Sport bikes and comfort are not necessarily two things you would talk about in the same sentence. If you are a track junkie then you probably don't spend much time on basic ergonomics and fit. If you use your sport bike for all-around and longer distance rides, then comfort is critically important for you enjoying your riding experience.
There are many things you can do to your sport bike to improve the ergonomics and comfort level. Same is true of your gear as well, but the focus here is on what you can do on the bike itself. The items below are the things I believe are the most important elements to consider, and have been an essential part of me completing 4 Saddlesore 1000 rides and several other long distance adventures.
Basic Bike Adjustments.
About the only thing that comes adjusted to some known preset on your sport bike will be the front and rear suspension settings. Any other adjustable aspects of your bike will most likely be functional, but not tuned to you and your preferences. High on my list are break and clutch lever positions, and throttle cable slack.
For brake and clutch levers, you want to adjust them such that you can easily reach with your fingers, get ahold of the lever, pull, and release without making any abnormal adjustments of the wrist. The reach should be a natural motion of just the fingers. I find most sport bikes come with the levers set WAY too high up. Meaning, you have to roll your wrist back in order to get your fingers up and over the lever. Not good. Most modern sportbikes also have an adjustable front break lever that brings the lever in closer, or farther away from the grip. This is usually controlled by a small thumb wheel on the lever, which has numbered detent positions for the different positions. You should experiment with your setting to find the right position for you.
Throttle cable slack on a sport bike is a big contributor to jerky throttle control and abrupt rolling on of the power. If you experience a sudden pull off the line, or away from a stop light even when you are trying hard to be smooth on the throttle, my guess is its due to having slack in the cable. My preference is to adjust out all the slack in the throttle cable, or very nearly so. Your owners manual will suggest the correct amount of "play", but again, I find it is too much. As long as your bike can idle at the correct RPM when your hand is off the throttle, then you can rest assured your removal of the cable play is not going to be a problem. You will be amazed at home much smoother on the throttle you will be without the slop in the cable. This smoothness translates to a more comfortable ride.
Seat.
 Do sport bikes even have a seat? Either way, they are not designed for rider comfort over long periods of time in the saddle. Of all the options out there, I've found my favorite solution is a simple sheep skin pad. Go to your local car seat cover business, and they will make you a custom slip on sheep skin pad. I got mine for $35 (US) and it took only about 15 minutes to make. Sheep skin evenly distributes rider weight and eliminates any pressure points. It also moves as you move on the seat. Custom aftermarket seats are a big improvement as well, but cost is very high. My fellow SBA members have also built their own seats out of temper material, but that takes some additional time and skill. For my money, you can't beat a little bit of sheep skin.
Vibration.
Sport bikes are buzzy. We all accept that. But it doesn't mean we have to submit to it without a fight. Vibration primarily makes its way to your body through the hands, feet, and seat. You can't eliminate vibration completely. If you could, the manufacturers would have done so already. But vibration will fatigue you, a real killer for endurance riding. In my case, the R1 was had distinct vibration that reached a peak at certain RPM levels. On a bone stock 2000 R1 it was at 3000 RPM and then again around 9000 RPM, if I recall correctly. Pretty good choices by Yamaha, nobody runs at 3000 RPM, and 9000 RPM is also a good hiding place.
For your hands, you can deaden your clips ons or handle bars by filling them with a dense material. I used bird shot from 20ga shotgun shells. There are aftermarket products, like the Barsnake that do the same thing. Not only will this deaden some of the vibration, but it will also change the RPM ranges where it peaks. This is good if you are trying to move it somewhere else in the RPM band. When I put a pair of Heli-bar clip-on's on the R1, the vibration moved right to where I didn't want it, around 6000 RPM. Putting the lead shot in moved it right back down to 3500 RPM. Grips can also help. Stock sport bike grips are usually hard and narrow. Put a pair of gel based grips on. Improvement is modest, but overall comfort is definitely enhanced. Last, and probably most important, put on a new set of bar weights. I love the Triumph bar ends. They are heavy, have a rubber damper inside, and bolted right onto the R1 and Heli-bar clip-ons. These weights also deaden vibration substantially.
For the seat, a sheep skin or other aftermarket seat or seat cover will do wonders. Another big advantage of the sheep skin ! Other than that, there isn't much you can do. You could try putting rubber damping blocks under the seat, or rubber washers where the seat bolts in. I haven't tried this as my seat is pretty quiet.
Foot Pegs. You have a couple options on the rearsets. First, the cheap and easy fix is put a pair of gel inserts in your boots. After that, replacing the pegs with a more solid, non-folding style peg, or a set of adjustable rearsets can also do wonders. The extra advantage of adjustable rearsets is that in addition to vibration control, you can set them to better fit your preferred body position, at a price though.
In summary, vibration fatigue is a slow and subtle enemy for the endurance rider. Take some time to analyze your sport bike and what you can do to improve it.
Clip Ons.
 Sport bike clip ons are typically set in an aggressive riding position. Most of them are fixed and cannot be adjusted back or up. I swapped my stock clip-on's out for a pair of Heli-bar clip-ons. This gave me a total of about 3 inches of up and back adjustment, which really helped me "fit" my bike better. For a taller person, I don't think bars like this would really do much. Also, I've found its hard to get a perfect match to the natural angle of your wrist and hands. The stock clip on positions tend to match your write/hand angle very well.
Windscreen.
 My stock windscreen put the wind blast right into my upper chest and helmet mandible. Not a great thing for a distance rider. Ideally you'd want the wind off you completely when in an upright riding position, but that is pretty hard to achieve on a sport bike. An aftermarket Zero Gravity Daytona windscreen brought the wind blast up to the top half of my helmet. Another factor is how wide your wind protection is. Other favorite windcreen products are from Laminar Lip
Throttle Lock.
 Did I really just say you should consider putting a throttle lock (a.k.a. cruise control) on your sport bike? Have I gone completely mad? Well, no, I don't think so. Riding 1000 miles in a day, or 3000 miles in 9 days takes its toll on your right arm and wrist. In my opinion, a throttle lock can provide a safe, and reliable way to rest your right arm and wrist while continuing to ride. Some will certainly have objections to the notion of a throttle lock on a sport bike, and I respect that. You should put one on unless you can do some reliably and use it in a safe manner. I have one on my bike and its been a huge benefit. I've done all 4 of my completely Saddlesore's without one, but I will be using it going forward. You can kill two birds with one stone with the Throttle Meister product, which also adds heavy weight bar ends to your clip ons which helps dampen vibration. I use a cheap Vista Cruise plastic throttle lock with zip ties attachment, but it works beautifully.
I hope these tips that I've applied to my own sport bike will help you achieve your distance riding goals in comfort!
Links to products mentioned in this writeup:
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