To get there, I needed to leave Redlands CA on Friday after work; ride until late and finish up the ride the morning of my appointment (600 miles). All that worked out just fine. By the time I got there, I was noticeably saddle sore. Maybe it's because I was really trying to work different positions in the saddle so I could communicate what I liked and didn't like when I arrived.
Rick's place is in Northern California, and a very beautiful place in the fall. I understand that it's not so hospitable in the summer or winter. The ride in was great and I arrived a little early. I wasn't even off the bike and I was greeted by Stephen. Stephen works for Rick and was a very good host. He complimented my bike; told me where I can drop my gear; pointed out the waiting room and indicated that Rick was on the property and would be over soon. Meanwhile, he let me take a couple pics of the place.
Soon enough, I saw two gentleman coming toward the building, one with a rifle in hand. Rick introduced himself and his customer Gary, who was walking on the property with him. Apparently, there was a woodpecker that was eating up his trees and that bird was going to have his day...if Rick cold find him. Rick had to go back to work; but, told me that if I saw the woodpecker, I was free to take the rifle and take care of him. I like this guy already; great host, trusting, and made me feel at home. Rick gave me the tour of the place. I commented on the guitars in his waiting area and Rick asked if I played. Had I said yes, I have no doubt that we would have been jamming. As it worked out, Rick grabbed a guitar and started playing. He's very talented. While all this was going on, Rick settled with Gary, who went on his way. Another customer came in, this one was on his 4th Rick Mayer saddle. He gets a free one when he gets his 5th. Rick indicated that this customer, Paul, is his 67th customer who has gotten 4 and has a free one coming to them on their next bike!
It's pretty clear that Rick has Stephen doing the sewing and Rick does all the foam work. I also learned that one of Rick's machines was down; so, that gave Rick an opportunity to entertain a little. Soon enough, we had the bike on the center stand and we were talking specifically about the issues with the stock saddle. I had no doubt that Rick heard all this many times. He had me do an exercise that gets me seated properly on the bike to see where I would land and made some mental notations about what he needed to do with my saddle to make it right. With that, Rick pulled the saddle off and handed it to Stephen to start pulling it apart. Meanwhile, Rick and I talked about materials and colored thread. We decided on leather with silver stitching on the side and gray on the top.
Before you know it, Stephen is tearing down my stock seat. He's already got a couple on the bench; but, Rick needs to do the foam work on my seat, so Stephen can finish what's on his bench while Rick is doing foam work. Seems like a well oiled machine so far.
Rick is pretty efficient and knowledgable with the foam. He cuts and glues it as you would expect from a craftsman. He also is fine with talking to customers while he works. No "customers must stay in the waiting room, sorry insurance reasons," bs, here. Rick told me about how the foam he uses has a resistance that is the square of the force being applied to it. I'm not sure I wrote that right; but, the bottom line is that my but will never squash the foam so much that I'm virtually sitting on the pan. Rick has a clear understanding of seat building and experience in the saddle to know what's required. He's been riding since just after he was out of diapers and he''s done 2 IBA rallies. Each of those requires about 11,000 miles of riding if you're going to finish. Rick is also at the track a couple times a month. He rides and when he's not riding, he's building seats. He does about 50/week up until winter and then about 25/week. That's a lot of seats. He also solicits lots of feedback from his customers. There's a reason for his seats being so good.
So, after the initial foam work is done and the leather stitched together, Rick puts the seat on the bike for a test before tacking it all together. I was very pleased with how the saddle felt...and it wasn't even tacked up yet.
On this day, it worked out that Stephen was having some difficulties and needed to leave early. Rick was left with my seat and another customers seat to do by himself. It was a lot of work; but, Rick still had me out the door in about two hours.
The finished product looked great. I love the two tone stitching. The initial feel of the seat is great. I arrived a little saddle sore and Rick told me to expect to be saddle sore until I get off the bike for a couple days. The real evaluation really happens the next long ride after that. That said, I did another 262 miles on the seat right after leaving the shop and I'm not saddle sore anymore. My weight feels evenly distributed. I don't feel the ischeal tuberosities any longer (butt bones) either. I am looking forward to an 1100 miler I have coming up in 2 weeks
Before I left, Rick gave me some leather protectant and rubbed it into my saddle. It reminded me of when I was a paramedic. We used to armor all the bench seats in the back of the ambulance to give the paramedic on the next shift a thrill if the driver slammed on the brakes. The saddle was slippery! Rick also gave me a couple chemical hand warmers. He knew where I was going and didn't want me to be cold out there. To top it off, Rick showed me how to spin a K1600GT on it's center stand. That was pretty awesome.
I am so impressed with the service and hospitality, I'd recommend him to anyone. With any luck, I'll do more business with Rick and have the pleasure of meeting him on the open road some day!
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