Colder today...

As Philip noted, today was one of those surprising days where the temperature fell as the day went on instead of following its usual pattern of climbing. I'd rather unwisely worn my mesh jacket. It has a liner, but the liner's not perfect, leaving my wrists and neck rather cold. I carry a cheap fleece pullover in my saddlebags in case of surprise cold. That let me get home without freezing. Usually my next line of defense if that's not enough is to put on my rainsuit, which also keeps out the wind. Occasionally I've had to do even more to warm up, which usually means ducking into the nearest fast food restaurant or coffee shop and drinking something hot. I didn't have to resort to that one today. One particularly chilly morning, about a year and a half ago, I had to walk into a discount store and buy a cheap T-shirt, which I then wrapped around my neck like a scarf.

I promised I'd write about the Alaska Leather pad, and here it is. About a month ago, I had a customer call me at work asking for some advice on a Microsquirt for a Rotax thumper. When I got his address, I recognized the company name and mentioned that I'd been looking to get something to make the saddle on my bike more comfortable. He ended up sending me a Sheepskin Buttpad, their bluntly named seat cover. (In case you're wondering what size fits a Suzuki GS500F, it's a Pillion 4. For the driver's seat.)

The sheepskin doesn't sound like it would do that much: It's just a piece of sheepskin with about 1" of wool on it, dyed black, and attached to the bike with a strap. It makes a pretty surprising improvement for what it is, though - after an hour in the saddle, I no longer have to fight off the urge to ride the bike from the passenger seat or standing up. The seat isn't as comfortable as, say, the seat in my Corvette, but it's a real improvement and aftermarket seats for a GS500F are hard to find. It also seems to feel a bit cooler than the stock seat because air circulates through the wool.

There are a couple downsides to it. I wouldn't recommend leaving it on in a downpour - not because it would be damaged by it, but because it would feel sodden. And it's nowhere near as grippy as the stock rubber upholstery. So it wouldn't be the best thing to bring to a track day. It's good for a low buck improvement to the saddle, though.