Topic: Seat and side covers

[Luythen]

Hey

I just bought a 1978 cb 500 f a few days back.

I was lucky enough to get two seats with the bike, hovever both of them are torn in the cover, rusty, and one of them is missing the connecting thingies.

one side cover was torn to shreds.

In stead of trying to find the covers and seat and pay fourtunes for them, (its a rarity here in denmark) i have thought about making them myself.

What i imagine for the seat is making a plywood plate that fits the body nicely, and find some way to attach it to the body, then I'll attach some foam, possibly the foam from one of the other seats. and make some kind of leather (or if you have any suggestions for a material it will be welcome) cover, which i will apply using staples or small nails.

for the side covers i imagine creating two identical plywood pieces, that roughly corrospond in shape with the existing, covering them with leather, or just painting them, and attach them using bolts, good looking nuts, and a few stand-offs.


Do you have any suggestions for me? can it be done at all do you think?

[SteveD CB500F]

Frank Cooper in the UK built his own seat in a similar fashion.  You can see the results here (also in the FAQs)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/frank.cooper1/frameset.html

[Tim.]

By the way, if you decide to rid yourself of one of the seatpans (I don't need any foam, vinyl, brackets - just the pan) I'd be happy to take it off your hands.

[Luythen]

Thanks for the link Steve.

And tintin I'll keep you in mind if the seat turns out good, then i don't need both pans

I think i want to make a single seater in order for the mud guard to show all the way. btw will the rear mud guard hold the weight of a couple of saddlebags?

[Tim.]

Well, it holds that 10kg tail light    Depends on the bags, contents and how you mount them (and whether you fill them with rocks or not).

[Luythen]

Hmm i plan to make the seat with some kind of mounting strap, then mount the saddlebags halfway over the seat, and halfway over the rear fender, fastening it with a bolt through the hole thats already there for the wires (tailight blinkers etc. ) these will have to get under the fender some other place :-)

but generally im planning a lot of remodeling to the bike.

making a smaller lower seat, low enough for the rear fender to get up over the seat giving it a chopper look,
mounting kn filters (or some other short filters) enabling me to use the space where the filteris located now to move the battery and other electrical things into this space.
making new side panels and mounting them using a few nice bolts etc.

ill probably find some other things to do to it before im done
I'll try and photograph the bike as i go along with the customisation.

[Luythen]

i have a bit of experience working with leather, so making the seat should not pose the greatest of problems, and i do want to make a single seater which the existing seat pans cannot support. but then you are right that a seat cover wont cost me more than a few bucks, but i want to make something different

[Killer Canary]

50words; is that  a Maier fairing on your avatar?

[carl550k]

I made my own seat and cover using foam and marine vynel. the foam came in large blocks,for furniture cushions. the vynel came on a role by the yard.very inexpensive. all from the local fabric store.

[jotor]

I made my own seat and cover using foam and marine vynel. the foam came in large blocks,for furniture cushions. the vynel came on a role by the yard.very inexpensive. all from the local fabric store.

An upholsterer told me once that the reason seat covers made from typical fabric store vinyl don't usually turn out is that the vinyl will only bend in one direction but if you get the stuff they have at auto upholstery shops, it will bend in two directions and makes a better cover.

Never tried it though.

[TwoTired]

btw will the rear mud guard hold the weight of a couple of saddlebags?

No. It will crack the mudguard/fender.
I had a luggage rack that mounted on the shock mounts and the license brackets.  Any weight on the luggage rack flexed the rear fender and cracks developed on both sides.  The fender is not braced to take any loads.

Saddle bags should be mounted to the frame or brackets mounted to the frame.

Cheers,