seems that no matter how much  a rider seeks advice, it seems to take a bad riding experience before he'll usually listen.
O'k this happened to me Vulcan riders across the USA and the world told me how bad the seat was. Did i listen?..of course not. I knew better..4 days constant riding I needed a gel pad.
I 'm hooked...8,000 miles later and it goes home in my bag.thank you Mr Gel for the pad...my arse is greatful!  

you got that right Jonsey! need to take care of all parts as the body gets a little older!

Jonesy which Vulcan were you riding? I've got an '05 2000 and it's not too bad, now with that being said I've not ridden more then 4 hours at a shot so really long hauls might make me think differently. The back seat is a different story, that thing is like a rock, my wife complains all the time about that one. What kind/size gel pad did you get? Always looking to make things more comfortable. thx

Another thing to look into is have a gel pad incorporated into the seat. There's a guy local here that does that and you can keep the stock seat. He cuts out a .5 inch of the seat and inserts a gel pad under a layer of the original foam. He will also re contour the seat if you need adjustments to the width or contour. He'll recover it with the original or a new seat cover in a new material if you want. He's all portable (trailer) and if it just a gel insert do it in a hour or so. I'm looking at this for my seat when it starts to give me a problem but so far so good. The HD sundowner seat I have allows me a whole day of riding with no issues but if they do arise I'm planning to do the gel insert. I'm sure there are others out there that do the same thing in everyone area.

ah sorry man when I rode one of them vulcans a few years ago, I disliked the bike one for the seat, I have to at a 120lbs I could feel the frame under the seat, the front end felt really light as well. I guess we all have to learn our lessons in our own time. However sometimes there are a few folks that realy do know what they are talking about. I know its hard but well it figuring out who knows what they are talking about and who is the crack pot that can be hard. Some of them there bullshit artists are very good ya know. Well as long as you enjoyed the ride, got to do what you wanted to do and see and it got ya to the end I guess its a good thing and a good trip. have a great one! ""T

I had a vulcan once... terrible seat. The badlander seat my HD has was 1000X worse! Like Chaz now I have a badlander and wouldnt trade it for anything. Neither will my wife..LOL
But there are allot of places out there that will add more padding or gel inserts to your stock seat as others have allready mentioned just shop around.

 Here ya go,,a quick fix I made for going out to the Black Hills.I was too cheap to spring for a $100 sheepskin jobber.It turned out to be a real conversation piece along with working great.The campground dogs were pretty fond of it also.Just a chunk of an old hide

thanks for the feedback...but the bike is now in the hands of another..so the 97 1500cc. will be their problem..the gel pad is in my bag and taking a trip to aussie land...

I love that photo. The stop sign sign and road sign really make it.

It was good to see Tumbles face again... RIP Tumbles.
Hope ur butt is now better Jonesy!

I agree Edge....been over 2 years now since she passed.

Switched out my stock Sportster seat for a Mustang Wide Vintage and can put 600-700 miles a day with no problem,. The stock would have me hurting after 80 miles. Bike's an '04 Custom 1200XL. The gel insert sounds like a plan, I don't want to carry around anything extra as I already am loaded for bear when I hit the road long distance.

Seats are just one of those things that really, really need to fit you personally. What may be comfortable for one, just don't work for another person. Good example... when I bought my '02 Road King I immediately put on an aftermarket Harley "Pillow Look" seat. We both loved that seat sop after 112,000 miles when I traded the '02 for and '07 Road King I put the seat on the new bike. Well last year after 160,000 miles or so on the seat between the two bikes the cover was looking real bad, a couple of tears and the seams were splitting. I took it to my buddy Andy at BAR Enterprises - a local seat maker known for great looking and really comfortable seats - and had him re-foam and re-cover the seat. It came out beautiful with a faux alligator and ostrich cover. From the minute I got on it it just didn't feel right... same with Laura, she just didn't like the passenger seat either. I had a couple friends try it and they both said it was the most comfortable seat ever. We figured we just needed to get used to it after 160k miles in the old seat. We rode for a couple months and still weren't used to it. I opened it up and put gel pads under both out butt areas and still no go. We rode with it to the Redwood Run (about 400 miles a day for two days up and two days back) and when we got back I immediately went to Harley and bought the same seat we used to have and once again loving it.

They say after a while the seat will contour to your butt... I think after 160,000 miles our butts contoured to the seat!!!