| Author | Message | ||
     Expatriate |
Recently I have been increasingly annoyed by my seat on my XB9 Lightening. My butt just slides around way too much. In the past, with other bikes I have owned I solved this by buying a suede covered aftermarket seat. This time I don't seem to be able to find the profile that I like with the appropriate not too slick for your butt covering. So I decided to do it myself. I'm going to use a stock seat pan. My problem is that I want to build up the foam in the passenger area of the stock seat about 3-4 inches higher than it is now. Kind of a soft seat cowl type look, the only one I have seen that I truly like was a custom seat built by Warr's H-D/Buell of London for a customer's custom Buell. So I'm going to replicate the profile and carve the foam and cover it myself. I am unsure what adhesive to use to mate the foam to the stock foam profile and what adhesive to use to adhere the cover to the foam. Anyone have any experience with this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. | ||
| Sifo |
Here's a good place to start. You need foam that is pretty dense, hard to find and not cheap. I know sources can be found online that have a wide variety of foams. It would be nice to know what works best, but that's part of the art of building custom seats. http://obairlann.net/reaper/motorcycle/ninja/seat/ If you do it, POST PICTURES! | ||
| Briz31 |
Corbin Gunfighter.. Corbin: #HD-XB9S-G Price: $439 US Black Carbon Fibre Leather. | ||
| Miami78 |
Try giving Loren at www.motorbikesaddles.com a call, he does some awesome custom seats for buells and could probably give you some great info to help you do a DIY on yours. Plus if you mess it all up he can make it right again! | ||
| Gowindward |
Thanks Mike! 3M Super 77 Adhesive is a pretty good choice for DIY foam bonding. You can find it at most home improvement or hardware stores. On the XBS stock seats the OEM molds the foam right to the cover so getting the stock cover off is a real PITA. Take your time so as not to completely butcher the stock foam shape getting the cover off. The same adhesive will work for bonding the fabric or vinyl too, but will probably let go if the seat is left out in the hot sun. It's just not the best high temp adhesive. The high temp stuff we use comes in bulk and we us spray equipment to apply it. Loren | ||
| 1324 |
Another alternative is finding a later style S seat. The early seats were smooth vinyl whereas the later seats were textured. Not only does it grip you a lot better, but it looks better IMO. Custom could be cool, too, but I'd start looking for cheap and simple first... | ||
| Expatriate |
Yeah $439 for the Corbin gunfighter seat is one of the reasons I decided to go this route. I owned a Corbin with one of my other bikes and for the money, I was wholely unimpressed. | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
Said you wanted to build up the rear of the seat for a cowl look. The seat on mine was recovered by the previous owner to make it more comfortable. It took on a cowl look that I like. And it is more comfy. I can take a better pic if needed.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
I've had a couple of motorcycle seats re-worked by Sargent in Jacksonville, FL. They do really nice work. They can do different cover materials, different foam, change the shape, etc. http://www.sargentcycle.com/custserv.htm | ||
| Expatriate |
That looks a lot like what I'm looking to do. Maybe a little less rounded on the passenger section.The conversion will start when the weather gets cold and will entail more than just a seat. I'm gathering parts to remove the cheese grater and move the license plate under the tail, lowering the bars and put bar end mirrors on it. Going for the total streetfighter look, not many here in Indy have that look. There are lots of stretched swing arms and 300 rear tires but very few streetfighters. The next step after that'll be an XB12 crank and rods. With the stump pulling low end torque and low end gearing, it'll be a 'busa killer stoplight to stoplight. I'll post pics and keep those interested aprized of the progress. |
