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burkbuilds · 11-01-2010, 12:45 AM

Okay, well over the weekend I managed to get the rest of the fiberglassing done, painted the new pan, and installed the foam. Then I test rode it several times and made adjustments to the foam until I was pleased with the way it felt to me. Here are a few shots of the progress I made.

Here is the pan after I added some more layers of fiberglass, sanded it down and then painted it with some high gloss black spray paint.

Next I glued some 1 1/2" seat foam from Sargents Cycle products to the pan. I shaped it with a hot knife I bought on e-bay and a surform file I got at Lowes.

I use a spray on contact cement to adhere the foam to the pan and the layers of foam to each other.

Once I had this to a shape I liked it was time to put it on the bike and try it out.

After about a 45 minute test ride I decided that it was comfortable to sit on, but it was a little to high, so back to the shop for some trimming down work.

I took the hot knife and removed about 3/4" and then used the surform file to smooth everything back out. Then back to the bike for another test ride. I did this two more times and my final result looked like this.

Friday afternoon I spent a few minutes at the upholstery shop talking with Ron, owner of Brothers Upholstery, about the project. Ron has done two previous seats for me and he does great work. He's also a rider and he has a good understanding of bike seats. We discussed my project, materials and shapes and schedules. If my wife can get this to him early in the week he should have it back to me in a week or two at the most. That's pretty consistent with the time for the other seats he's done for me and I feel confident that I should have this back no later than two weeks. Ron would love to make this a more decorative work, while I'm more interested in smooth lines and function, so he's probably a little disappointed, but since I'm the one paying, it will be just plain smooth seat vinyl, not patterns or logos or mixed colors. In the past he's used a high quality seat vinyl and I've had no problems with either seat. They have held up well. I put about 11,000 miles on the first seat and over 24,000 miles on my current seat, with not tears, abrasions or anything at all wrong. Ron tells me he now has an even better vinyl, thicker and the new stuff can stretch in two directions not just one, so this should be a very good quality cover. When it all gets finished I will post some more pics.

11-01-2010, 12:45 AM	#7
burkbuilds Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Shannon, Georgia Posts: 1,268	Re: Making a custom seat for my Vulcan 500 Okay, well over the weekend I managed to get the rest of the fiberglassing done, painted the new pan, and installed the foam. Then I test rode it several times and made adjustments to the foam until I was pleased with the way it felt to me. Here are a few shots of the progress I made. Here is the pan after I added some more layers of fiberglass, sanded it down and then painted it with some high gloss black spray paint. Next I glued some 1 1/2" seat foam from Sargents Cycle products to the pan. I shaped it with a hot knife I bought on e-bay and a surform file I got at Lowes. I use a spray on contact cement to adhere the foam to the pan and the layers of foam to each other. Once I had this to a shape I liked it was time to put it on the bike and try it out. After about a 45 minute test ride I decided that it was comfortable to sit on, but it was a little to high, so back to the shop for some trimming down work. I took the hot knife and removed about 3/4" and then used the surform file to smooth everything back out. Then back to the bike for another test ride. I did this two more times and my final result looked like this. Friday afternoon I spent a few minutes at the upholstery shop talking with Ron, owner of Brothers Upholstery, about the project. Ron has done two previous seats for me and he does great work. He's also a rider and he has a good understanding of bike seats. We discussed my project, materials and shapes and schedules. If my wife can get this to him early in the week he should have it back to me in a week or two at the most. That's pretty consistent with the time for the other seats he's done for me and I feel confident that I should have this back no later than two weeks. Ron would love to make this a more decorative work, while I'm more interested in smooth lines and function, so he's probably a little disappointed, but since I'm the one paying, it will be just plain smooth seat vinyl, not patterns or logos or mixed colors. In the past he's used a high quality seat vinyl and I've had no problems with either seat. They have held up well. I put about 11,000 miles on the first seat and over 24,000 miles on my current seat, with not tears, abrasions or anything at all wrong. Ron tells me he now has an even better vinyl, thicker and the new stuff can stretch in two directions not just one, so this should be a very good quality cover. When it all gets finished I will post some more pics.
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