Author Topic: CB550 Cafe seats (Read 11105 times)

WJL75 · « **on:** October 30, 2006, 08:09:58 PM »

I've been looking all over the net but have come up short on finding cafe styled seats and or cowlings for the CB550. Any ideas on a good shop? Corbin seams to have them for the 750s, as have a few other retailers. Are my only options to shell out $300+ for a custom seat? Can I reshape the one I have? The cover is in good shape, and I know I can by new foam. Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Chris Liston · « **Reply #1 on:** October 30, 2006, 08:30:24 PM »

There have been lots of members who have fabbed their own seats and also have bought some ebay cafe seats.

I'm planning on making one for my 550 using my existing seat and building up the rear for a cafe seat hump and then fiberglassing over it. search for paulages on this forum, he did what I'm going to do. Time consuming but the result was very nice..

andy750 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 30, 2006, 08:35:53 PM »

Also look on German Ebay - thats where I got my Guillari (cafe seat) for my CB750.

cheers
Andy

CrisPDuk · « **Reply #3 on:** October 30, 2006, 09:40:42 PM »

I got my Guiliari from my next door neighbours loft, where he'd put it in '79 after selling his 750

It's for a 750, so I've got to modify it to make it fit my 550, but there's nothing that's beyond the abilities of the TIG Chimps at work

nteek754 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 30, 2006, 09:58:49 PM »

Hey all guess I better keep an eye on this thread Im trying to create my own seat for my 73 750 K project low budget it was an aluminum pan king queen and I cut bent bolted and started to cover it with some scrap leather I had and the piece was too small so speaking of that where can I get some seat material not going with leather like I had planned good luck seven fifty four ever Craig in Maine

Geeto67 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 31, 2006, 04:04:53 AM »

Benji at benjiscareracers makes a steel cafe seat pan for the 550. Sadly his are pretty close to $300. He molds the seat so it flows from the tank so, to me, it is only worth it to get a tank and seat combo and then you are spending like $800.

http://www.benjiescaferacer.com/forsale.html

Chris Liston · « **Reply #6 on:** October 31, 2006, 06:04:35 AM »

Quote from: Geeto67 on October 31, 2006, 04:04:53 AM

Benji at benjiscareracers makes a steel cafe seat pan for the 550. Sadly his are pretty close to $300. He molds the seat so it flows from the tank so, to me, it is only worth it to get a tank and seat combo and then you are spending like $800.

http://www.benjiescaferacer.com/forsale.html

.

I agree with you Geeto. I'd love to get that combo but the wife would DESTROY me if she ever found out how much I spent on that setup..

hymodyne · « **Reply #7 on:** October 31, 2006, 08:01:30 AM »

I'm working on a cafe seat, using a stock seat pan, spray expanding foam, Glass cloth(mat), resin, and bondo.The stop/tail housing is part of the assembly. I'll post a pic as soon as I remember to bring my digital home.

paulages · « **Reply #8 on:** October 31, 2006, 08:15:16 AM »

i didn't use the stock seatpan.

ieism · « **Reply #9 on:** October 31, 2006, 08:43:49 AM »

I think $300 for a seatpan is insane.
"Glass from the past" might have something that would fit
http://caferacingparts.com/

or maybe:
http://www.discovolantemoto.co.uk/

WJL75 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 31, 2006, 09:29:59 AM »

Quote from: ieism on October 31, 2006, 08:43:49 AM

I think $300 for a seatpan is insane.
"Glass from the past" might have something that would fit
http://caferacingparts.com/

or maybe:
http://www.discovolantemoto.co.uk/

The http://caferacingparts.com/ site is a gold mine! The prices are way more in line with what I was expecting.

angeldeville · « **Reply #11 on:** November 01, 2006, 01:20:50 PM »

good links, I'm looking for a glass cafe seat pan, I can do the leather work, but unfortunately my stock seats are pretty nice and I don't wanna hack one up.

Chris Liston · « **Reply #12 on:** November 01, 2006, 02:19:01 PM »

My brother just bought a Triumph Thruxton 900 and I'm going to take off the seat cowl that came with it and mock it up on my CB550 seat to see how it looks. They can be had for around 100 bucks on ebay. We'll see how it looks. The factory Honda seat is alittle wider at the rear. Good thing I have two seatpans, 1 stock and one to play with

WJL75 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 03, 2006, 02:33:55 PM »

I thought about doing that with the seat and tank as well. Find em on ebay and screw around with em. That way I can still ride during the cosmetic work, and I can leave the seat I have intact...no downtime.

Tim. · « **Reply #14 on:** November 03, 2006, 04:58:03 PM »

Quote from: CrisPDuk on October 30, 2006, 09:40:42 PM

I got my Guiliari from my next door neighbours loft, where he'd put it in '79 after selling his 750

It's for a 750, so I've got to modify it to make it fit my 550, but there's nothing that's beyond the abilities of the TIG Chimps at work

#$%*e - don't hack up that gem - sell it on eBay for a small fortune and make a 550 seat from a stock 550 seatpan (or buy a 550 Guiliari).

Here's what I did real quick - all foam and vinyl. My next seat will be using a stock 550 seat pan and a cut-off piece of a gas tank to make the bump in the back.

http://www.sohc4.us/forums/index.php?topic=11302.0

WJL75 · « **Reply #15 on:** November 03, 2006, 05:23:52 PM »

Thanks for the link...the seat looks really nice. I'm starting to think I might be able to tackle this after all.

rt · « **Reply #16 on:** November 04, 2006, 01:05:30 AM »

wjl75 - and here's my approach to the big world of home-made cafe seats:

As I always fancied the clean 'see-through-looks' on bikes, my approach to a 550 cafe seat includes relocating the stock battery plus all side mounted electrics. To give her a more 'racy' look, I moved my tail light to the top of the rear frame bracket.

I started with a basic rectangular-tube frame, bolted to existing frame mounts (air filter housing..), shaped and alligned all panels and tack-welded this assembly to the tube frame. Those cut-outs in the seat pan are for easier access and maintenance of the electric gimmicks. The actual seat area will be made of another flat mild steel panel plus cushion fixed with four Press-Snap-fasteners....

By the way, those mild steel panels are parts of an old PC housing. That means my 70s Honda has definitely Computer technology on board.

7t1burb · « **Reply #17 on:** November 04, 2006, 04:42:31 AM »

An alternate method that worked for me was to purchase a CR seat off ebay that was initially intended for a 350...much smaller (length and width) than required for the CB500 Cafe Racer just completed. Using the infamous sawzall, I cut it in half and added 3" of width and then added 6" of "nose" to fit the dimensions of the CB500. I used heavy gauge aluminum to add 3" of width and 6" of "nose" rivited to the original fiberglass seat after "sawzall surgery". Worked like a charm and when covered, functions as desired and all for around $150.00. This seat sits over the frame rails and covers them (by choice). I have pics of this seat but, however, have yet to master the art of including them in this post. Hope this helps!!

joeb · « **Reply #18 on:** November 04, 2006, 05:12:47 AM »

You can try this site . http://www.airtech-streamlining.com/index.html

noelocol · « **Reply #19 on:** December 31, 2006, 03:40:24 PM »

Or you guys can check this out...

http://www.brenn.ca/cafeforum/viewtopic.php?t=207

Cafe seat made cheap with little work..

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Author Topic: CB550 Cafe seats (Read 11105 times)

rt

7t1burb