| Author | Message | ||
     Bomber  |
all -- as part of the "This Old Buell" effort, I find myself in need of stuff and knowledge (now there's a t-shirt!) I've been able to find a fair number of places who'll sell me foam and padding, both marine applications (I'm thinkin that's best for a bike seat, yes?), but am interested in hearing of any sources the collective may have had experience with -- also, while I understand the bacis concepts, I'd love some more information on making/installing a seat cover, speficifcally, alternate methods of securing said cover (other than buy/renting Thor's own staple gun) thanks, in advance, for all the good data and experience I'm sure I'll see here, along with the humor, statistical analysis on pros/cons wrt making your own seat cover, length dissertations on the philosophies regarding same, and, lastly, your firm and heartfelt exortations to keep my seat covered at all times! ;-} | ||
| Reepicheep  |
Sounds like a fun projecet. Didn't Blake modify his M2 seat by carving the foam up and fitting one of those bicycling gel pads? | ||
| Mikej  |
Clips, staples, nails, straps, hooks, well designed slip-on, etc..... I don't like staples in plastic. Hooks would work, so would straps, or straphooks. Straps might require trimming some of the plastic seatbase. Clips could work, but might be prone to departure and not estectically(sp?) pleasing. Nails are like staples, only bigger and sharper, but not enough meat in the plastic seatbase to use nails. Well designed slip-on might work if you first made the seat into a 2-piece. A two-piece seat would facilitate ease of checking the oil if you also had saddlebags or camp gear strapped to the passenger portion, and is something I've been pondering in the backmost recesses of my mind for awhile now. I may reapproach this after July when we will have a new tool of sorts arriving in the household to be set up in the basement because it would just be wrong to set it up in the garage but it might actually make it into an above-ground room depending upon actual size and condition and lubricant drippage potential. It all depends on what you are really doing and where you really want to end up with it when done and completed. Just replacing fabric? Changing contour or support material? Changing color or pattern? Changing seating configuration (solo or tandem or dual)? And so forth. I'm no expert, don't even consider myself an amateur with this stuff, but I have ripped a thread or two in my past helping a few who were. I just lost myself, it's dark way back in this part of my mind, plus I just tripped over something I'd forgotten about that's also stored away back in here. 'scuse me whilst I meander a bit and find my ways back to the daylight side of my eyeballs. | ||
| Bomber |
Mike -- I've extended the seat pan down, more or less vertically, a couple of inches, sorta kinda like an old-timey cafe racer -- the new cover will go over the existing foam, and then down to cover the extensions -- I was thinking snaps, ala the XR 750 seat, but am open to other ideas -- slip-on won't do very well, in this application, although it's a great idea, generally! can't find much on the web on roll your own seats -- Reep -- I believe Blake DID do something similar, but it was a race-day only kinda thing, if memory serves -- I need to make a new cover altogther | ||
| Henrik  |
I've customized a few stock seats to better fit my anatomy and desire for longer distance, pain free (limited?) riding. I've only done minor modifications to the stock seat shape in addition to installing a Pro Pad in rider and sometimes passenger seating area. I went with Pro Pad, since the material won't leak out if the bladder springs a leak ... ba dam bam  The Pro Pad is great. It's like a big sheet of gummy bear material. The pad itself can be cut to shape, which makes installation much easier. The cut edges become quite sticky, but some baby powder or similar dusted on the edges helps. To fit the pro pad as well as reshaping the stock seat foam, I used an electrical carving knife, electric drill with sanding discs and drum sander, as well as a dremel tool with very small sanding drums. This kind of work makes a huge mess, so be sure to cover up your surroundings, lest you make yourself a huge clean-up job as well... Electric carving knife: good for general shaving slivers off the top and rounding outer edges. To carve the cutout for the Pro Pad, I drew a checkerboard pattern onto the foam in the shape of the pad. I then cut slits along the lines to a depth that matches the thickness of the pad. I then carefully cut the resulting blocks of foam out with a hand held utility knife blade. Drum sander and dremel tool w/ drum: I used those for smoothing the bottom of the cut-out for the pad. I used the drum "upright", so that only the edge of the drum did the sanding. The small drum on the dremel allows you to get all the way into the corners, as well as cleaning up the the upright edges of the cutout. Sanding disk: for smoothing and cleaning up any other outer surfaces. Use fine grit and slow speeds. I actually used a small sanding disk on the dremel tool as well. Be careful with the disks though; they'll catch the foam, yank at the tool and cut long slits where you don't want any ... If you buy a Pro Pad, you can ask them to include a sheet of thin cover foam, which is glued on top of the seat foam once the pad is in place. I don't know much about making a new cover, and would likely be tempted to have an upholstery shop do that for me. Keep in mind though, that the cover needs to be able to slide across the foam. Otherwise you get a "trampoline" effect which will decrease comfort considerably. Only glue the seat cover in spots where it's critical that it stays in place. That said; if you have a good size height difference between rider and passenger seat, I think a seam in that area to achieve a better cover shape is a good idea. On my S2 seat, it was a tricky to stretch the stock cover for a good fit right there. For afixin' the cover, I've used a hand stapler, which will drive in staples, but not quite enough - so I had to follow up with a hammer and a drift. After a couple of years of varied use, that seat is still holding up. I would recommend a cheap 1/2" crown air stapler from Harbor Freight. Also think carefully about how long the staples you use should be - get that calculation wrong, and you could be in for an uncomfortable ride  That's all I remember for now. I'll chime in if I come up with more. Henrik | ||
| Bomber |
H -- thanks so much for the tips -- I've got some material on order, and will see if my ideas work out well -- |
