Review: BeadRider Beaded Motorcycle Seat

Monkey Butt? Stiff, achy behind after a few hours on the bike? Look no further – the BeadRider Beaded Motorcycle Seat is here to relieve your arse and make riding comfortable again. Reminiscent of beaded seat covers that taxi drivers use, I’m here to tell you that this seat cover is a great and far less expensive alternative to Sargent or Rick Mayer custom motorcycle seats.

Why the BeadRider Beaded Motorcycle Seat is AWESOME!

I love the BeadRider beaded motorcycle seat. Love it. So much that I took it on a trip from Boston to Ushuaia. I’ve put over 22,000 miles on my BeadRider – and it wins, hands-down, over more expensive seat options. In fact, the SO was jealous of my BeadRider – he took an AirHawk which he was ready to scrap by the end of the trip, while I was still proudly riding with my BeadRider.

Why is the BeadRider Beaded Motorcycle Seat so awesome?

Well, there are a few reasons:

• It adds about an inch of elevation. Not so much that if you have inseam problems, you’ll find this seat cover challenging.
• It increases airflow drastically. No problems with Monkey Butt with this seat cover. Keeps you comfortable riding in the dry heat of the Atacama Desert or the sweltering humidity of a Costa Rican jungle.
• BeadRider easily wipes dry after it rains. No sitting your dry tush down on a wet seat or seat cover.
• BeadRider stays put, meaning you can easily shift around on the seat to relieve pressure points and the seat cover doesn’t try to follow you.
• The beads are pretty durable. After 4 months of daily riding, the ceramic beads looked just as new as when I first put it on. Unfortunately, the fishing line that holds them together isn’t quite as durable – but more on that later.
• The price is right. I paid around $60 for this seat cover (their most expensive option; the Ultimate Seat.) Compare that to $100-$150 for an AirHawk, or $300 to $500 for a custom seat.
• Customer Service is great. BeadRider is a small business, and they treat their customers right.

BeadRider vs. the AirHawk Seat Cover

By the time we got a few weeks into the trip, the SO was annoyed that he had taken the AirHawk instead of the BeadRider.

• The AirHawk moves with you, so it was constantly applying pressure to his bum.
• The AirHawk doesn’t promote airflow like the BeadRider does, and can lead to a nasty case of Monkey Butt.
• The AirHawk cover gets all wet when it rains and takes a while to dry, meaning that if you start the day with a dry arse, it won’t be after you sit on your bike.
• And the AirHawk is *not* durable; the straps had started tearing out within a few weeks of leaving, and by the time we got to Chile and Argentina, it was barely holding on by one strap. We’ve also talked to other AirHawk users who have had a lot of trouble with holes and the AirHawk losing air.

Customer Service Makes a Difference

When we spoke with an AirHawk rep at the BMW MOA Rally in 2011, he was not at all receptive to our comments on durability/modifications to the seat cover. He suggested that we were “using it wrong” and that “no-one else has these problems.” Our conversations with other riders suggest that other people do, in fact, have these problems – meaning that not only does AirHawk need some improvements, but their reps need an attitude adjustment.

We spoke with BeadRider at the same event (and I believe it was the actual BeadRider folks – not reps) and they were totally sympathetic to the problems I’d had. They suggested that I send the BeadRider back and they’d replace it under warranty, and we had a nice chat about why they use the materials they do in construction. It was a completely different conversation in tone and content, and they were great small business owners who also ride and clearly care about the experience that their customers have. BeadRider FTW!

Cons of the BeadRider Beaded Seat Cover

In spite of the fact that I love this seat cover, and still happily ride it today, it’s not perfect. It does have a few downsides. They’re not deal-breakers for me, but your mileage may vary.

• Ceramic beads are “slippery” – meaning that if your seat is angled like our F650GS seat, you’ll slide forward. Also makes it more difficult to adjust position – you’re constantly sliding in the direction of the seat angle.
• Fishing wire/string that goes into constructing these covers is a very strong test, but it’s not perfect. Mounting the bike with the “hop” method when it’s fully loaded with baggage on the rear (i.e. I can’t swing my leg over the pillion seat because luggage was in the way) occasionally caused  my foot to hit the BeadRider when I mounted the bike, and over time, I snapped a few of the strings in the BeadRider. Had I been more proactive about “tying off” the loose ends, it probably wouldn’t have been a big deal. Unfortunately, I didn’t deal with it for a while so I lost four or five beads. It still worked, though, and I was better about “tying off” new breaks, so I was able to ride it all the way to the bottom of South America.

And believe it or not – that excellent airflow can actually be *too* good in cold weather. When riding in temperatures below 30 degrees, my arse got REALLY cold because of the air flowing through the BeadRider. For future reference, I’d probably take it off in winter riding conditions.

BeadRider Beaded Motorcycle Seat Review: Bottom Line

Bottom line: I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the BeadRider beaded motorcycle seat. When we got back from South America, the first thing I did was replace my BeadRider, and the SO immediately removed his AirHawk and reinstalled his BeadRider. 20,000 miles and months of daily riding doesn’t lie. Having grown accustomed to it, I think that even if I did blow $300 to $500 on a custom motorcycle seat like Sargent or Rick Mayer, I’d still use a BeadRider over it for airflow, easy drying capabilities, and comfort. (And the money I saved went into much more functional farkles, like a new windscreen, reusable air and oil filters, and a better pair of off-road pegs.)