New Lemans seat

[RichMaund]

Folks

I had a customer ask for a neat variation on my solo Lemans seat that I make. He had me put the basketweave fabric in the rear as well as the front. Put the cowling on and it still looks like a cool solo seat. Take it off and it looks like a two up seat. (Though frankly the shape is not meant to have the passenger spend much time on it!) No one had asked me to do one like this yet and it came out pretty cool. Photo below.

If you want to see what I've been up to on my own sidecar project, see my home page in the signature line. The sidecar body is scratch built from 18 and 16 gage steel. I did all the finishing, welding, upholstery, everything, right here at the shop! Now I just have to make a windshield for it!

I hope y'all are getting some riding in. Our mild weather disappeared the other day. It was 29 degrees out there this morning. Yeah, that nothing to you midwesterners. But to us warm blooded southern folks its quite a freeze!

[jrt]

Looks nice as always, Rich!

The Ural is looking sharp as well. Very cool.

Jason

[Guest Fox]

Nice work Rich! What do you charge for such an item?

[RichMaund]

A rebuild of your seat like that with gel sheet padding all over the front, the custom cover and return shipping via FedEx in the USA is $305. Just takes a couple days to turn around. (But Va. residents will have to include 5% state sales tax.)

No price increases yet. I have had the wholesale price of SS marine hardware double this year. That affects the prices of some sidecar items I build. But so far no increase in gel or marine grade vinyl prices. (And I hope it stays that way!)

You can contact me at rmaund@pinn.net if you wish to discuss a job. And you can see my work on my site below.

Thanks for the comments guys!

[stormsedge]

I have one of Rich's gel cf seats on my Rosso. Made a big difference for me and I recommend his work. Quick turnaround.

[Guest dkgross]

I'll second that. My seat is great.

[dbdicker]

make that three.......great stuff.

[RichMaund]

Here's what the owner thought of this seat.

>>>Oh, man! You really nailed it! Imagine my excitement this afternoon as I opened your package. Kinda like a kid opening that first Christmas present. The Lemans seat is an extremely handsome seat, even more handsome than I imagined it could be. You have outdone yourself Rich!

 

I put it on the bike and sat on it and know that it is just right, just what I wanted, only better. I can't want for a little warmer weather to go riding and really try it out, but I already know it is perfect.

 

Thanks for a job well done and I hope we get to meet someday. Merry Christmas, Rich.

 

Joe

 

This is something I do love about this business. I get a lot of job satisfaction from it! Problem is I need at least a couple seat jobs a week to stay open. This time of year, folks are thinking about other things. Discrectionary income doen't go to biking! That starts up again as folks think about Daytona in Feb.

 

As to your comments above... Thanks Guys! I appreciate all your comments!

 

I just hope things pick up around here soon or I'll be closing and getting a regular job. I barely stayed open for Dec. and have nothing lined up yet for Jan.

I wonder if the local Wal Mart needs "Greeters"?

Nine months out of the year I can work seven days a week if I'm physically able. But Winter time is really thin in this business!

I'm rebuilding our bathroom right now. But after Christmas that'll be done. If nothing comes up I'll be sending out resume's.

Anyone here know a company that needs a tech with machine tool, welding, power plant operation and maintenance and general shop skills that's also computer literate? (That means I can spell "computer"! )

 

If any of you need seat work done, I'm wide open! Quick turnaround and cheap overnight return shipping courtesy of your govenment! (Being retired Navy I can ship FedEx cheap at the Navy Exchange. I've used that for years now. Think of it as your tax dollars at work for you!

[P3GA]

Rich, that's terrible that you may have to return to a 'real' job if business doesn't pick up.

 

We, as forum members just can't let that happen.....so shoot me a note as to what size box I'll need to send the seat up North & a phone number where I can reach you this week, I'd like to discuss the possibility of raising the seat a bit to give the ol' knees & legs some room to stretch.

 

Thanks,

 

Phil P

Atlanta GA

 

'02 Le Mans

[Guest Fox]

Anyone with the line "Your ass will thank you" deserves to prosper! I'll spread the word to the Aussies as best I can Rich ...

[Daniel Cooper]

Hey wait a minute. I promised to send out my seat base the first week in January. So you'll have one job at least. We're riding now in California, so I am reluctant to give up the bike.

[RichMaund]

Phil

I sent you some info via PM. I'll look forward to talking to you!

 

Everyone

I thank you for your support. But back in '02 when Guzzi decided to make all their 1100 cruiser model seat into non-rebuildable junk, that put a real dink in my business that continues to this day. Much of the work I must take in to stay open isn't all that profitable. Not that I'm making a fortune on seats, (In my best year I earned $30K off the business.) but working my ass off building restaurant booth cushions like I did a year ago pays about the same as the fast food industry. I don't make enough in the warm months to see me through the lean ones. I need steady business in cycle seats to survive. Custom golf cart seats, interiors for little Corvette go-carts for Shriners and restaurant stuff just isn't what I had in mind when I went full time in this business back in '99. Back then 3/4's of my business was Guzzi seat rebuilds and business was good. I stayed booked 1-3 months all year! Steady work that I can schedule and count on means quick turn arounds for customers and support for my family. I just don't have that anymore. Unless I start molding fiberglass seat pans for Guzzi Cruiser bikes (Which is a messy PITA job that no Guzzi rider would want to pay me for.) I am kind of limited in the seats I can do. Many these days are not rebuildable. They're junk! More and more are being done like personal watercraft seats with the foam being molded right inside the vacuum molded cover so the two are permanently bonded to one another. No way to remove the cover without detroying alot of foam. Many Beemer seats have gone that way. Though I am a decent sheet metal pounder and finisher, few people want to pay for the hours those projects take. Same with my machining and welding skills. Occassionally someone asks me to make something and then runs away screaming when they find out how many hours it'll take to build. (One guy did that recently when he found out it took three hundred hours to restore my antique sidecar and scratch build/finish the body for it.) Few folks understand that true "custom" doesn't come from a catalog! Seats are my bread and butter and that has thinned out considerable over the last two years.

Don't worry. I'll never "go away" completely. I'll continue to do seats part time regardless of what else comes up. But if I find a meaningful full time job, that means I can pick and choose the seat jobs I do in my evenings in the shop. (That just means no more gold carts or non-interesting work.) I hate television and TV sports, rarely drink and hate bars.... What else does a guy like me do but play in his work shop at night?

I already had to put this coming years bike insurance on my charge card. I'll probably have to do the same with my internet service bill. Unless I get two jobs per week minimum in Jan. my annual taxes (Real Estate and Vehicular.) will come out of our meager savings.

So I have no choice but to find steady employment.

I find the holiday season crushingly depressing. Back in the Navy, I spent most holidays at sea away from my family. I have had many relatives die during the holidays. And for the past few years, I spend the holidays very much under-employed and wondering how I will earn a living. For me, this time of the year really sucks. Always has, one way or another. I know I'm not alone in this as so many people I meet have a real air of falseness and desperation in their "holiday cheer". Makes me wonder what sort of disease takes over this country every year as all the minivanners go out chasing crap to put under their plastic tree and our version of Santa comes from a Coca-Cola ad in the 1930's. (The model for Santa was a Coke truck driver by the way.) So much for the real meaning of Christmas! Yeesh! And Bah Humbug!

But I am thankful for outlets like this board where I can still meet and talk to real people. Thanks Jaap!

[Guest Steve_W]

I know you've done seats for bikes other than Guzzis, so have you done a late-model Triumph? The seat on my Trophy sucks. I tried a Corbin, which was better, marginally, and wound up selling it because it wasn't what I wanted. I think I'd probably fall into the same price range as the $325 you mentioned before: Two-up, gel on both seats. Openings?

 

Re the "Christmas season": I don't really get depressed, just pissed off!

[RichMaund]

Steve

If you to my site in my signature line you can see my work there.

I have done a number of newer Triumph seats. All the modern Triumph seats are excellent fodder for custom rebuilds. They have good pans and good foam. So reshaping them into what you need and covering them the way you like is a good project with excellent results! They suffer from the same problem most bikes have. Their seat shapes are dictated by stylists vice riders. But with a good pan and good foam, it is economical to rehape them into whatever you need. I like their seats!

Here's my price structure for most seat rebuilds. This includes most two piece seats.

$175 to do foam repair and some reshaping and a custom cover in any of my available marine grade vinyls. This includes things like Italian flag trim, welting if you want it and I double and even triple stitch all seams.

$110 for each gel sheet installed. They start out as 16" x 18" sheets and I use them to cover a whole seating surface. Then I custom cut, trim, bevel and blend them to the shape of the seat. This way everywhere you sit, you're floating on the gel for best comfort. I don't order in pre-cut too small pads and just lay them into holes I route in the foam like most gel installers do. That leaves a hard edge of foam to dig into you and cause a pressure point and discomfort. And that exactly what the gel should be curing, not causing!

FedEx overnight return shipping in the USA with insurance. $20 to $25.

I can restore steel seat pans and I am a qualified welder and machinist. Each job like that is priced individually depending on what you want done and how well finished you need it to be. For example, I can hammer out new 16 gage CR steel to replace a rusted away pan edge and weld it in and touch up the paint for $50. I recently repaired a old Honda 400 seat that way. Functional and strong, but not concours in appearance! That's a basic repair. But if you want the repair to be invisible and the pan to look new, that could cost a heck of a lot more due to all the hours involved.

Any more seats that come in will get worked after New Years. Just a few days to turn most jobs around.

 

Here's a special deal just for Board members here. Have me rebuild a seat for you in January of '05 and I'll throw in a free 8"x4"x2" leather tool pouch for you for your bike. I normally sell those for $25 to $30 depending on the price of the hide. Please don't repeat this offer elsewhere. This is for Board members here. You folks have been very good to me over the years and I just want to show my appreciation. And not just in business. Back when the Board was new and I spent a summer giving my Mom hospice care, the regulars here helped keep me sane. You folks have meant alot to me over the years. So anyone reading this note here, remind me of the offer when you order your seat rebuild from me!

 

Thanks Folks!

[bento]

his seats are no joke.

 

i went from " ow, need to strech when i get gas." to "holy crap!! i need gas!!"