Seat Modification

[duc996]

xcaptainxbloodx that seat looks great!

[DucatiTorrey]

xcaptainxbloodx that seat looks great!

+1

[xcaptainxbloodx]

what material is that seat?

http://cgi.ebay.com/BLACK-UPHOLSTERY-MICRO-SUEDE-LEATHER-FABRIC-9-99-YARD-/360207611830?pt=US_Fabric&hash=item53de0bf7b6

im thinking about microsuede for the center and vinyl for the sides

its all  vinyl, high quality flexible waterproof stuff.  the bike lives outdoors so real leather or suede wasn't really an option.

[He Man]

i asked around...get this...

they want $350 to make a seat cover. ( i wanted red and black), not including cost of material. mandatory purchase of 1 square yard + a mandatory $75 shippnig charge even though i live 10 blocks away....

Sunday Im going to stop by another place and if its over $120 im going to do this myself and you can all laugh as i figure out how to cause i have no clue what I am doing!

[thought]

sargent seems to sell their seat covers for like... 69.99...

http://www.sargentcycle.com/ducss.htm

dunno if that's what you're looking for but that's way cheaper than what you got quoted, and it's from sargent

[needtorque]

I messed around with a stock seat a while back.  I cut the seat myself and formed all the foam.  Once I had the shape I wanted I had a professional recover it.  I was going for a bit more Cafe' style with the idea that a flat seat for the rider would stop the delicates from getting crushed into the tank.  It worked very well to this end and did not look bad IMO but after about 10-15 miles my inner thighs were getting rubbed pretty badly and the seat just felt too wide overall.  I did not add anything to the width but cutting the seat to make it flatter essentially made where your thighs rest wider.

BTW labor for the guys who re-covered the seat was $60

[stopintime]

..................
It worked very well to this end and did not look bad IMO but after about 10-15 miles my inner thighs were getting rubbed pretty badly and the seat just felt too wide overall.  I did not add anything to the width but cutting the seat to make it flatter essentially made where your thighs rest wider.
................

That's the essential area to get right.
Too wide = painful for the upper inner thighs....
Too narrow = painful for the two hard "sitting bones"

I just had mine raised and made slightly wider at "sitting bones" area. Feels great.

I think your seat looks good

[Grrrly]

HeMan if you want some left over material from when I re-did mine a few years back you're welcome to it.  I have some stretchy vinyl which was used in the back, and some carbon-fibre looking vinyl, not cheesy though..I don't think anyway...but hey it's free.  Did you try any local auto upholstery places?



ps. I recall someone posting up someplace that was selling really nice looking seat covers which were relatively inexpensive.  Maybe someone knows what I'm talking about....

[Grrrly]

found it

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=26129.15

http://hydroturf.com/product/Seat_Covers_-_Sport_Bike/SB-D03

if he's still around looks like he can work with you and has a lot of options as far as materials.

[He Man]

free is fine for me! I am looking to buy Carbonfiber vinyl for the main seat and solid red for the rear nyway, this will give me something to work. I have an idea of what i want to do. I was just going to cut the 3 piece template, mark it with chaulk and sew it together and hope for the best fit.

Where are you usually located? i cant really venture far since i can neither walk very far or ride for the time being.

The few auto upholesterys ive tried do not do moto seats. did you do that seat cover yourself?  and i cant really use a OEM seat cover because ive drastically changed teh passenger seat. OEM no longer fits otherwise i would of just taken it apart and copied it.

[Grrrly]

sending PM

[eyduc]

Just to add to some of the options, one of the members has a cool seat cover like this:
http://www.luimoto.com/product_info.php?cPath=cPath=359&products_id=155

The cool part is that the passenger area looks like the rear cowl.

Anyway, I'll be watching this thread for your progress!

[He Man]

well, i found a nice family owned shop about 10 blocks from me who said theyll do it for $90 if they 100% replicate it. but i need it to be a bit different and i dont think the old jewish guy who spoke broken english understood that i wanted it to be a bit different. so i guess ill throw him a $20 tip or something to make up for it?


anyway, the only issue is they dont have teh fabric i want. which means i have to order it. which also means that ill have so much fabric i can have a go at it and if i make the beast with two backs up ill hand over the extra fabric for them to do it properly.

So now its to the drawing boards on how i want the design to look.

[He Man]

man i am meeting some really insanely nice people today. this is a little off topic but i try to be a really chill nice person ( i find MOSt people respond better that way) and most of the time they dont give a make the beast with two backs if your nice or not, but between the shop that is doing the sewing and the fabric shop in south florida, having someone be nice to you back and not try to shit down your throat really brightens up an otherwise shitty day (its make the beast with two backsing cold rainy and i havent eaten yet lol).


Anyway, i purchased 1 yard of carbon fiber fabric. red at 54"x17"  black at 54"x19" which is actually enough with about 2" of slack after staples and enough to make 2 seats. for only $FREE$ cause i used my american express points.

I had to buy a yard no matter what, and what the hell was i going to do with a yard of red or just a yard of black anyway? Now i wanna find a small slice of alcantra to throw ontop to make it look exotic!!!

found some thread at a local shop in the city. This whole time ive been looking at teh garment district for fabrics....wrong idea. you go to china town and look for textile shops!!! too bad i already ordered my stuff....30 mins ago, and they already shipped.

http://oshmanbrothers.com/

[seevtsaab]

fwiw, the upholstery shop that redid my seat used a marine supply source for material, looked CF-like sorta like what IndustrialGrrrl posted, at least for the driver seat portion.
He-Man's all in but the next to attempt might looks there.

If it was me I'd probably opt for a seat cover for a little extra coin, sounds like they can be had cheap-ish.