Topic: New seat on an old pan...fun project

[dilbone]

When I picked up my '75 cb550 this summer it came with a king/queen seat on it, but the PO had the original stock seat still at his parent's place.  Needless to say as soon as I got the stock seat I changed them out in short order.
I'm not really into the cafe or bobber conversions(they look great, just not for me) but I got to thinking about wanting to make a lower profile seat and thought that old pan would be a good starting point.
Here's what I started with:






Then I picked up one of these, which I had heard of someone using on this site

[Laminar]

Anticlimactic.

[the technological J]

Anticlimactic.

lol my thoughts exactly must be a work in progress

[moham]

Maybe he's at yoga class?

[dilbone]

I used a wire wheel to knock down that rust and at least get down to a usable surface.
The nuts and bolts for attaching the hinge and lock had to be replaced, so I used my not very good welding skills to slop those on.


Then I brushed on some old rust converter I had...don't know if actually does anything but thought I'd try it.

I sat the pan on the foam and traced it to get a starting point for the first layer of foam.  Then I used double side carpet tape on the pan to attach the foam.

[dilbone]

used 3M spray adhesive to attach layer two, then it was onto the vinyl...


Picked up 2/3 yard vinyl from Joann Fabrics for like 6.50.  Traced the bottom of the pan again for a starting point, then realized I didn't leave enough for the seam around the outside edge so I tried it again.


I tried to turn the seat on it's side to get some side pieces that would follow the contour a bit.


Next I broke out the singer put my 7th grade home ec skills to work and went to town...


So while my wife was watching dancing with the stars I was sewing in the dining room(and being made fun of)...it was a banner night at our house...

[dilbone]

It looked like it actually might work...once turned right side out...


I had to do something for the front and I didn't want to square it off but wasn't sure what else to do.


I put a layer of open cell foam on it to finish it off...again with 3M spray adhesive.

[mystic_1]

You're probably past this point but a good way to handle when you need to butt two pieces of foam together like that is to angle the edges so instead of meeting like this ====||=====   they meet like this =====//===== and then use some spray adhesive to tack them together.  This gives a bit more surface area to the joint.

Nice work so far, looking forward to the rest.

mystic_1

[dilbone]

thanks,  yeah, I just barely had enough to get the length of the seat covered with those 2 pieces so I couldn't afford an overlap...nor did I think about it...good idea

[dilbone]

I had seen someone else suggest these tack strips here so I tried to find them locally with no luck.  I had to make an ebay order...


Many, many pop rivets later I had them all installed


Now it was time to put the vinyl on, but I was a little nervous about how the front was going to look as the seam didn't match up with the shap of the pan, but overall I think it looks ok.

[Gorms]

That came out looking really nice.  Good job.

[dilbone]

on the bike in the dark garage...


not sure I like it.  I think it turned out ok, but I don't know if it looks right.  I guess I'm so used to seeing the stock seat on it that this just looks out of place.

As cheap as the vinyl was I may do it again and change a few things on it.  The front of the seat is so low that there's a gap between the seat and the bottom of the tank.  I supposed I should have built up the front to account for that.   Like I said though for another $6 I could try it all over again.

Anyway, let me know what you think and maybe share some ideas on how to improve it.

[j squared]

That looks really good, actually.  Came out very nice in the end.  I am doing something similar with my old K/Q seat, my pan is different than yours but it should come out pretty similar.

Got any pics of the cover from the bottom, and how you used the tack strips?

[BVCB650]

Looks good, but you took home ec???

[oldhondarider]

on the bike in the dark garage...


not sure I like it.  I think it turned out ok, but I don't know if it looks right.  I guess I'm so used to seeing the stock seat on it that this just looks out of place.

As cheap as the vinyl was I may do it again and change a few things on it.  The front of the seat is so low that there's a gap between the seat and the bottom of the tank.  I supposed I should have built up the front to account for that.   Like I said though for another $6 I could try it all over again.

Anyway, let me know what you think and maybe share some ideas on how to improve it.

Looks nice.... no wrinkles....  kinda looks like a seat from a "bratstyle" bike....  nice job.

[dilbone]

That looks really good, actually.  Came out very nice in the end.  I am doing something similar with my old K/Q seat, my pan is different than yours but it should come out pretty similar.

Got any pics of the cover from the bottom, and how you used the tack strips?

Thanks,

no i didn't take any of the bottom, but I will today sometime.  I just stretched it as best I could and shoved it down over the tacks two at a time and folded those down.  I tried to make sure I was pulling uniformily as I went but that was kinda tough to do.  I should have doubled over the vinyl and put a seam along the bottom edge so I would have had a double thickness to put the tacks through...maybe on my next attempt...

For $20 of foam, $6 of vinyl, and $8 for tack strips I can't complain I guess.

[mystic_1]

Foam, $20
Vinyl, $6
Tack strips, $8


Doing it yourself...... priceless!



Well done, looks very good.

mystic_1

[dilbone]

Looks good, but you took home ec???

Lol, everyone had to...mandantory in 7th grade in 1986.  My mom is actually quite a seamstress...made my sister's wedding dress    and it was really well done.  I only got a small fraction of her ability.

[BVCB650]

I took foods 101, mainly because I like to eat. Teacher zinged me on cleaning up the station after preparation though.

[drumgod]

That came out pretty good.  I like it.  I'm planning a similar seat whenever I find a cheap pan that will fit my '76 CB550.

[Ogri]

I think that looks pretty bloody good! Maybe for the MkII version you could do ribbing like this:
 


How hard was it to actually stitch the vinyl ? I've heard you need a beefy sewing machine to do it.

[BurtonWarpup]

The seat looks great dilbone! I'm going to try building a custom seat in the next few months. But one question... how does it feel?

[Johnny5]

Very nice job!

[dilbone]

I think that looks pretty bloody good! Maybe for the MkII version you could do ribbing like this:
 


How hard was it to actually stitch the vinyl ? I've heard you need a beefy sewing machine to do it.

Thanks for that pic of the tack strips you used...that got me searching because I wasn't sure what to do about that part of it...I've been following your build closely.

[moham]

Hey thanks for posting your work. It has helped me decide if I want to try to use a stock pan for a low profile seat.

[dilbone]

so with the lower seat should I look into superbike bars or eurobars???

The stock ones feel like ape hangers now...

[Gorms]

Hey dilbone do you still have the old seat cover?  I was thinking about covering my seat with quilted leather like that.  PM me if ya do. Thanks

[mystic_1]

so with the lower seat should I look into superbike bars or eurobars???

The stock ones feel like ape hangers now...

That's more or less a matter of preference really.  If you were comfortable with the stock bars and seat, estimate how much lower the seat is now and then subtract that from the rise on the stock bars, then get bars that are that high.

Lots of people seem to be happy with superbike.

mystic_1

[Ogri]

[/quote]

Thanks for that pic of the tack strips you used...that got me searching because I wasn't sure what to do about that part of it...I've been following your build closely.
[/quote]

Ah right, yes..glad someone benefitted from that post. Like you I tried to find out what those spike strips actually are (and buy them cheaper) - I'm sure they're for an entirely different application.

 

[dilbone]

oh yeah,  Ogri,

I forgot to answer your question that the vinyl really wasn't tough to sew through.  I just went really slow on the seams where 3 layers were stacked up...at some points actually just spinning it by hand. 

Also, just took a short ride on it and it really is pretty comfortable.  When you put your feet down at a stop you can tell that the seat pan is really wide and kinda cuts into your thighs since I didn't overhang the foam off the corner of the pan.  With the seat that much lower it almost feels like a different bike. 

At this point I think I like everything about the seat but the gap between the top of the seat and the back of the gas tank.  Not sure what to do about that asside from getting more vinyl and sewing a new cover with a slight rise as it approaches the tank.  I'm assuming that any of you that have "cafe'd" a bike and kept the stock tank had issues with that as well.

[mystic_1]

Yeah lots of seats have a little "nose" on the front that extends past the pan a bit to contact the tank.

mystic_1