Seat

So I should remove the original cover, shape my foam and then let the upholsterer cover it with his leather and piping?

bromz wrote: ... and then let the upholsterer cover it with his leather and piping?

Ummmm, you may want to rethink using real leather. Very prone to moisture and stretches/shrinks with the weather. I'd suggest using a very heavy backed vinyl... but your people will know what needs to be used.

you can just cut the stock foam with an electric knife and sand to get your shape
I went a way harder route for the same result only one seam needed sewn

!Seymore wrote:

bromz wrote: ... and then let the upholsterer cover it with his leather and piping?

Ummmm, you may want to rethink using real leather. Very prone to moisture and stretches/shrinks with the weather. I'd suggest using a very heavy backed vinyl... but your people will know what needs to be used.

^^ditto on this. Leather will stretch and sag overtime, plus when it gets wet it stays wet for a while. With vinyl all you do is wipe it off and you don't get a wet ass.

Can't argue that leather will deform over time, but there is the counter arguement that it breathes a whole lot better. It allow any moisture that may have gotten into your seat pan/foam to evaporate out a whole lot faster and will reduce the amount a seat pan rusts over time.

Use a good leather protector (Sno-Seal, Nikwax etc...) and it will bead water right off for a long time anyway, shouldn't cause a wet butt if you care for it. Makes it yet another maintenance item on your bike, but if shouldn't be a reason not to use it.

I am planning on making my next seat cover from a pair of donated leather pants. if it stretches over time so be it. Call it a training run for making more in the future.

Cheers,

Jon

See this video for attaching the seat cover to the pan (in case your original seat has issues). Ed

www.pandkclassicbikes.co.uk/default.html

I re-covered the seat on my ninja 500 ex with marine vinyl. Did some tricky folds on the high-side transition, I would have preferred to put a seam there but I didn't have access to a machine. Also it worked itself into a bind in the curve to the tank bit as you can see in the pic. $10 in materials it was worth it tho, was my cheap 'drag' bike.