Topic: CB750 K1 Original Seat Foam color?? Answer is: Early K1 had Red Foam

[newday777]

Edit 12/29: Answer is Yes K1 had Red foam and yellow(on the sides) on at least the early K1s.

Those with K1 CB750 original seats, does your seat foam have red foam in the center 4 holes or yellow foam?

I thought the red seat foam only came on the Sandcast and K0 Ducktail seats??

I bought a K1 seat that arrived this Christmas eve( it has the very distinctive 1 year pattern cover with 2 separate blocks with a space between the front section and the rear section where the strap sets and the distinctivepiping down turn to the bottom on the side near the strap) and it has red foam under the cover.

I will be getting a new replacement cover for it and doing some foam repairs.

Happy New Year to you all

[kyle750]

This K1 seat sold recently on YJ.  IMO a fantastic price for NOS 

https://buyee.jp/item/jdirectitems/auction/p1208300366

[BenelliSEI]

My K1 has that pink top layer, but all the foam underneath is white, turned yellow. The very early seats were very pink/red on the bottom. These photos are my S/C using Yamiya foam and cover. Their covers are superb and have absolutely no “stretch”. Tough to install but worth the trouble.

[newday777]

My K1 has that pink top layer, but all the foam underneath is white, turned yellow. The very early seats were very pink/red on the bottom.

John
Was the original foam of the sandcast all red on the bottom?

The K0 Ducktail seat that I picked up with the barn find parts lot last summer had this same combo of red foam in the center 1" strip and yellow/with green chunks foam on the sides, but had the distinct Ducktail to it that this seat doesn't have. There is a definite difference in the tail profile section of the 2 seats. I don't think that I pulled off the cover of the Ducktail seat to see the foam color on top but saw the rear section holes and sides at the pan had red foam. The cover of the latest seat is definitely a K1 cover.

[BenelliSEI]

     Stu …… (from memory) it was all a few different shades of pink, very much like the replacement kit from Yamiya. The original also had a piece of hard rubber, shaped like a large orange (the fruit) sections, buried in the foam in the duck tail. The Yamiya foam just had a stiffer piece of foam back there.
     When I first fitted the Yamiya foam it seemed to be twice the size required, and hung down over the sides way too much. The side overhang got trimmed a bit, but two of us managed to get the cover over all of it. Fortunately my buddy Terry is an upholstery wizard and had all the right glues and tools. As I said earlier, the Yamiya cover has no stretch at all, but was so well made that when we finally got it down all the way, the stitched bottom seam, at the seat pan, fit perfectly. By far the nicest seat cover I have ever used and with their red foam, the best finished product.

[Oly]

Stu and John,
  As I look at my original K1 seat it looks very much like the seat Stu got for Christmas with the exception that there are circular rubber disks inside of each of the bottom holes in the seat .  I slid a couple of them to the side to see what color the foam was (reddish),
  Have either of you seen these round rubber disk covers used on these seats?

[newday777]

Stu and John,
  As I look at my original K1 seat it looks very much like the seat Stu got for Christmas with the exception that there are circular rubber disks inside of each of the bottom holes in the seat .  I slid a couple of them to the side to see what color the foam was (reddish),
  Have either of you seen these round rubber disk covers used on these seats?

No I haven't seen the rubber discs in the seats.
How about moving the side holes to see if you have red or yellow under there?

[BenelliSEI]

I’ve seen bits of old inner tube cut into discs and stuffed in there. Stops the foam from crumbling all over the battery, tool tray, etc. when riding. The old foam can make a real mess in a hurry!

[Don R]

  I have had a couple K0 seats apart and have seen mixed foam in their seats. The sandcast and 14,100 were both all red though. I think the seats were made off site by a vendor and there was little waste.
  The Yamiya red foam is losing a little sandy foam through the seat pan already, it's just a few years old. Of course, the original 1969 foam does also.
  An upholstery guy told me they had a red foam mattress in the 70's he wished he could still get a new one. Maybe Honda seats were made from mattress left overs.

[K7-Steppy]

Early K1 had red foam. I’ve re-covered about 10 k1 seats and almost half had red foam


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[newday777]

Early K1 had red foam. I’ve re-covered about 10 k1 seats and almost half had red foam

Thanks.

[seanbarney41]

Other Honda bikes of the era also used the same red foam and it seemed to disappear around the same early 1971 time.  I had a l970 CL350k that had the red foam and currently have a CL450K5 (about 1972) that has been fitted with a seat from an earlier CL450.  It also has the red foam.  Both will slightly crumble and eject annoying crumbles into the battery box area and beyond every time you sit on the bike.

It is interesting to see how Honda would utilize syling themes, designs, and materials throughout their product line.  Such as the Honda twins of 69-71 also display things such as cut fenders, ducktail seats, rolled rims, plastic gauge housing's with the indicator lamps inside, grab handles versus the later rails and shared special parts for some of the turn signal mounting pieces.  I guess I am just terribly fascinated by how every Honda has so many unique parts for every model on bikes that were largely constructed the same.

[newday777]

I've had the same observations Sean

[newday777]

OK, I decided to open up the other K1 seat I've had for the past year today, and it has the red center foam with yellow foam on each side of the seat, as seen from the holes on the bottom of the pan, and it is covered with red foam on the top as the K1 seat I received last week from an ebay purchase.

This seat pan is rough so I will be sanding the bottom of the pan and repainting it(I might remove the foam from the pan and paint both sides, and I might put clear plastic sheet between the pan and the foam,  to contain the red foam, as well as clear plastic over the foam to protect the foam from water intrusion through the cover).

[BenelliSEI]

Stu….. Don’t put anything between the foam and the pan. I did this once and had to “do over” a few months later. The foam started to slide forward under the cover and bunch up. Cut some discs of rubber from an old inner tube and push them into the holes when you are done, if you’re concerned about foam crumble.

[newday777]

OK  thanks John

[69cb750]

Early K1 had red foam. I’ve re-covered about 10 k1 seats and almost half had red foam

Vin estimate for switch?
CB750-1079975 old yellow foam.

[newday777]

Early K1 had red foam. I’ve re-covered about 10 k1 seats and almost half had red foam


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where do you get the covers from?

[BenelliSEI]

Stu…… I’ve got some decent covers from EBay (if you’re want an early “duck tail” I still have a new one). However, the one from Yamiya on the S/C project has me converted. If I need anymore, it will definitely come from them. Super quality and it is absolutely identical to the original I peeled off.

[newday777]

I've been watching covers on ebay, have bought a few but not K1 yet. Some have fit very well and looked good but some others I've had to ship back because they were not made correctly  either too long and others too short on the top section length between the piping so they didn't fit correctly.

Unfortunately getting Yamiya here in the states has gone through the roof with the added tariff charges being added on by the shippers. A friend just got hit with an extra $880 on top of what he paid Yamiya(including shipping)for the exhaust.

[BenelliSEI]

Ouch!

[newday777]

I was under the impression that the tariffs were for the other countries for what they are charging the US

[69cb750]

Unfortunately getting Yamiya here in the states has gone through the roof with the added tariff charges being added on by the shippers. A friend just got hit with an extra $880 on top of what he paid Yamiya(including shipping)for the exhaust.

224,000 yen = $1431
1431*.56 = $801 (56%)
The Japan tariff is 15% + the copper, aluminum, aluminum tariff

I was under the impression that the tariffs were for the other countries for what they are charging the US

The us buyer pays 15% tariff for parts from Japan + metals tariff

[rdragoo]

What are folks using to hold the side trim on with? Those aluminum nails and push on fasteners take a beating when you try to get them off

[newday777]

What are folks using to hold the side trim on with? Those aluminum nails and push on fasteners take a beating when you try to get them off

I carefully released the tangs using dental picks and then flattened them on my bench vise anvil, and carefully straightened the aluminum nails in the vise to hold them, tapping the head with the ballpeen hammer to get it close to straight.