heavdog

So I've searched high and low, but have been unable to find any reference anywhere (I'll cross-post this on BROL) about back pain from my Rans Enduro seat. Specifically, after moderate-length rides, I get pressure pain along my mid-spine, and can feel swelling in the area. I can't figure out if it's the tension of the seat mesh, the recline angle of my seat, or some oddity in my anatomy. I've logged a lot of miles on different bents, including other Rans models, and this is the first time I've had this issue.
Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions to alleviate the problem are greatly appreciated!

JanMM

Haven't experienced any back discomfort with either the sling-mesh or the standard RANS seat. Moderate recline with both.

Northwestrider

When the exact problem happened to me, my wife came up with a solution. We went to an upholstery shop, found some closed cell foam, then cut it the shape of my bikes seat. Then where my spine would touch the foam, she cut out a slit that is about twice the width of my spine, so that it would rest there in the gap while the rest of my back rested comfortably against the rest of the closed cell foam. For me it worked great.

heavdog

I like the foam idea - I'd thought about trying one of the Thermarest lumbar pads, though the area affected is a little higher than lumbar. I'll check out foam. How thick is yours? And how dense is it?
As soon as our weather dries out a little (crazy northwest weather!!!) I plan to experiment with seat adjustments, too. Hopefully I'll find the sweet spot :-)

charly17201

I had some minor issues when I changed bikes (2-wheel SWB USS to a tadpole trike).

When I really looked at the two seats side by side, I found some minor differences in the seat geometry. I simply added a little extra padding in a couple of spots to mimic the 2-wheeler's seat and now am very happy.

Northwestrider

About 1" thick, as to density, I can only say experiment a bit. Mine is quite dense.

heavdog

Thanks for the ideas - I'll try playing around with foam and see what I can do. If anyone can post a pic, I'd love to see how you've done yours. Thanks!

charly17201

@ heavdog: If you've ever seen or used the foam roll pads for sleeping bag/camping use.... that's what I used to 'adjust' my seat. holds up pretty well and thin enough to layer.