Seat choices, help me choose

D

DSmoke

New Member
Alright, the time has come, I need to buy my seat pan. I am ready to get this project going on my GS450. I posted last week about buying or making a seat, I plan to buy one. Here is the post:
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=52120.msg582156#msg582156

Now I need to decide on the seat. I like this seat a lot as it is different than a lot of others. The downside with this seat is that I plan to relocate the electrical to under the seat and get rid of the side panels. Since this seat has a build in storage area, I think that would have to be modified.
http://www.cb750cafe.com/products-page/seats/the-vincent-seat/

I also like this seat. The main reason is that it will match up nicely with the width of my tank which is 10.25" at the bottom back edge. Most other seats I see are 8" wide at the front. The downside is that it is from ebay and I don't know the quality.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fiberglass-Cafe-Racer-Seat-CMI-02-/271255977903?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f281dbfaf&vxp=mtr

I understand that most people here like the products of the sponsors. I have checked them all out and didn't find anything that I felt would be a good fit. So before I buy one of the above seats does anyone have any other recommendations? I appreciate any and all thought, choices, opinions that you may have. Thanks! Below is a picture, the handlebars were just to get the feel and will be replaced with clip-ons or clubmans, still undecided on that too as I flip flop back and forth.

photo_zps0f3629fa.jpg
 
The second seat you linked. The eBay one, Sean at Roc City designed/builds that seat. That seller you have linked ripped his design off.

I believe Sean goes by CopyCatGlass on eBay now.
 
I like the first one - the swept rear end of it would look better with the GS450 tank in my opinion.

Have you looked at Airtech's site as well?
 
J-Rod10 said:
The second seat you linked. The eBay one, Sean at Roc City designed/builds that seat. That seller you have linked ripped his design off.

I believe Sean goes by CopyCatGlass on eBay now.
Click to expand...

ha, glad you noticed that, it's my subtle fuck off to ebay and all the ripoff artists it spawns
 
He designed it but calls himself copycat, doesn't that make you wonder where he got the idea to design a globe?

The bike has a tank that is all square and straight lines. The round seat doesn't blend aesthetically with the bike at all. IMO it looks like someone stuck an old cafe seat on their bike just so they could say they have a cafe racer. The ducktail will flow better with the tank. There's only $1.41 difference between the seat Airtech has been selling for probably 30 years and the identical one that Carpy claims to have designed 11 years ago. I have that seat and it is 37 years old, long before Carpy thought of making one. Go with the box seat from Airtech. They make a variety of style and sizes of the same seat. Plus the box seat has the storage compartment for tools, battery, paperwork, etc. that the other one doesn't

http://www.airtech-streamlining.com/vintage/vintageseats_box.htm
 
I don't know why anyone gets upset about stealing a seat design. The design of your seat and just about every other one have been around for 40 years. Without a patent you really have no claim to a basic design. I see nothing unique about your seat in question. The round end is as basic as they get and the wrap around front by the tank has been utilized on may seats for many years. Carpy just comes off as a total liar when he says he spent 11 years designing that seat. I think he took a mold off the seat that has been around for close to 40 years and maybe made a slight change to the underside and claimed he "spent many months getting this eat to look bang on". That exact looking seat is what I purchased from Racecrafter International in 1976.

I actually narrowed mine at the front so I should claim it as my own design.



Here's a pic of Marty McFly Carpy's seat 26 years before he designed it. This is when my seat was new in 1976:
 
It's more of the time we put into one. Then they buy one off of eBay, mold it, and start selling it within a couple days. Spray them up with a chopper gun, and slash the price.

They may be similar to others, but, not exactly the same.

Personally, it doesn't bother me that much, as you said, without a patent, it's pointless.

The first seat I built/sold was molded off of an original Bates, to recoup money spent buying/fixing it. Turned out there was a market for them, so I started doing my own.
 
Forget all those ugly cliches and go with a set that works with the angular lines of that tank. You may have to make it yourself or modify something but try this for a clean look
1971_NortonDunstall.JPG
It may need to be shortened or possibly extend the hump slightly but that would really look nice. And it incorporates a plate and light mount and short rear fender.

like this
$T2eC16N,!wsE9suw)kriBRTzEQBoUQ~~48_35.JPG


or try a tracker style
25036d1217365505-gsx-250-parts-needed-cafe-racer-project-little-sioux.jpg
 
I can see where you shouldn't be bothered by it because you started off by doing the exact same thing.

I have to figure out how to cost effectively remake the clear fairing on my bike from the 70's. I have never seen another one like it in 30 years.
 
J-Rod10 said:
It's more of the time we put into one. Then they buy one off of eBay, mold it, and start selling it within a couple days. Spray them up with a chopper gun, and slash the price.
Click to expand...

building a part from scratch is the time sink, agreed, it's not coming up with the shape, it's the hours of shaping, glassing, filling, sanding, refilling, resanding, ad infinitum that take the time, if someone were to design a seat almost exactly the same shape as one of mine, but did the handwork themselves, I'd be the last one to complain. that being said, this post will likely raise a giant shitstorm like any post about the merits of not ripping people off and just doing the honest up front work to make your money back in production, so I'll make this my last post on this topic
 
I don't know your budget,but you could also have one designed and built for it.
 
The Ebay seller has been in the fiberglass parts business for over 25 years. They make a number of different cafe seats. To assume they stole someone else's design without evidence other than "it looks like the same one" is a stretch at best.
 
Most all of the seats they sell are Sean's. And the Bates replica they purchased from me, and had up for sale two days later. Their business, predominantly, is car related.

Like I said, not too worried about it, but that is what they do, buy others seats and copy them.
 
Well, again, like I say, that's how you claim you started. I understand your frustration. It's like when I was in the deck building business and you hire a helper who stays just long enough to learn the basics and then they quit and open their own deck building business undercutting your pricing. It's the way of the world, no one wants to do their own leg work anymore.
 
What's wrong with the stock seat that came on the GS450S and E models? The 450S is, IMO, one of the nicer looking factory cafes of that time:
GS450S.jpg


It's a very functional seat for a cafe because the length and relative flatness of the seat make it perfect for changing positions on long rides, scooting way back and resting your feet on the passenger pegs laying on the tank, way up for better visibility in traffic or anything in between. The 450S was a not-too-subtle nod to several great cafe bikes of the era but the tail (and fairing) are definitely based on the BMW R90S (with the addition of slight kick-up at the rear), one of the best looking cafe bikes I've ever seen (my opinion, of course):
r90sbig.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom