So i had been kicking around many ideas for my seat ,none of them that good.
all right here is the scenario, it's Christmas day. i'm at the inlaws the kids are off playing with there new toys . father in law and i are having drinks (keep in mind that it's noon)
we are talking bikes (he's an old chopper guy, not that i hold that against him)
so as the day progresses i get to thinking about how i really want my seat to look . and i also realize that i'm getting really drunk (slurring before dinner is never good, even without family everywhere)
so i decide to hide in their computer room and sober up a little. and of course i came here.... so i'm in the BOTM thread looking at the pics of my bike next to pics of Johnbouy's, i'm admiring his seat ,tank set up (mmmmmm...dunstall)
then it hits me. like a slap in the face,"BAM" if you would have been there you could have seen the lightbulb above my head.
i didn't just have an idea i had a master plan , and i knew i had to act on it quick because i was so drunk that i would forget . so i grab a loose piece of paper from the trash and a marker and sketch up this "rough draft"..
just looking at this pic makes me laugh , ... so the next day i have no memory of this happening, then i found this drawing and it slaps me in the face again.
and i got started within an hour ... so here is the starting point
and so it begins
i played with a few differant patterns before deciding on one
i cut the first side and made a template for the other side
starting to get the idea are you, now the real tricky stuff starts
back down to the basment to steal a shelf from my pile of use-able/weld-able metal
(witch is running low at this point)
here it is just tack welded in place
i cut the diamond shape in it so i could get to the wiring , and lined the edge
with 3/16" round bar to hep with the bondoing
i ran out of shelves ,for the seat pan i actually had to buy some sheet metal (18 gauge)
my last seat had a gotten a few "that looks un-professional" comments witch i took very seriously
since it is my business to fab, so this is very thought out, anyone who has followed this bike will know that i'm very detail oriented, and i stepped it up for the seat.
the front mounting bracket , plug welded and ground smooth
at this point i wanted to start the bondoing , i thought it would be easier to make the seat to the bike not the other way around, (i was wrong, you'll see later)
first round of many bondo layers
so the idea here is to make pegs in the back of the seat that slide in these holes and hold the back of the seat in place
these are side cover grommets for a goldwing they are larger then the grommets you can buy at the hardware store, and the "pegs" i'm gonna use are 8mm bolts
worked out perfectly, solid as a rock. there is no play in it at all
the bolts were put in place and secured with nuts then welded solid and the nuts removed
at this point i start trimming the seat , i used a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a 36grit sanding disc
I DO NOT RECOMMEND TRYING THIS UNLESS YOU ARE SEASONED WITH AN ANGLE GRINDER
the seat foam will "grab" the grinder , it's quite dangerous. i wouldn't do it but i gotta make due with what i have
here is a early shot of the seat
and another
now its starting to look like something
i really wanted to send my seat off to have it covered, but it was too pricey (too many zeros for me) so the plan was to do it myself untill i can afford have it redone.
i even used the same piece of leather, the top of the seat was covered with contact cement. pulled the leather tight, and used high strenth glue for the backing , it's not perfect but it's pretty damn good
sorry the photo's so crappy
should have made the seat first
ok so fixing this is not as hard as you would think,if you know what your doing
some marker lines
more round bar
like it never happened
ok there is lots more to this thread but i'm sick of typeing for now
i'll get to the rest of later , this is only half way to the end
