seat rebuild
- wyly
- ICOA Member
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:20 pm
- Location: calgary alberta canada
- Location: Calgary Canada
seat rebuild
I love modifying, always looking for better handling, faster, smoother, more reliable but I also like keeping things as close as it was the day I bought it, so I replace and store away the originals...my oem seat had developed the tiniest of separations on a thread line, it's time to replace the seat! On forced medical retirement cash is low I do as much as I can myself, I wanted a Corbin but the price is just to high for the luxury of a new seat. New challenge! make my own seat! I knew nothing about where to begin or the difficulty of sewing .
Using the corbin gunfighter I drew up a rough image, considered a hard cowl cover on the back and then blue vinyl to match the cowl and tank, in the end the hard cowl was to much work and too much blue vinyl, stayed tradional with black
Found a 79 seat pan which someone had modified, comfy but not my prefer style and it was for someone with shorter legs I was cramped up.
I cut away the excess to see if there would be anything left, not looking good at this point
visit youtube! find videos of diy guys modifying the foam I filled in the dips with a high density foam, an inch of foam helped the seating position
after shaping the high density foam I added a 1/2 inch of soft foam and contoured that as well
ready to start cutting sewing vinyl, daughter came by and gave me 15 minutes of instruction on how to thread a machine and basic sewing instructions overwhelmed and frightened at this point...after lots of trail and error frustration(and cursing) I found the correct start point, the seat rise
Using the corbin gunfighter I drew up a rough image, considered a hard cowl cover on the back and then blue vinyl to match the cowl and tank, in the end the hard cowl was to much work and too much blue vinyl, stayed tradional with black
Found a 79 seat pan which someone had modified, comfy but not my prefer style and it was for someone with shorter legs I was cramped up.
I cut away the excess to see if there would be anything left, not looking good at this point
visit youtube! find videos of diy guys modifying the foam I filled in the dips with a high density foam, an inch of foam helped the seating position
after shaping the high density foam I added a 1/2 inch of soft foam and contoured that as well
ready to start cutting sewing vinyl, daughter came by and gave me 15 minutes of instruction on how to thread a machine and basic sewing instructions overwhelmed and frightened at this point...after lots of trail and error frustration(and cursing) I found the correct start point, the seat rise
Last edited by wyly on Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage
- wyly
- ICOA Member
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:20 pm
- Location: calgary alberta canada
- Location: Calgary Canada
Re: seat rebuild
I added a orange piping to break up the large mass of black, orange reasonable match to the orange decals of the tank, tail and brake lines
finished piecing it all together
not at all happy with my workmanship I tore it all apart , I expected I wouldn't be successful the first time and bought enough material for two seats...but I'll admit at this point I was ready to give up... learning to sew was difficult enough but learning to do it backwards upside down and inside out was mind-boggling ...take a deep breath relax and start again
2nd cover, much better not perfect but I can own this without embarrassment as my first seat cover
stretched into place with cowl, I had several staplers but none of them would do the job on the 40 yr old pan so I bought a pneumatic upholstery stapler from HD, great buy!
installed on Z I'm quite pleased with the results if I get one season out of it I'm okay with that I have the templates from the first trashed cover and I can make another in a day...and I'm confident I can make something better and prettier next time
I'll get a better picture when the little boss doesn't have her van in the garage
finished piecing it all together
not at all happy with my workmanship I tore it all apart , I expected I wouldn't be successful the first time and bought enough material for two seats...but I'll admit at this point I was ready to give up... learning to sew was difficult enough but learning to do it backwards upside down and inside out was mind-boggling ...take a deep breath relax and start again
2nd cover, much better not perfect but I can own this without embarrassment as my first seat cover
stretched into place with cowl, I had several staplers but none of them would do the job on the 40 yr old pan so I bought a pneumatic upholstery stapler from HD, great buy!
installed on Z I'm quite pleased with the results if I get one season out of it I'm okay with that I have the templates from the first trashed cover and I can make another in a day...and I'm confident I can make something better and prettier next time
I'll get a better picture when the little boss doesn't have her van in the garage
Last edited by wyly on Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage
- wyly
- ICOA Member
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:20 pm
- Location: calgary alberta canada
- Location: Calgary Canada
Re: seat rebuild
expenses
seat pan- $75
foam-$15
vinyl -$50-double what I required
heavy gauge needles-$6
outdoor thread- $30 - i went through a lot of thread
Stainless steel staples -$10
Stapler-$42
total -$228
minus $86 for the stapler, staples, needles which I'll have for the next seat cover and half the amount of vinyl
$142
waaaay less than a Corbin which I'd have to pay in canadian coin so another 30%
local upholstery wanted $600 to do the job and would have it done in a day...but I learned something new and I'll do it again on my GS1150e/cafe project or the Z which ever comes first
and the feeling I get having done it myself is priceless!
seat pan- $75
foam-$15
vinyl -$50-double what I required
heavy gauge needles-$6
outdoor thread- $30 - i went through a lot of thread
Stainless steel staples -$10
Stapler-$42
total -$228
minus $86 for the stapler, staples, needles which I'll have for the next seat cover and half the amount of vinyl
$142
waaaay less than a Corbin which I'd have to pay in canadian coin so another 30%
local upholstery wanted $600 to do the job and would have it done in a day...but I learned something new and I'll do it again on my GS1150e/cafe project or the Z which ever comes first
and the feeling I get having done it myself is priceless!
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage
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- ICOA Rally Director
- Posts: 2270
- Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2003 3:16 pm
- Location: Lawrencburg, IN
- Location: Lawrenceburg, Indiana
Re: seat rebuild
If you're not careful, you'll have folks beating down your door to have their seats done too. Nice job.
Rick Pope
Either garage is too small or we have too many bikes. Or Momma's car needs to go outside.
Either garage is too small or we have too many bikes. Or Momma's car needs to go outside.
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- ICOA Member
- Posts: 4069
- Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2003 9:12 am
- Location: St. Catharines, On. Canada
- Location: St. Catharines, On. Canada
Re: seat rebuild
Take a bow, Brother.
I agree that the coloured piping does work.
I agree that the coloured piping does work.
- wyly
- ICOA Member
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:20 pm
- Location: calgary alberta canada
- Location: Calgary Canada
Re: seat rebuild
thanks guys it was a daunting challenge, who knew sewing could be so hard
My daughter came to critique my work pointed out the issues I'd already identified myself but it's good enough first effort, next winter I'll do it again . Ideally I'd like to run the orange stripe from the bottom of the tail cowl to meet the stripe at the bottom of the tank but it'll be difficult trying to gauge the place with the stretch of the vinyl ... next time it'll only cost me $30 for the vinyl and I figure I can do it in half the time
My daughter came to critique my work pointed out the issues I'd already identified myself but it's good enough first effort, next winter I'll do it again . Ideally I'd like to run the orange stripe from the bottom of the tail cowl to meet the stripe at the bottom of the tank but it'll be difficult trying to gauge the place with the stretch of the vinyl ... next time it'll only cost me $30 for the vinyl and I figure I can do it in half the time
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage
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- New Member & Happy To Be Here
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2018 3:56 pm
- Location: Vancouver BC Canada
- Location: Vancouver BC Canada
Re: seat rebuild
I think it looks great, good job. I'm just tinkering on my bike as I get ready to tear into it - waiting for full retirement - and have been looking at my seat. It's in pretty good shape and I'd like to keep it stock, but the metal ends that attach the strap to the seat are pretty rusted and bent. Anybody know where these would be available?
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- ICOA Member
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- Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:47 am
- Location: Charleston, Illinois, USA
- Location: Charleston, Illinois, USA
Re: seat rebuild
Bobtheseatguy on eBay has themYVRCBX wrote:I think it looks great, good job. I'm just tinkering on my bike as I get ready to tear into it - waiting for full retirement - and have been looking at my seat. It's in pretty good shape and I'd like to keep it stock, but the metal ends that attach the strap to the seat are pretty rusted and bent. Anybody know where these would be available?
- wyly
- ICOA Member
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:20 pm
- Location: calgary alberta canada
- Location: Calgary Canada
Re: seat rebuild
Louis will have it...if you ever need a new cover that's one of the few inexpensive cbx items to be found, $60-70 on ebay...I would've gone that route if I wanted to replace my oem cover but I had a 2nd seat and I wanted to improve the lower back support.YVRCBX wrote:I think it looks great, good job. I'm just tinkering on my bike as I get ready to tear into it - waiting for full retirement - and have been looking at my seat. It's in pretty good shape and I'd like to keep it stock, but the metal ends that attach the strap to the seat are pretty rusted and bent. Anybody know where these would be available?
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage
- Gearheadgregg
- ICOA Member
- Posts: 366
- Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:47 am
- Location: Rhode Island
- Location: Rhode Island
Re: seat rebuild
That came out nice ! Got my pneumatic staple gun cheap from Harbor freight think i used a 1/4 inch leg into the plastic pan it worked great also. Good Job !!
- wyly
- ICOA Member
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:20 pm
- Location: calgary alberta canada
- Location: Calgary Canada
Re: seat rebuild
Thanks I'm always critical of my own work, I still think it's just" okay"...aesthetically I think it can be better, I'm already planning the next version with more confidence to do something more complex...Gearheadgregg wrote:That came out nice ! Got my pneumatic staple gun cheap from Harbor freight think i used a 1/4 inch leg into the plastic pan it worked great also. Good Job !!
1/4" legs is the recommended size, stainless steel preferably with square ends on the legs, a pneumatic stapler is the best choice as it's adjustable I used a Surebonder... I tried a manual hand and electric staplers neither worked well, the hand stapler wasn't strong enough to get through the 40yr old plastic and the electric blew right through.
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage