Topic: Non-'glass single cafe seat-pix or suggestions?

[Kev Nemo]

I was thinking of upholstering a flat seat pan to the rails and creating a 'cap' tail end to mimic the edges on my stock '78 750k tank and NOT using glass. Anyone made a seat out of sheet metal or aluminum?

[754]

I run a Kawi Z1 ducktail on a 73 750. You have to make a seast and an inner fender piece.

as to what you mentioned, go for it.. nothing to loose.start of with cardboard templates taped together till you get your look.

I would like to recreate a Z-1 ducktail in Aluminum, partly to get a better fit to the frame, and because brushed or polished alloy would look nice..

[kghost]

Yeah...what is it you wanna know?

Mines further along now but....

[DME]

I was thinking of upholstering a flat seat pan to the rails and creating a 'cap' tail end to mimic the edges on my stock '78 750k tank and NOT using glass. Anyone made a seat out of sheet metal or aluminum?

Made my seathump out of 1,5 mm sheet metal.
Made it in two sections, the front "straight" piece and the rear "rounded" piece.
No other tools than a carpentry hammer and some blocks of wood cut in various shapes. Took a lot of hammering..... 

Turned out like this:






More pics here: http://gallery.sohc4.net/main.php?g2_itemId=5120


Cheers
Dan

[fuzzybutt]

i have a tail piece from an h2 i've been thinking of modifying to fit a 74 750k seat pan.

[DarkRider]

I may play around with ideas like this once i get the F home.

[Kev Nemo]

Thanks for the response.
My concern is that since I plan to keep the stock '78 tank, the trad bubble or ducktail will look out of place with chunky tank.
I may eventually swap the tank, but since it's in great shap rust-wise, I'd rather run it and build the seat/tail around it.
Is there another cafe seat style besides the duck and bubble that I've missed?

[troppo]

you could always take a mould of the tank in glass and lay up a seat tail from that

[hopterfixer]

What about finding a donor tank and making a seat like this?  I used a cb350 twin tank as a donor mounted on a factory pan.  If you used a K8 tank, they would match and you would have much more storage than I do 

[kghost]

Yeah that was a neat trick hopter....

Very cool.

[Klark Kent]

Yeah that was a neat trick hopter....

Very cool.

+1

you like the number 8 much?

[cleveland]

What about finding a donor tank and making a seat like this?  I used a cb350 twin tank as a donor mounted on a factory pan.  If you used a K8 tank, they would match and you would have much more storage than I do 

I've been thinking about going this route.  The problem is that my donor seat pan is too rusty.  I have another one, but I think it will be just as rusty when I pull the foam.    I may just have to make one. 

[hopterfixer]

Yeah that was a neat trick hopter....

Very cool.

+1

you like the number 8 much?

No I just copied one of the numbers on my plate to hide its true identity    I think blurred licenses plates are distracting when you are trying to look at a bike. 

How rusty is the pan?  Have it sandblasted and take a better look at it.  I had a good pan to start with, and luckily the parts of the tank I needed were not rusty.  It would not be hard to make a basic pan, depending on how you want to mount the cowl section.  You could mount the cowl part to the frame and make a flat "seat pan", using the factory hinge, so that only the seat area hinges open.  Good luck. 

[cleveland]

Yeah that was a neat trick hopter....

Very cool.

+1

you like the number 8 much?

No I just copied one of the numbers on my plate to hide its true identity    I think blurred licenses plates are distracting when you are trying to look at a bike. 

How rusty is the pan?  Have it sandblasted and take a better look at it.  I had a good pan to start with, and luckily the parts of the tank I needed were not rusty.  A pan would not be hard to make a basic pan, depending on how you want to mount the cowl section.  You could mount the cowl part to the frame and make a flat "seat pan", using the factory hinge, so that only the seat area hinges open.  Good luck. 

My plan is to set up a seat similar to yours with the exception of the brake light.  I am putting a smaller one on the rear fender.  If I do it that way, I'll be able to throw the stock seat back on when the little lady wants to go for a ride. 

[troppo]

I've been thinking about going this route.  The problem is that my donor seat pan is too rusty.  I have another one, but I think it will be just as rusty when I pull the foam.    I may just have to make one. 

Why not use the donor seatpan as a mould, clean it up and make sure its very rigid by using any means at hand (tape etc) and then take a fibreglass copy from it, you can use that as your seat base, it will still work with the original hinge and latch and all the rubber mounts, from there you can shape anything you want on it

[Kev Nemo]

working on getting a $10 tank. I have an idea for the pan as well. I'll post pix as I make progress.