The Seat
There’s no point having an ergonomically adjustable bike to find the seat is as comfortable as chatting to
Jehovah’s Witness on your doorstep. The 1050 runs as stock a one piece seat that is moulded for pillion and
rider split. It’s quite firm and made of foam giving a good amount of feedback from the wheels without
causing Baboon in mating season syndrome. A good amount of width at the back had the nod of approval
from my pillion. The cover is a good grip but always better if you have the right pants on of course. I found it
a bit on the slippy side when wet and if wearing none grip waterproofs but nothing unsafe. At 850mm seat
height we again come to the issue of the ‘adventure’ bike and the shorter rider may suffer with this one. This
also tends to mean the female rider suffers as females tend to be shorter than males on average. The seat is
well sculptured and more narrow than a lot of bikes that does help give a little extra for the inside leg. It’s not
just the height of the seat but the width that will have an impact on getting your toes to the ground. But we
have the problem of ground clearance and we want good ground clearance for bumpy roads. The 1050 gives
you a very nice 220mm of ground clearance so working out the conundrum of seat height over ground
clearance is something that will be ongoing I’m afraid.
With the shorter rider in mind, I found this video from Bennetts Bike Social that has some great advice for the
shorter rider. It is based a lot on Triumph but the advice is sound. There can be no substitute for going down
to the dealers and having a sit on the bike and talk about what options there are for you.