Might be the wrong bike

[sgilbert14]

Well, after nearly a 1000 miles and going through both the factory and Corbin seats I still cannot ride for more than an hour with my lower back hurting the following day. I know that the riding positions of cruisers would do this but now I am starting to think that anything but that slight forward position on the sport touring bike is just not a good fit. So, no decisions as of yet, but should I let my bike go to go back to a Concours 14, BMW RT or ST 1300 ? Not sure as of yet but with all the work done on my 2000 and just under 30k for mileage I am starting to wonder just what the bike + the piggyback trailer would be worth? I do love the bike but I also love all day rides and of the 2 don't fit then maybe.... any ideas?

package

[cushman eagle]

Do you have a backrest,which would support the lower back? And have you tried adjusting the handle bars? Both might give relief in your back

[sgilbert14]

backrest on both seats and I actually bring the tools with me to adjust the bars as I ride. Still not tossing in the towel as of yet as I will adjust everything again and take it out later today.. I would love to get it to the point where I could go on adventures like I did on the Concours 1000. Six-10 hr trips on weekends once - twice a month were a given, more if I could.

[cranky]

... as in all things 2 wheeled, it's the seat... the seat is the whole scoot... if
that isn't comfortable, you'll hurt! .... keep tweaking 'til Ya hit the sweet spot!!!
Best to Ya!!!!

[Me Again]

Try putting a pillow on your seat . This will shift your your knees and hips and take pressure off your back .
Personally I can not do a backrest at all .Occasionally I will even crawl up on the back seat to rest my hips and knees .
If the higher seat helps you can always get a bigger windshield .
Maybe find a good chiropractor to get your back in shape again.

[Jimvoyager01]

When I first bought my 1200 my back hurt after 4 hours,,,I adjusted the handle bars in one click and the hurt went away...

[voyager55]

Corbin seat is your problem, THEY ARE TERRIBLE!!
Try a Russell Daylong Seat, Love mine

[SgtSlag]

May not be the seats, or the bike. Most "back issues", are caused by weak core muscles. I suggest Judo Push-ups. They really work the core muscles, in addition to the arms and chest. Start slow, with good form, over rep's. Give yourself a full 6-weeks before you give up on them. Cheers!

[Nails]

Not sure it's all the seat. I installed bars for an old T140 -- just needed shims to fit 7/8" to the triple clamps. I'm also adapting the bar end weights, using rubber expansion plugs from elsewhere. I'm working on a small perch thing on the bar ends, so I can relax my right hand and let the cruise control move the throttle.

The bars have an 8" rise, as I recall. They're rotated toward me for a slightly decreased reach (I have short arms), and the holes for the switchset alignment pins were drilled accordingly. In a related matter, I cut 4.5" off the windscreen, hopefully to decrease the pushing on my back.

Ergonomically, the bars rotate my hands to outward (more thumbs up). Also, they're about 4" narrower, well out of my mirrors.

I still don't have it running, so I don't really know how it'll actually work out. They're much simpler and Brit-sexy curvaceous. Plan B is some similar bars for an early GoldWing. I had a '75 GW and liked the ergos -- but that's more than just the bars. I suspect these Triumph bars will work swell.

[Nails]

And in my limited experience, Corbin seats do indeed suck. But I do know weirdos who like them.

[sgilbert14]

wow ideas on ideas thanks.. I am currently working on the bar positions. Core, not an issue as I do exercise regularly and core is focused on with crunches, leg lifts, twist etc.. I will just keep tweaking things here and there and see if I can get it all dialed in.

[sgilbert14]

ok, had a nice long car trip to Baltimore and it hit me.. when I hit bumps it jolts me and sometimes hard.. so, maybe not seat oriented at all... so, now to see what the shocks are. I know the back psi is set at 36 but not sure what other settings are there.. so, now I get to play with the psi more than the seats.. Makes sense though because on the sport tour a huge % I was able to absorbed with my legs as they were under me so maybe try shocks and possible going back to the pegs instead of the floor boards???

[ghostler]

sgilbert14, below are the shock specs. Second photo is the revised spec for 1990 (B4) and later models, front fork oil level and quantity.

Front and rear shock specs starting with 1986 year model, applies to all except for change (see revised spec.)

Revised front fork shock specs starting with 1990 year model.

36 lbs. is the upper limit for the rear shock. You could decrease the air pressure. For stock shock seals, maximum front pressure recommended is 5.7 - 8.5 PSI. Rear is 21 - 36 PSI. You can bleed of the rear to see if there is any difference.

One thing I noticed prior to replacing my front fork springs with Progressives, is that I had a hard time putting my bike on the center stand. This is because the front springs were compressed more even at maximum recommended air pressure. Also, the front wheel didn't ride as smoothly as with the Progressives. I was getting a lot of diving on braking, and for example, road to Portales from Clovis prior to repaving was washboard like, front did not respond well. The Progressives smoothed out the ride considerably. I gather my 2001 front springs were already sagging from age.

Anyway, I hope this helps. You should find the 1986 base service manual in the manual downloads section. There is also the B1 - B17 (1990 - 2003) service supplement, which has the changes for the year models since the 1986 manual was produced. Not sure, but I think that supplement front fork oil also applies to 1987 - 1989, but I'd verify that first with the more knowledgeable here. I replaced my left front fork with one from a 1987, parts manual and looks were identical to my 2001, so I used the same oil level for both (revised spec). Someone previous to me buggered the Allen head bolt on the bottom of the shock so I couldn't disassemble it. (Head was thoroughly chewed up by using say, the wrong sized Allen wrench.)

Both would be a good start.

[sgilbert14]

Thank you for the advice and I will be looking at everything shock related when I get back.

[sgilbert14]

Well, shocks have been set front and back, adjusted everything and still after 40-50 miles my back hurt. Actually it's now been 2 days and I am just getting over it. So, I am taking a long ride this weekend with the factory seat back on and see what happens. If no pain then I'll keep the bike. If I'm in pain I will be listing the bike. I bought the bike with the hopes of comfy 8-12 hr Sat rides and so far 100 miles has been it. I know that I have about $3900 into bike alone and am thinking that I would sell the bike and the piggy back trailer as a package. Not sure what the final price should be set for and I still have this weekend's ride but not looking good for a touring bike.

[sgilbert14]

Well, I like the bike and have put a ton of upgrades on her but I no longer want short rides to hurt my back for days after a ride. I also want to be able to get back to be "gone till ??" weekend trips that I did on my 2 Concours 1000 as late as last fall. So, I have decided that I am going to let the bike and trailer go as a package if, as the game show says, "The price is right". I have listed it on the classifies and cycle trader and will do craigslist after work.

https://www.amervoyassoc.org/osclass/bi ... -1200_i726

[cranky]

... sorry Ya hafta do this!!!!! Hope you get to a comfortable ride you can enjoy!!!!
Very Best to Ya!!!!

[sgilbert14]

Thanks.. I do love the bike that is why I put the $$ into her, but in the end pain sucks! Whatever is ahead I am going to spend some butt in the seat time before I do anything..

[ghostler]

sgilbert14, I'm thinking there is probably something wrong with the geometry of how your total seating is set up. This includes the geometry of the handle bars, seat and pegs. The fact you had a good time with your Concours lends me to believe this. The front shocks made my hands more comfortable. Shocks and such will make ride overall more comfortable, but they will not correct iron butt problems.

My handle bars were set too high, it took me a couple iterations to get them to the point where I feel comfortable. The OEM seat does tend to push me a little forward, but it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as my old 1986 Suzuki LS650 Savage was. There, they had a professional designer design the bike, it was more of a fashion statement than practical. My butt was aching after 1 hour, and after 2 hours horribly painful. (Sometimes I'd wish they'd return engineers to the fashion design department, like it was 70 years ago. These fashion designers could care less about maintainability, too, why just about everything these days is a pain to repair including electronics.)

Nonetheless, wish you the best in selling it and getting a ride that works for you.

[sgilbert14]

Thanks. What's bad is that everything about the bike I love but if I can't ride without pain then ugh....