If you are looking for a bike to use on long rides, a Ducati might not be your first choice since they are mostly carved out to make you happy on a race track or canyon roads. However, that narrow stock seat on my bike was truly an insult - both for track and backroad use. In general, a race-seat should be more flat & slightly wider. The remedy has been to get Corbin's. I had one for many years but was never really happy with it. But since it was better than the stocker, I didn't think much about it until it started to deteriorate. When I contacted Corbin they wanted way too much to fix it... so I figured I could fix it with some black epoxy-glue. While dickering around with it in the garage, I dug up my old stock seat and discovered how freakin' light it was. Immediately I got those acquisitive feelings in my hands, subsequently my girlfriend and I started an evil assault on the stock-seat which lasted an entire day; we cut, we carved, and we fought (yes, she's now my ex). The day after I got hold of this guy, Mike Mattias, who said he could make a cover for it. Well, he turned out to be the most brilliant upholsterer on the face of the earth: I still stand drooling over this seat - it's just amazing how nice it turned out (he even brilliantly stitched in the Italian flag). Btw, as you can see from the photo, it's not only in Norway it rains - but also here in sunny California.