360bikers.com

360Bikers is more than a hobby to me. It is a starting business that involves three of my interests and areas of experience: Motorcycling, photography, and technology. At this point in development (ground zero) I look at ways to measure success and try to find other ways to measure progress.

My marketing campaigns have been limited to the US and Canada. Yet, I have reach 42 countries including a few I have never heard of before. (Brunei Darussalam would be one of those.) I have had visits from all 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Armed Force Europe serving as the APO for our men and women abroad. The most active state if Florida, which makes sense since I ride here. Following Florida (in order) is California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Montana and Wyoming have the fewest visits which makes me wonder how much riding they do in Alaska.

I want to thank everyone that reads my blog entries, registers for 360Bikers.com, and clicks an ad or two when they visit. While I hope someday to turn this into a profitable venture, I never want to let it cost more than 1/4 of what they charge on eBay. This site is by bikers, for bikers. Almost everyone is an enthusiast at one level or another.

So, tell your friends to visit. Tell them to read the blog entries. Tell them to click a few ads. Tell them to register. And tell them you can sell it for FREE here… at least right now.

Thanks.

In this series on customizing motorcycles we’ll look at many things you can do to give the bike your personal touch. There are so many places to start and I wanted to pick something really personal. Well, if you’re truly a rider you spend a lot of time sitting in your seat.

Like every other area of customization, there are many levels to work from. You can use any of the standard manufacturers of custom motorcycle seats or you can have a one-off created that will express your theme. The major manufacturers will create seats for almost any motorcycle from Harley-Davidson to Yamaha. Some customized vendors will only work with specific bikes. Seats can range in price from just over $200 to the tens of thousands of dollars.

Unlike most customized parts of a bike, this is one you can test to some extent. If you can’t find a friend with the seat you’re interested in, many of these manufacturers can be found at rallies where you can sit on their products to get an idea of what you want. Of course, your riding style will be an important part of your choice.

There are several commonly known motorcycle seat builders that we know about. One is Corbin. They have a facility in Hollister, CA and Daytona Beach, FL. Corbin is one of these stock seat companies that will also create your custom seat with your design as well. I own a Corbin seat similar to this one designed for long distance comfort.

Mustang is another extremely popular brand. They also make a wide variety of seats for almost any kind of motorcycle. They are known for the extra support in the driver’s seat. You can see here in this Harley-Davidson seat that the driver sinks into the seat for comfort on longer rides.

Saddlemen seats by Travelcade is another variety. Saddlemen makes many leather related products for your motocycle. Many Saddlemen seats come with a specially constructed gel padding for comfort. Naturally, there are arguments both for an against gel padding. Most of the discussion involves the type of riding you will be doing. This is an important thing to consider when selecting your seat.

I’ll list a few more resources below, but let’s look at some customizers that build seats for the big boys. At the start of my list is Alligator Bob. With a name like that you’d expect to find this shop in Florida or Louisianna. Nope. You’ll find this group working out of Lake Villa, IL. Alligator Bob has made seats for OCC and other big names. I recommend you take a look at his site and look at some of the unique designs they create. Look under seat tattoos. They will also create your custom design anyway you like it. You just provide a seat pan, which you can make from a stock seat, another manufacturer like Corbin, or have it custom made.

Bill Mayers is another seat builder with a unique perspective. Bill’s order form starts with the basics and includes a few questions that others will ask eventually if they are making a quality seat. You’ll have to know your height, weight and inseam. Your seat will change the way you sit on your bike. Make sure you are aware of the changes before you plunk down your deposit on a custom seat.

This article could go on forever as there are many great leather designers and an endless variety of seat concepts to choose from to make your motorcycle unique. Your budget, you bike, your theme, and your riding style will help you pick the seat for your bike. Below are a few more links. I encourage you to do lots of research before purchasing a seat. Go to a few rallies. Talk to friends and local customizers. And definitely come back to 360Bikers for more information on customizing your motorcycle.

A Few Other Resources

• Le Pera
• Russell Day-Long
• CC Motorcycle Seats
• Diamond Custom Seats
• Extreme Motorcycle Seats
• Hartco International
• Jeffrey Phipps Custom Saddles
• Kalin Motorcycle Seats
• Custom Upholstery by Dean
• Beast Riders (custom seats for your dog!)
• Keith’s Custom Seats
• Chillowee Leather
• Roberti Customs
• Back in the Saddle
• M C Seating
• Bitchin’ Stitchin’
• Skin Seats
• Smith Seats
• Looney DD Seats
• Jammer Cycle Products

Send us any recommendations you have to add to this list.

There are a lot of definitions on what a custom motorcycle really is, what it really means. To some, it’s the outlandish extreme of the bikes you see built on television shows like American Chopper and Biker Build-off. To others, it’s that personal touch you put on your stock motorcycle that sets it apart from the rest that once looked just like it.

Somewhere in that range, every biker finds the spot for his motorcycle. Most motorcycle enthusiasts are regular people. They don’t have a cash flow that allows them to have a custom bike built for $40,000 or $80,000 or even more. Those bikes are works of art. They’re beautiful. But most are not good for much more than casual riding. She might be great to look at, but she’ll take all your money and won’t do the hard riding for you.

Customized motorcycles as most of us know them are the stock bikes we buy and then add a few things to it that makes it personal. I had a customized Harley-Davidson Road King for awhile. I sold it because it just didn’t fit me, though I loved the bike. The guy that bought it said he was tired of going to a rally, parking his black Road King, and losing it in a sea of thousands that look exactly like it. While this bike had more customizing than most of us would do, you can see how it would be easy to find in a crowd.

Over the next few weeks I’ll take a look at some customizing features. There are so many things that we can do to our bikes to make them more comfortable, more flashy, and more personal. We’ll take the parts one step at a time and you can choose the items you like. We’ll look at fabrication vs accessorized stock. We’ll consider everything from fenders to handlebars to seats to engines to transmissions to just pretty stuff. Feel free to send suggestions on manufacturers, customizers, and anything else on this topic.

Bikes in Madrid,
originally uploaded by 360bikers.

I haven’t blogged for quite awhile. There have been assorted reasons, mostly business related. For one thing, I was in Spain for a week providing support for a project. There was very little down time, but I did get to walk around Madrid a little bit.

It isn’t uncommon to see a lot of 2-wheel traffic in Madrid. The most common law enforcement vehicle was of this variety. What surprised me was two-fold. First, it’s scooters. Even the police were riding these quick little scooters. The added maneuverability and quickness in traffic seemed to make them a good choice.

The second was the age of the bikes. Outside of a few Harley Davidsons, I saw fewer than five bikes made in the last 3 years.

A motorcycle I saw several times that seemed to be popular was the Virago. Typically, these bikes showed excessive wear and were quite old. Abuse was the norm and you didn’t see any bikes that were “chromed out” in Madrid.

Overall, though, I would venture to say that you see more 2-wheel transportation in Madrid than in New York. Bikes and scooters have a lot of flexibility in the traffic and can “scoot up” when in grid-lock situations.

The country-side in Spain looks like it would be great to ride in the summer. This could be a possible goal sometime in the future.