Building a custom cafe seat

DoctoRot wrote:

SevKZ9 wrote: I thought that might happen, I wrote with the knowledge I learned from my endeavor so my pics don't follow exactly but here are some. I started by laying out the flat surfaces and building up the back portion from a flat base. Then you can see the plastic wrapped underneath the whole mess... Then came the expanding foam, like I said, I learned from this experience, it got messy... But then you can see how well it formed to the frame rails and most of the underside work was done with that knife in the pic... Then I cut everything that didnt look like what I wanted and fiberglassed it, put lights in it hid the electronics on the underside and have a crappy fizz can paint job haha!

that is hands down the strangest tail i have ever seen on a bike.

Agreed. I thought it was a random shot of a front fairing int eh 2nd to last pic and then I saw the last one and was like? :side: He must be a Geiger fan. LOL

It's actually a seat for my dog! I suppose a person could sit there but it was designed to fit my dog.... He loves it! These are about the best angles I have that you haven't seen yet.... The black spots on the back are LED lights, tail, brake and turns... And the underside is hollowed out to accommodate the electronics. All the electronics are hooked up with spade connectors so when I pulls the seat I just disconnect all that stuff and it literally pops off the frame rails.... There is no locking mechanism it just clips on into perfect position. The last pic shows the electronics hollow out and you can just see behind that where the battery fits under the dog seat... The battery is attached to the bike but fits almost entirely under the seat.... That's why you can't see it on the bike!

Found one other pic that shows the lights pretty well. This is just after a high build primer and during installation of the lighting. That is the blinkers stickin out along each side before I sunk them in.

You gotta show us a shot of the dog sitting in there! haha That indeed has to be the most unique tail I've ever seen.

This is the most unique use of expanding foam I've ever seen. I would like to see the final product, hopefully in a way that doesn't force me to lift my monitor and hold it up sideways.

kooky,
but pretty freakin cool :laugh: .

if your a dog person,which i am :silly: .

is the hole in the back for his tail?

leon

531blackbanshee wrote: kooky,
but pretty freakin cool :laugh: .

if your a dog person,which i am :silly: .

is the hole in the back for his tail?

leon

LMAO imagine that. a tail wagging while he's flying by on the hwy. LOL

I dont have a pic of us actually on the highway yet but I'll have one soon enough. I am a dog person! however i did not design the hole for his tail just trying to reduce the drag of a "cup" shape hanging on the back of my bike. Lots of people have asked me that though and I certainly cant see while im driving... but I think I'll try mounting a camera to check the situation and most certainly will ride with friends soon who can tell me!

That is a pretty unique seat I can't even get my dog to chill out in the car. Can't imagine what he'd do if I put him on the back of a bike :laugh:

Also here is a prototype seat I made out of fiberglass. I plan on getting it professionally upholstered sometime this winter. I have all of my electronics and battery under the seat.

It's more of a brat style kind of look but you could easily add a cafe bump to the rear.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thats a pretty cool seat. Definitely the style I'm going for. I think the bump on the back of the seat like a typical cafe racer might look out of place on a KZ. I bought a cheap seat pan pm ebay a week ago that someone already hacked up. Did you shave the foam from the original seat to get that look or was there a different process?

I tried to get the original foam to do what I wanted but it turned out to be more of a PITA than it was worth...I threw it in the trash. I actually went to Joanns fabrics in Leesburg and bought some high density, closed cell foam for about $15 and sprayed it with super strength spray adhesive. Then I stapled the marine vinyl, also from Joanns, to the fiberglass.

If I had to do it again I would give it sharper lines going down the length of the bike. It looks a bit too rounded or bulky. It would definitely be a trial and error thing. It is not comfortable enough for long haul but does the job for a few hours.

I must have mocked up 5 or 6 prototypes out of cardboard and tape before I glassed this one. It is very tough to make that LTD frame look decent.