How to rebuild/reshape a motorcycle seat

[Guest IanJ]

I just finished making a custom seat for my Ninja 250, and wrote up the procedure I used. I figured I'd share it here, too, in case there are any interested tinkerers:

 

How to rebuild a motorcycle seat

[Ray]

Nice job. It certainly takes a certain amount of courage and/or desperation to take a carving knife to your bike.

[Guest IanJ]

The secret is to procure a used seat -- and working on a US$3000 list price bike doesn't hurt either. I'm not sure I could stomach carving up a MG seat unless I found a spare one for cheap. Certainly I wouldn't have embarked on the project at all unless I had the spare seat, since I knew I would have it in a semi-finished state for months (just knowing how I tend to do with projects like this).

[RichMaund]

Ian

Darn good article. The reshaping you did is a very nice piece of ergonomic work too!

If I may add a few suggestions:

A larger sanding disk makes for a smoother sculpting job. I use a 8" 80 grit one. If you have a drill or pneumatic grinder that will handle that, it makes the job easier. Do use a dust respirator and eye protection when sanding foam. It makes a bloody mess! The foam dust takes on a static charge that makes it cling to you as well! I use a cotton coverall and a hood respirator when I do this work. Get a bit of this foam dust up your snoot and you'll regret it big time!

Hand held staplers can be a PITA to use on a seat. It'll wear you hands out quickly and they lack an extended nozzle to get the staples down into nooks and crannies where they often need to go. Recover a Ducati or BMW seat sometime and you'll learn about nooks and crannies! Yeesh. Harbor Freight sells 1/2" crown pneumatic staplers pretty cheep. Just as good as Sears one for half the price. You may have to set the 3/8" long staples into the pan at an angle if they are too long, but they'll get the job done for you.

If you have one available, a blower type kerosene heater is a great way to keep the cover (And you!) warm as you work on fitting it. Keeping the whole cover very warm to the touch will allow it to bend and "flow" more easily around compound curves. Holding the seat & cover down in front of the heater about 2-3' away from it from time to time as you work will keep it nicely warm and pliable.

I realize that frugality was a major factor, but some of these tools I bring up are fairly cheap or may be borrowed from friends. I used a Craftsman stapler in my business for a few years myself. But now I get most of my air tools from HF. Their quality is just terrific for the prices they get!

Some seats lend themselves to covers with no sewing and some don't. Yours came out very well for the tools you had available! It reminds me of the work I did as a hobby with my own seats over ten years ago.

Be careful, your friends may force you into business as mine did to me!

Excellent how-to article! Thanks for putting that together!

[Ballacraine]

I think that rather than offer up the cover to the heater as you suggest, I think you may find that soaking the cover in hot water would give a more evenly heated & pliable result. I have used this technique on many occasions very sucessfully.

 

Nige.

[Guest guzziv11]

link has now gone, bugger

[Martin Barrett]

link has now gone, bugger

 

Still there on his site, perhaps he's just rejiged the layout

 

http://www.obairlann.net/~reaper/motorcycle/ninja/seat/

 

and also his Lemans seat

 

http://www.obairlann.net/~reaper/motorcycl...ews/richs-seat/