Cafe Racer Seat

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationGuys im hoping to get some knowledge & advice off someone that has already done this.

So far i've made the seat base out of 3mm Aluminium & the 'hump' out of fibreglass. All is ok there but im a bit confused about the padded seat piece........

If i make it from fibreglass or aluminium i can't then staple the leather to it when covering it (fibreglass will shatter & the staples won't go into Aluminium), even i were to be able to then how do i keep the base flat with the leather wrinkling under the seat to ensure a good fit?

Then the next question is how do i attach it to the aluminium base? Sticky velcro?

Might get an idea from this technique, and perhaps pop rivet strip to base.



Good Fortune!

maybe some of this

www.airtech-streamlining.com/miscpages/foam.htm

on a thin plywood base to be able to staple to,or perhaps some plastic for a base.

leon

Thanks guys but its hard to see how either method will work.
In Patton's vid the bottom of the seat is slightly hollowed out so the wrinkled leather can be tucked up under the seat out of sight.
Blackbanshee i have nearly the same foam as that here at home for my race bike except its not sticky back, but i like your suggestion........i'll see if i can find something like 10mm plastic sheet, i'll have to curve it though cos im planning to run the seat up the front face of my seat hump.

531blackbanshee wrote: maybe some of this

www.airtech-streamlining.com/miscpages/foam.htm

on a thin plywood base to be able to staple to,or perhaps some plastic for a base.

leon

I will be getting some of this stuff eventually. I've been just sitting on the painted seat, and it's actually more comfortable then the stock seat was. Go figure...lol!

i am by no means an upholsterer.

but being a cheap ass i have acted like one a few times :woohoo: :silly: .

banshee seats are on a formed plastic base.i have used the little electric staplers to install several seat covers and never had any problems.

you can form the plastic with a heat gun.

as far as the wrinkles you can cut parrot mouth bites (only way i know to describe it sorry) that stop 3/8's or so from the folded over edge and use spray on glue to hold it down and get rid of alot of the bulky wrinkle.

hth,
leon

You may want to apply your padding to a 1/4" piece of plywood and wrap the covering over that. Before this though place your templated plywood on the seat pan and drill 4 holes in the corners through the ply and through the seat base. Then get some Chicago bolts and mount the female side of the bolt to the top side of the ply. After padding and wraping the seat (with the female Chicago bolt inside) place it on your pan and attach with the male part through the bottom of your seat pan. This way you can remove the padding if you don't like it and re-do it quite easily using staples to secure the cover.

Don't know if I've made sense but in my little brain it works.

btw: the more round your corners are the easier it is to get a smooth corner. As well a heat gun is your friend.

Ok, i've been thinking & i'm going to try to describe it so you guys might be able to point out any oversights

1/ use a 1.5-2mm aluminium to keep it flat & to get the bend at the right angle (where the seat meets the face of the hump). There will be 4 holes in the aluminium for rivet nuts so the seat can be flat mounted to the main seat base.

2/ use 10 mm MDF & shape it the same as the aluminium base, the aluminium base will be 10-15mm smaller all the way round to leave a wooden edge so the upholsterer can staple the seat material to the wood. The only tricky bit i see here is getting the angles correct where i have to cut the wood to get the right angle (again where the seat meets the hump). The MDF will have 4 larger holes in so the rivet nuts of the aluminium can expand on fitting

3/ Glue the wood to the aluminium, round off the edges.

4/ Glue the 15mm seat foam to the wood (yes the seat is supposed to be low profile).

5/ The easy bit (for me). Send the seat to the upholsterer . I would try it myself buy i want some black piping around the top & bottom edge.

6/ Attach seat to main seat base from underside


If anyone has experience of upholstering i'd be gratefull if they could let me know if the 10mm or so of edge wood is enough room for him to use a staple gun to attach the leather?

Cuff wrote: You may want to apply your padding to a 1/4" piece of plywood and wrap the covering over that. Before this though place your templated plywood on the seat pan and drill 4 holes in the corners through the ply and through the seat base. Then get some Chicago bolts and mount the female side of the bolt to the top side of the ply. After padding and wraping the seat (with the female Chicago bolt inside) place it on your pan and attach with the male part through the bottom of your seat pan. This way you can remove the padding if you don't like it and re-do it quite easily using staples to secure the cover.

Don't know if I've made sense but in my little brain it works.

btw: the more round your corners are the easier it is to get a smooth corner. As well a heat gun is your friend.

Not far off what you're saying at all!

Glad to help. Lot's fun for me making seats. To me there is no wrong or right, make it how YOU like it and don't worry about what others will say.

One thing though, you might want to re-think is the gluing of wood to aluminium. Not sure what type of glue you'll use but if it's strong enough to stick wood to metal you might have a tough time changing the cover later. Just a though. Have some fun with it though.

Thats just it Cuff, you've hit the nail on the head. Each seat build is going to be different & to each incividual's needs & design so they're all going to be different.

I think you picked me up wrongly with the wood to aluminium. Yes the wood will be stuck to it but as im making the aluminiun about 10mm smaller there will be a wooden edge on the underside of the seat where the seat fabric can be stapled to. If the cover needs changed later on all i have to do is pop out the staples.

Sorry about that. I was at work (don't tell my boss) when I read your post. Should work out great for you.

As you said there are a several different ways to approach this. I have been thinking about how I am going to make my seat as well. I went to a local upholstery shop and picked the guys brain that owns it. He recommended that I make a fiberglass pan, use what ever foam you want then, fit the cover and attach it with rivets. It seems to me that laying up some fiberglass would be a lot easier than getting the MDF to fit/stick to the aluminum, plus you can put 10mm more foam in there with out the MDF. just my 2 cents, you should do what ever works for you. post some pics of your process/seat when your done. Im curious how it turns out for you.
This thread is what im going to follow when i make my seat pan