Whenever we go to buy bikes ( i am focussing on commuter bikes), we invariably add the seat cover into accessories list. In my experience I have found only two instances when it made sense.

1. I was drving around in my friend's Passion in Hyderabad-Karnataka region. He had put a seat cover which was a basically a cushion and lent a nice cushy feeling to my tush. I fact, most bikes in this region had these kind of covers. They looked gawdy but they served a purpose.
2. Yamaha sells colour coordinated seat covers which match with the paint job of the bike. They are aesthically better when compared to plain jane black.

The argument for a seat cover is that it provides cushion. If one actually sees the underlining of the seat cover, we do find some sort of sort of spongy material (don't know what it is called) but I personally think that it hardly makes a difference.

Also, I am not sure if the seat cover is a company-provided accessory. More often than not (in fact, all the times), they are provided by the dealers. I am saying this because because - 1. the cover has the dealer's name plastered all over 2. seat covers are slightly different at different dealers for the same brand ( I have seen this amongst Honda dealers)

The other argument is that it offers protection. Protection from what? In my Splendor, the seat cover did not stop the seat from ripping out at the edges. This was the case in other bikes which my friends had and which were 5+ years old.

So what is the rationale behind buying seat covers?