my first crack at makin a cafe seat . . . KZ 650

[kzromey]

so, here we go . . .

i have a stock pan, ready to rock. bought flat swimmin pool noodles and hacked them up to make up the shape of the seat... it's very durable and they last outdoors, but just a little on the stiff side. i have plans on giving it more cushioning..

wanted to get fancy schmancy, found extra memory foam and decided to cut out an area right under where my butt bones will sit, even measured it out, lol! . . .but notice an emerging problem.....

i pressed on the foam before taking the pic, it just goes back to shape after. i sandwiched over felt to keep em from goin too soft.

(it was comfy too!)

started shaving the hump. i even wanted to match it to the shape of the tank, but that proved to be extremely tricky, hard to carve that thing in 3D!! so i ended up just hackin away with my as seen on TV stay sharp knife, to somewhat of a hump shape

looks aight..... i guess..... but problem is, it's too dang thick! DOOH!!! i forgot to consider the thickness of the seat pan.... and i was gettin greedy with the foam.. but hey, it floats!

so i got rid of one layer of yellow foam, but added extra thinner layers while keeping my hemorhoid pads (not that i have any) in there... oooh, so comfy! i think i trimmed a little more from the hump....

 

[kzromey]

Re: my first crack at makin a cafe seat . . .

i really wanted a comfy seat so i caved in and added another thin piece...

here's the under side, i velcroed the bottom of the foam to the pan... i think i'm gonna make another seat foam, maybe with a squarer hump (and learning from my mistakes on this one), so i can swap seat foams and upholstery..... maybe....

time for leather, bought a discounted cow sized sheet for 50 bucks, some slight scuffs and tarnishes, but i just picked the areas that are still good. this has to be right, if not, it'll be stitched wrong all the way, and maybe too loose...

i actually messed up and cut out two right halves! doh! so i flipped the one side and outlined the left side.

needed waxed thread and i learned that i had to pre punch holes in for the stitches first before stitching, i thought it was gonna be a pain in the butt but it actually sped things up. the holes are all even and will match the adjacent holes and make stitching alot easier, there was no way i was gonna just eyeball the stitching, and the leather was too thick to pierce through with just a needle anyway... the needles i used are actually blunt.

my first few stitches, started in the middle of the hump and worked outwards to keep things even.

not too bad....

almost done, the stitichin work was tedious but i was makin good time, i like doing these boring repetitive things . . . it's almost thera-peutic and calming for me....

inside-out... hmm, reversible cover? suede or leather? :

last stitch!!! i could have used black thread but opted for the white to give it that homemade look, i don't mind the slight imperfections.

here it is drapped loosely over the foam...

voila!

man, this was a little tough, but in the end, i think i did an okay job with the stitching (for a first timer ), but the leather is thick, and it still needs to be manipulated and massaged to its new shape. the real hard part was measuring the 3 pieces in the hump and stitching them all evenly, it was alot of just eyeballing. pulled tight it actually looks okay, some looseness in some parts but i'm plannin on fixin that by adding thin foam from wallmart, sorta to smoothen the edges.

my big problem now is how to get it on tight, and make it stay tight!! was leary to start with the hooks under the pan, might tear up the leather.... so i might punch out bigger holes along the entire edge of the leather underneath, and just shoe lace em all together snug, w/o affecting the hinges and closing of the pan.... i might velcro the edge to the pan too but i'm afraid the stickyness of the velcros will wear off.

almost there..... haven't sat on it yet....

 

[locOleoN]

Re: my first crack at makin a cafe seat . . .

WOW!!

Thats amazing!!... What a great result for the first time
I particularily like the fact that you can simply remove the foam cowl then just change the shape with another piece of foam.

The memory foam pieces was a really really good idea... Im gonna see how my seat works out on a long ride then add/change to memory foam if needed

I cant wait to see it on your bike Wednesday night!!.. 8:00pm at the CNE Princess Gates...

 

[CanadaDan]

Re: my first crack at makin a cafe seat . . .

Thats frickin' fantastic!

Nice job!

 

[kzromey]

thanks guys! i'm already jonesin for another shape, but with red vinyl along the side, and black seat. so many ideas, maybe gettin a "DO THE TON" lettering patch along the back strip, with checkers, or a kawi "K" patch on the back, or numbers on the side of the hump, lots! . .. or just leave it alone ;D

i'm gonna hit wallmart after work and get a sheet of thin soft foam, gonna shape that like the leather (more sewing!) and snug it over under the leather to see if it'll make it more plush. then i still gotta figure out how to tighten the sucker down. funny, the snugness of the fit is what'll determine how well i've done!

i'm really hopin to get this ready for wednesday, but the leather has to settle in it's new shape and i have to push the stitches out to mold the shape properly.

will have more pics . . . .

 

[Tim]

I covered my 550 seat with 1/2 inch light foam (3M spray adhesive) and then streched my vinyl cover over it. Smoothed out all the ridges and stuff from the underlying foam.

Didn't use adhesive on my vinyl cover - the underside of the 550 pan has little barbs you use to attach the cover. The stock covers aren't glued down either. Not sure what your seat pan is like but it should have the same. Means puncturing your leather on the barbs if you can.

 

[kzromey]

tried the barbs, the barbs . . . i do not like! bad idea barbs! i got 4 i think, each one took way too long, punchin the holes are too risky, and it was a pain in the a55 playin tug o war with the leather and tryin to hook it while keeping it all tight.

anyway here are more pics...

i like foam ;D

the extra light white stuff smoothed out the roughness and made it more plush

but before that, i still had to stretch the stitches out

before barbing it

after hookin 4 barbs and givin it some stretch...

finally taking some proper shape, but i'm back to square one on snuggin the leather tight, but i just thought of a sneaky idea and i'm hoping it'll work . . . (will be fixing the small barb holes/tears first and hoping it wont come back to haunt me later...)

unfortunately, it wont be ready for tomorrows meet . . .

 

[Tim]

Go old-school. Lace the thing from underneath across the seat pan. Only thing I can think of at this point and will allow you to go as tight as you need to. Should be able to work around the hinge mounts etc. and the lacing would be flexible enough to accomodate anything it pushes against.

 

[kzromey]

yep, that was my original plan, but i have a slight twist to it... just have to have a look at the hinges and latch to see if it'll be a problem... or i may have to barb just the few on the hinges side and shoe lace the rest.

 

[kzromey]

something a little different

the holes were perfect!

my momma said it ain't fabulous unless it's ghetto fabulous

took me only an hour to punch and stitch the outer edge. was really afraid with the barbing, having spent all the time with the leather and all, so if i got it wrong, i'd damage the leather. this way, even if i pull hard and stretch it a little, even if the edge tears, i'm still left with leather space to do the barbing with. i did barb the hinge side tho, bent them up a little and it was easier this time. actually pulled it a little tight on this side.

before

afta

i'm just gonna let it settle (i can still feel some give and i know i can sinch it up a little more and push the stitches out), i might even pull it off again (didn't take long to spider man it), and add more foam on the flat vertical piece cuz i added more on the seat, AGAIN, and it affected the shape of everything. i'm really hoping the seat will be good for long trips. . . .

just gotta move the hinges over from the stock seat and it'll be ready for a test ride.

 

[Ease]

Aaah, Necessity as the mother of invention.

Great idea - seat looks cool too ;D.

 

[78kz]

Hey, where are the pictures?

Just planning my own seat and need to see some images.

 

[kzromey]

Hey, where are the pictures?

Just planning my own seat and need to see some images.

hmm, i think they got jacked after i moved them to another album on photobucket... i'll repost the images as soon as i get some free time...sorry dude!

 

[78kz]

Thanks for getting the pix back up. Looks good. 8)

How's your a55 after a long ride?

 

[CBHandle]

Thanks for getting the pix back up. Looks good. 8)

How's your a55 after a long ride?

I'm glad I cam back to see the pics.

Looks really great. I would love to do something like this, though I've already started hacking up an old gas tank.

We'll see. Great job!

 

[kzromey]

the seat is a little stiff and is fine for short trips, but because of the stiffer marzzochi's it really jars my back when i hit bumps so i make sure i get on my legs... i definitely had to swap back to the stock seat for the killarney trip it was much better...

 

[kzromey]

think i'm gonna sell the bike.....

 

[locOleoN]

think i'm gonna sell the bike.....

why?... its such a nice bike!!..

 

[kzromey]

i know. someone whack me with a stick! lol! i'm gonna do a little time out from riding. . . we'll see next spring tho. ;D