1982 CB750F...Better Devil

But, but what are they Irk? What should I google? If I can work that mechanism into both the pan and frame then I’d be levelling this thing up for sure.

When I visited the Montreal Moto Show earlier this year when the world still looked like the world and 2020 hadn’t yet completely slid off the rails, I saw a custom cafe bike with a really neat seat locking mechanism. Ever since I’ve wanted to work some kind of latch system into the seat but no real idea on how to go about it. I’d love some suggestions.


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Sorry, didn't see the response. That Kawi version is different. I prefer these:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...acat=0&_odkw=GSXR+Pillion+seat+latch+assembly

The search is "GSXR rear seat latch assembly" or "GSXR pillion seat latch assembly". "Rear seat" gets better results. I try to get them with both the male and female parts along with the cable. On the GSXR they have a lock that attaches to the cable which, if you can find one with a key, would be great. I just make a pull handle hidden in the frame, or pull the ferrule. A lever could be cool too.

On my BMW R100/7 seat, the front of the seat has a bracket that fits into the frame tube, then I push the seat down and it latched in the middle. Most seats hook into the a bracket or the frame in the front, so you just need to locate the latch from the middle back and there's no need for any other mechanism. It's a pretty stable setup, but two pieces of rubber, one for each frame rail, may be necessary to tighten it up.
 
Finessed the pan a bit for clearances and general fuckery -

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- and mucked about with the rebond under-carpet foam I scored last week. Binned the gorilla spray-on adhesive as my mate said it was shit and who gave me a can of 3M 77 instead which is definitely not shit at all, in fact quite the opposite. Layered up a sample about 3" thick - I think this foam's gonna be a winner. I'll add top layer of thin yoga mat just to flatten out the bumps in the rebond but this foam is fit for purpose -

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Hotter than the hinges on the gates of hell's whorehouse today. Loving it.
 
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The rebond will make your butt happy. Shaping with electric carving knife (not the wife's!) is a breeze, with final smoothing carefully done with a grinder and course grit. I saw a YouTube video of a guy in Vietnam shaping and covering a seat (using regular knives). He was fast, and turned out nice looking seats.
 
I use a rotary air sander. A grinder spins too fast and one "catch" in the foam and you're taking a huge chunk out.
 
I'll pick up an electric carving knife on the cheap - what's the advantage of a rotary air sander Irk? Spins slower? Or can you control the speed? I don't have one, but do have a small air compressor (2 gallon)
 
I'll pick up an electric carving knife on the cheap - what's the advantage of a rotary air sander Irk? Spins slower? Or can you control the speed? I don't have one, but do have a small air compressor (2 gallon)
Both. Grinders are spinning at 6k rpm or more. A rotary sander spins between 1k and 3k. Harbor Freight, which is your Princess Auto (I think) sells them for dirt cheap. Plus, everyone should have a sander to restore furniture. LOL
 
You 2 gal wont run that. You can use an electric random orbit too with 60-80 grit
I have both a air sander and rotary sander to do this. You can run an air sander at very low pressure to slow it down. Sometimes, they require a hand start to get the disc spinning.
 
You 2 gal wont run that. You can use an electric random orbit too with 60-80 grit
Now that I do have. It's an electric sander anyway, not sure if it's random or orbital or what the hell it is, but I do know it's rectangular and not round
 
Retangle doesn't work as well on foam. You need it spinning. You can prob get the shape 99% with careful use of the carving knife anyway.
 
Sorry, didn't see the response. That Kawi version is different. I prefer these:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...acat=0&_odkw=GSXR+Pillion+seat+latch+assembly

The search is "GSXR rear seat latch assembly" or "GSXR pillion seat latch assembly". "Rear seat" gets better results. I try to get them with both the male and female parts along with the cable. On the GSXR they have a lock that attaches to the cable which, if you can find one with a key, would be great. I just make a pull handle hidden in the frame, or pull the ferrule. A lever could be cool too.

On my BMW R100/7 seat, the front of the seat has a bracket that fits into the frame tube, then I push the seat down and it latched in the middle. Most seats hook into the a bracket or the frame in the front, so you just need to locate the latch from the middle back and there's no need for any other mechanism. It's a pretty stable setup, but two pieces of rubber, one for each frame rail, may be necessary to tighten it up.
Thanks Irk - I've decided to keep things simple this time but I'll be ordering one of those latches for my next seat for sure.

Speaking of which, I won't be foaming this pan after all. My upholstery guy is super busy for a reason - he's good. Very good. I thought I'd speed up the process and give him a pan already foamed but he prefers (very understandably) to do the foaming too. I'm very cool with that. So I may make another pan for shits and giggles and have a go at foaming that one instead, and upholster it too. Two seats, one bike.
 
Thanks Irk - I've decided to keep things simple this time but I'll be ordering one of those latches for my next seat for sure.

Speaking of which, I won't be foaming this pan after all. My upholstery guy is super busy for a reason - he's good. Very good. I thought I'd speed up the process and give him a pan already foamed but he prefers (very understandably) to do the foaming too. I'm very cool with that. So I may make another pan for shits and giggles and have a go at foaming that one instead, and upholster it too. Two seats, one bike.

I looked at some of their work and they are really good. Probably out of my budget to be shipping a seat pan across canada and getting him to do it, but out of curiosity was it more than $300 CAD for the job on your last ride?
 
Ran into a couple of snafus fucked up a few things along the way but this seat pan's now a done deal. Welded up a tongue underneath the pan that slots into a notch I made in a frame brace behind the tank bolt -

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welded on a couple of bolts to the rear of the pan which'll bolt through a brace welded between the frame rails at the hoop, and made an arch thingy to raise the profile of the seat as it meets the tank -

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Few holes for clearances and a bit lot of massaging and I'm calling it good -

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- at least I thought I was. Forgot to take into account the clearances once this thing's been upholstered and so had to cut off the (too short) bolts I'd welded onto the back of the pan and weld in longer ones. Bit of paint on the underside -

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and this thing's off to get upholstered.

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If there's one bike giving me major bikelust at the moment its the CB1000R, so took my styling cues for cutting the front fender from that -

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Mmmm, sporty.

Also made a small bracket to secure the front of the rear fender to the battery cage. No photos yet, but it worked out pretty well. It means I can retain a pretty decent amount of fender (while hiding most of it), preventing the worst of MTL's roads from redecorating the electricals.
 
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