MOESOF: Full Seat Ahead

A Moto-Entrepreneur's Journey

Exploration is at the heart of many a rider's motorcycle ethic. The promise of traveling from city, to highway, to trail and back, in one glorious day of riding is so tantalizing that motorcycle media practically drowns in it.

Close your eyes for a second and almost any motorcyclist can envision a generic sweeping panorama as it breaks away to highlight glorious mountain S curves. Launching from this aerial view, we're taken in to a closeup of knobby tires as they transition from pavement to dirt. Glancing shots of single track and multiple river bed crossings are only broken up by the cadre of riders smiling as if they'd just rolled out of bed.

Never…do...they...speak...of...the...seat.

Of course, all riders know it. Mention to a fellow touring motorcyclist (adventure or otherwise) your exploits of a long day in the saddle and a smile-laced-sympathy-pained grimace is sure to accompany the reciprocating nod of approval.

For all the advances in motorcycling, a narrow stock seat continues to plague not just the cheapest of bikes, but also the most capable.

Inspired by his son's machine of choice, a street legal Yamaha WR 450F, Mark Campfield (sewing), a lifelong rider, thought that just maybe he had found his dream motorcycle. Light, fast, trail dominant and with a couple of turn signals, more than capable on the highway.

Based in Snohomish, Washington, it seemed like the perfect fit. The ideal motorcycle for riding everything from the endless forest service roads of the Cascades to Highway 2, to the gritty single track of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

One bike that could do it all... One bike with a 5 ½" wide seat.

Wincing in reflection at his Western Washington shop, Mark comments, "Everything that is designed for people to sit on, since time began...is cheek to cheek or hip to hip."

At 6' 2" and a quart of oil or two over 200 lbs., clearly Campfield did not find the Yamaha's saddle so accommodating.

But really, that was only half of it. Being comfortable while touring was important, but what drew Mark to the WR 450F, and what draws many riders to more dirt-oriented Dual Sport bikes, is the promise of riding all terrain.

A solution to the narrow seat problem, would have to be as universal as the bike itself. Sure, there were pads and permanent seat replacements that would add comfort, but when the rubber goes from gravel road to narrow single track, that slim seat has its place.

So, in 2014, with no viable options on the market, Campfield became designer by necessity and set out to solve the problem. The idea was simple. A removable, seat widening adapter that would better disperse rider weight and increase comfort. Install it when long stretches of highway beckon and simply remove it, when it's time to stand on the pegs and navigate more aggressive trail.

The first iteration was clunky, but immediately Mark noticed a difference. The seat widening "bridge" that he had created added real width to the motorcycles stock seat. Instead of his weight collapsing inward, the hand-crafted truss system reached out to fully support each cheek and better align the hips.

Following versions and upgraded materials refined the design and shrunk the original dimensions by more than half.

Spending his days at the sewing machine and weekends out riding, Mark worked for 2 ½ years prototyping through more than ½ dozen iterations, before finally satisfying himself with an elegant design that was functional and adaptable.

With the company's name, Moesof (Motorcycle Operator Endurance Seat On/Off Road), having been with it since near the ideas inception, Mark applied for and was granted a patent on his design in August of 2017.

Which now puts Mark back on his Snohomish factory floor where he assembles and ships all Moesof seats by hand.

Though self-proclaimed as "not a sales guy" the moto entrepreneur's enthusiasm for both the sport of motorcycling and the benefits of Moesof is undeniable.

If you're a Dual Sport rider anywhere in Western Washington and happen to be within earshot of the company's founder, you better believe that you will soon know all there is about the newly-patented concept of "endurance seats."

And if you're like most riders, it will probably, at the very least, pique your interest.

"The reason a guy should buy a Moesof Seat," Mark states, "is because they don't have to buy another seat...it comes complete in the package and comes on and off in a moment. It's much wider when you want wide and narrow when you want narrow...When you get to the power lines or the pipeline, or you get to your last gas station and the road turns to dirt up into the hills…take the Moesof seat off and ride the bike like it was designed to ride. But when you're touring the gravel roads...be comfortable."

Campfield may not be a "sales guy," but for the true cadre of dual sporters out there, that's a pretty solid pitch.

Derek Roberts/December 2017

For more information on Moesof Seats visit moesof.com