" Guess who had to pay $85 to send the seat back to be reworked? So, no! That's my last one!

 

[Peteoz]

I have a Russell Day-Long. Would I get another? NOPE! After getting my seat back & riding a bit, the back of my thighs became sore, which they say can happen, I called, and they said send pictures; so I did. I called later, and they said, "oh yeah, it's too high there!" Guess who had to pay $85 to send the seat back to be reworked? So, no! That's my last one!

I assume that was a freight charge, Cirhere? So did they rework it so that it is now comfortable for you?

Pete

 

[Heybuddy690]

.....

For those of you who’ve had one - is it really that good?

Yes!!!

 

[ricford]

I must agree. The first day on my 2014 with stock seat, I rode 300 miles, round trip. I was in pain when I got home. That night I ordered the Ultimate seat from Canada. I have ridden it 45,000 miles and on long trips. And have never ever had butt soreness. And have made many 1500 mile trips. Yes, I recommend Ultimate. Get the one with the gas door.

 

[Peteoz]

I must agree. The first day on my 2014 with stock seat, I rode 300 miles, round trip. I was in pain when I got home. That night I ordered the Ultimate seat from Canada. I have ridden it 45,000 miles and on long trips. And have never ever had butt soreness. And have made many 1500 mile trips. Yes, I recommend Ultimate. Get the one with the gas door.

Yes, there is no question that the Ultimate works well for those who are the right size and shape for it, Ricford. For me, and many others, who are not the right size and shape for it, it is as uncomfortable as the stock seat. Only a custom seat will guarantee all day comfort, regardless of your size and shape.

Pete