home made cafe seat and bobber for 70 bucks (if you have a welder)

[andrewnorman]

This is my first attempt working with a welder and doing metal work. I still need to adjust it to cover the end of the frame and make it fit nice and snug.

I made a skeleton seat pan out of angle iron and a square steel bar i purchased at home depot. I cut some sheet metal and surprisingly turned out to be very easy, especially the cowl which is just a 4 inch wide strip of sheet metal bent the the right shape, cut the ends at an angle and welded to the skeleton. for the ramp up to the cowl i just welded one end to the flat of the pan forced it into position and cut to the curve of the top of the cowl.

upholstry was only 60 bucks from a local shop here in Tempe Az.

the bobber plate was very simple, just 2 peices of sheet metal and a $12 tail light welded together.

I also relocated my start button to the side of my frame but you cant see it in the pics.
Let me know what you think..

 

[JRK5892]

nice work man!

 

[andrewnorman]

Thanks! Im having a terrible time trying to mount it securely to the frame. I dont want to weld it or permanently attach it. I cant seem to find any frame mounts or brackets that i can see working properly... any ideas?

 

[JRK5892]

i velcro mine on... but i also go aroudn the frame rails on my seats, not on top of them. maybe hinge it?

 

[andrewnorman]

thats what im thinking. ill probably end up welding a door hinge to the frame and bolt it to the seat

 

[JRK5892]

that is what i would do, then a pin lock or something on the other side, is there a reason you did not wrap it around the frame rails on the seat?

 

[andrewnorman]

I just didn't do very much research and decided to just start and go with the flow. by wrapping it around the frame do you mean making the seat wider so that it fits over the frame bars?

 

[JRK5892]

yes sir

 

[andrewnorman]

welp, now i know! Thanks for your help.

 

[JRK5892]

no worries man still looks really good just get soem fresh paint on that frame... nice work

 

[andrewnorman]

Here's a cleaner pic.
I ended up mounting the seat with the pin and lock from the other seat along with a door hinge from home depot.

Also, any ideas or advice on what i can do to make this bike look better, next steps, color schemes would be much appreciated!

 

[JRK5892]

cut that back support out from the frame rails and weld in a bar across, it will get the seat on the rails all the way back, get rid of the gap

 

[ProSimex]

Agreed, and that is very nice work. Just gotta get the fitment right now.