Riding motorbikes on hot summer days can be fun, but not if the seats get too hot when you leave the bike for a few minutes. It becomes uncomfortable to sit on and can be unbearable especially on longer rides. But how to keep your motorcycle seat cool?
There are different ways you can keep your motorcycle seat cool. Parking your motorcycle under shade goes a long way. However, you can also use a seat cover to prevent direct exposure to the sun or spray water to prevent bike seats from getting hot.
Why It Is Important To Keep Your Motorcycle Seat Cool?
If you own a motorcycle, there are plenty of things you want to keep well maintained. And during hot summer days, the following factors prove that it is important to keep your motorcycle seat cool.
Comfortable Ride
Sitting down on a hot motorcycle results in an uncomfortable ride. Whether made from leather or vinyl, your motorcycle seat can heat up to more than 140 degrees after sitting in the sun for a few hours.
From all indications, the seat is designed to keep you comfortable and convenient whenever you get on the bike. Your comfort level and riding performance sometimes depend on the bike’s condition. Therefore, if the seat gets too hot, you become uncomfortable and feel unpleasant in the process.
Prevent Fading, Wear And Tear
Heat is the deadliest enemy of your motorcycle seat foam. The foam will last much longer if you keep the foam cool, especially in the summer months. You can use bike covers with vents and remove them when you want to ride or put a piece of towel on your seat.
The major cause of fading, cracks, and permanent wear and tear to the surface of your bike seat is exposure to direct sunlight. This gets even worse when exposed to too hot weather conditions. For example, if your seat comes with heritage Softail classic seats, the chances of fading are high because it is made of leather material.
Therefore, this kind of bike seat should not be exposed to too much heat if you want too maintain its appearance and makes it last longer.
Prolong The Seat Lifespan
Prolonging the lifespan of your motorcycle depends on lots of factors. One major one is keeping the seat cool by not exposing the set material to heat. Too much heat will weaken the materials and cause it to wear and tear easily.
Therefore, you should try to avoid riding under hot sun to increase the chances of prolonging the lifespan of your leather motorcycle seat.
How To Keep Your Motorcycle Seat Cool?
On a hot summer’s day, there is nothing worse than having a hot seat beneath you. The heat from the engine and that from the sun get through to your seat and make it hot.
Below are ways to keep your motorcycle seat cool, even during the summer season when everything seems to get too hot.
1. Get A Quality Seat Cover
Getting a seat cover has been the most effective way of keeping the seat cool. With the right seat cover and care, you can protect your leather motorcycle seat from getting too hot. Most motorcycles with leather seats get too hot easily compared to those made from other materials like vinyl.
As a result, leather seat material can easily fade and even tear if exposed to the heat too much. There are many seats covers that you can consider out there in the market. You can get any from local stores or online stores like Walmart or Amazon.
The prices vary, and you should go for one that is not too expensive and one that will also serve its purpose accordingly.
2. Always Park Under Shade
The heat from the hot seat will damage and prematurely wear out the seat material. When the seat material is damaged, it accelerates the wearing out of foam. The best way to prevent this from happening is to keep a conscious habit of not parking the bike in the sun.
You should always lookout for a shade to park your bike. Parking under the shade will help you prevent direct exposure to the sun and keep the seat cool. That alone sure has a way to help prolong the seat’s lifespan.
3. Cover With Towel
One of the ways you can keep the seat cool is by using a thick towel. Most times, I use this method whenever I have no option other than to park the motorcycle under direct exposure to sunlight. All you just have to do is get a thick towel and place it on the seat.
You can get your towel from any store, local or online. Irrespective of where you get the towel, ensure it is big enough to cover your motorcycle seat completely.
4. Pour Water On The Seat
The next thing you can consider is pouring water on the seat. You can only do this if your motorcycle seat comes with leather material. Leather is resistant to water as every other material might soak in the water and make it wet.
Conclusion
Your motorcycle seat should be kept cool for several reasons. Firstly, the rider will feel much more comfortable on a cooler seat. Secondly, a motorcycle seat exposed to extreme heat from the sun will deteriorate faster and become damaged over time.
With the information on how to keep your motorcycle seat cool that we have here on this page, now it should be quite easy for you to keep your seat cool. And keep in mind that frequent maintainance will help improve the overall lifespan of your motorcycle seat as well.
