A Laam seat on the ZX

[William P. Zeller]

Some time ago, I ran across fellow GPZ lister Timothy Linke making a 
move to sell his recently-acquired Laam custom seat.
With a heavy dose of irony, he lives about a block and a half from my 
old house of some 38 years, even though we'd never actually established 
contact.
Finally about a month ago, I managed to connect and purchase the seat 
from him at a very decent price.
I thought I'd share my initial impressions.  I don't really like to 
judge equipment modifications pertaining to comfort and serviceability 
for a few thousand miles, but this one is winning me (us) over.
I might have about 800 miles on it so far.  I previously had a leather 
Corbin, which arrived early in my ZX's career.
For the record, I purchased it in August, 2001, with about 4000 miles 
(6500km) from the original purchaser, a gentleman in the southwest 
suburbs of Chicagoland.  He was wanting a Wing, and the ZX wasn't doing 
it for him.
I seem to recall the price was $4500 or maybe a little less.  For a 
near-new bike, I was fine with that.
It had just come out of the crate a year prior, one of many ZX1100Es 
being dumped into the market years after their prime days.
I did a lot of stuff to it, of course, but first was the Corbin. The 
stock seat fit me very poorly, and the slide-forward shape drove me nuts.
Now, as the bike's turning 92,000 miles (148000km), the Corbin's gotten, 
somehow, even harder than it was when new.  Not that I ever minded: I 
managed a good number of 500+ mile days with it, with a max of 830mi 
(1335km) on one fun day running out to Cleveland and back.
That's excellent performance from a saddle.
But...  there's a butt... and it's hers.  The Significant Other, while 
being built fairly narrow, still found the rear part of the Corbin to be 
unpleasant.  It's short, front-to-back, and got a weird shape.  Her long 
legs get bent up into Irish pretzels back there, and she declined the 
use of the bike (in favor of my equally old GL1800) every time.
The OEM saddle actually did better for her, but it was still a 
half-hour-tops proposition.
Here's the good news: the Laam is far better for the backseater, and 
we've even worked up to a 100+ mile day with it.  The knees still 
complain, I hear, but at least there's enough saddle, and in the right 
enough places, to serve.
So, based on these early returns, I would not hesitate to recommend a 
Laam for this bike.
Meanwhile, my old Corbin, with the beading going a bit bare and the 
leather doing some weathered cracking, sits.  If anyone out there is 
interested in it, I would be glad to talk.  The shipping expense could 
be daunting, but it's worth a discussion.
Here's your picture <http://www.cherryriver.com/Laam%20ZX%20seat.jpg>of 
the Laam.

Bill Zeller
Lemont, IL