Comfort-Max Gel Pad
Comfort-Max Gel Pad
CW EVALUATIONS
More cush for your tush
PITY THE POOR POSTERIOR, ESPECIALLY if it’s plonked down on a stylish but skinny motorcycle seat, as Mr. Editor Edwards’ ass was asked to do in riding the magazine’s Project 100 Harley-Davidson the 2600 miles from California to Milwaukee last summer.
Just before departure, Edwards was handed a pre-production version of the Comfort-Max Gel Pad, a triangular cushion of Winch-thick Viscoelastic medical-quality gel (think boob-job, only not liquid). “Here, you might want this,” the donor said, noting that Project 100’s fender-hugging slab didn’t exactly look cross-country comfy.
Even before the Arizona border, Edwards was sold on the Comfort-Max. It didn’t turn the “Centennial Super Glide” into an Electra-Glide, granted, but made 10-hour days in the saddle much more bearable. Back home, he contacted parent company AMS to see about getting a production version. The pads come in three
sizes-standard (12.5 inches at its widest), large (14 in.) and jumbo (15.5 in.)—all with a grippy, rubberized bottom; there’s also an 11-inch-wide rear-seat pad. He ordered the standard, but ponied up an extra $20 for the black sheepskin cover. This adds another Winch to seat height-for a 1-inch total increase-but is much more livable in hot weather than the standard vinyl cover. An adjustable nylon strap velcroes to the bottom of the pad to keep it in place-it comes with metal clips that are supposed to fit under the seat pan, but on Project 100 we did away with the clips and simply looped the strap around the top shock mounts.
DETAILS American Motorcycle Specialties 2944 Salmon River Circle Thousand Oaks, CA 91362-3735 805/496-1599 www.amspecialtiesusa.com Price...$100 Ups A Ahhh... A Unlike Pam Anderson, guaranteed not to freeze, harden, crack or leak A Doubles as a massage mitt Downs ▼ Too squishy for sportbike riding Friends’ snide comments ▼ May end up liking your seat a little too much...
Six months after his Milwaukee ride, Edwards refuses to give up either Project 100 or his Gel Pad.
We’d call that the best kind of butt-kissing.
