My bike is an 01 with the split seat and after doing almost 13 hours of off and on riding the other day I would not recommend doing it( 13 hours of riding ). I have the stock seat which really didnt help much since it really starts to get to my *** after about 2 hours, I am very skinny so I have no extra "padding" anywhere.

We took a trip from Pa to Va which was about 4 hours with a couple pit stops. We did about 3 hours of riding in VA then took the trip back. Now 2 days later I can still feel the pain LOL!. This was my first long trip also. Just a story i thought would be helpfull.

 

I have the banana seat and it is nice for the longer rides. I am usually ready to go on when my buddies want to stop evey hour or so of riding to "rest". Yeah their bikes look a little cooler but I bought mine to ride.
Also, we do a lot of two up riding and the wife said no to the flat split seat, sha hated it. To each thier own though, jut sharing our logic and experience.

 

Dang! lol, Uniqsol, you too?

 

Can you explain the difference to me? Id love to get something a bit softer but don't want to fork out 300bucks for small improvement.

 

i myself prefer the bannana, i mean if allyour wanna do is stare at your cool lookin bike so that your not in pain after two hours of doin so, go ahead. My pops has a VFR with the corbin seat and it is simply heaven to sit on, and the great thing is that the more you ride on it, the more it shapes to your butt and therefore the more comfortable it becomes.
my .02, good luck.

 

Corbins aren't really softer (at least mine isn't), but they're shaped differently. Events out the pressure and contours to your ***.

 

I sent my banana seat to this guy and had the LD option installed. He did great work and got it back to me quick! My dad rides a goldwing so he can sit on his for hours without needing a break, so this diffidently helps out a lot. I can easily put 300-400 miles on my bike in a day and actually walk off it and not fall over when i get off.

Like others have said. I bought my bike to ride it, not just take a quick run through town or on a twisty.

 

Banana seat for me. Will you be taking often a passenger with you? Apart from the fact that the banana rear is a bit roomier, it also comes with a grab rail which makes it easier for the pillion. True you can fit an aftermarket grab rail to the split, but personally I didn't like the idea.

 

I like the look of the split seat better, but my f4i has the bannana seat and after two 10 hour rides, I'm glad it does. Plus, when I ride with my fiancee I'm sure she appriciates it as well.