Need advice on cafe style seat for 1980 GS550

branumjb

New Member
Hey folks, Chris down at DCC said this was probably the best way to find some info. I'm working on an 80 GS550 Café Racer. I've got the bike tore down, I've painted all I can, replaced bolts and all but I'm hung up on the type of seat and pod style I should go with to fit the bike the best. He said I might not even need a rear loop? I'm looking for a style like this but just don't know which one by name. I'm trying to get the parts ordered while my ol' lady is cool with me spending the money, ha.
 

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Fiberglass is fairly easy to work with. Consider making your own piece. Nice the fiberglass piece is done you can tackle the upholstery or have that done. I recently did the seat on my GS1100. I took a different approach because I wanted the option of riding two up. Cut the rear of the frame and welded on the loop. Then I made a backbone out of 1 1/4" X 1/8" steel stock to reinforce the seat pan I then made out of fiberglass. (I wanted it to be sturdy for riding two up.) Then I used dense foam and shaped the cushion. I've found that the good quality dense foam costs more but is much more comfortable. Last step was to upholster it with marine grade vinyl. I like cafe style of this seat and like the fact that I have the option of riding two up.

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That looks good man! I tried the foam block, shape your own thing, didn't work out as well as I thought it would. Plus I lost the money for the Hobby Lobby foam, 3M spray adhesive and about 6 hours.... I've seen a few Gs's on here with some nice seats and have asked which one and where, but no response yet. Here's a mock up using 1/4 in and my original cowl just to see what it looks like.
 

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