Re-covering my seat

[DJinNH]

I didn't have any faith that I could do the job myself so I took both of my seats into an upholstery shop in Kittery, Maine and got them back a week later looking new.

I made sure they cut into the seat cover of one as it was more smooth than my other one. I too, like some support there to keep me from sliding back on the seat.

I mentioned to the guy that I slide all over whenever I put Armorall on the seats. I was surprised when he said that Armorall will actually weaken the material so I should never use it.

Don

[geniusloerts]

I was thinking about doing mine in a tan austrige hide. The bike is gonna be Kiser Grey...I figured it would be a nice offset.

[manshack_one]

I wanted to do my seat in tan also to contrast the black but the wife shot me down. Maybe I need to find some better fabric than walmart clearance rack specials.

[geniusloerts]

what you do is go to some old timer upholstry shop and see what extra stuff they have laying around and strike a deal.

[Wildkat]

Actually,

Originally posted by manshack_one
Maybe I need to find some better fabric than walmart clearance rack specials.

... this is really good to practice with... let's you see what will work and what won't without sinking a lot of time and money into more expensive material... Sometimes, you can score some pretty nice leather pieces on E-bay... geniusloerts had a pretty good idea with the upholstery shop too...
Around curves, the material will begin to bunch up... so you'll need to cut darts (although someone here with more experience may have a better way to do it):
How to sew a dart (in case you were wondering)
I haven't gotten around to making my seat cover for my FJ yet as my machine couldn't handle the material... Someone already mentioned that it can be difficult to sew through 3 layers... SOOOO right!

Whatever you choose... good luck and post pics when done!
(or along the line)

[DJinNH]

I was so close to going with a tan seat, sort of darker shade, and have my tank and battery covers painted dark green but I chickened out and went with the standard colors. (Black seats, one bike maroon, one candy red)

Don

[DiverRay]

Daily ride has a white seat, with a white backrest on the box. The winter project will be all black, with maybe some gold piping.

[manshack_one]

Well, being the hard-headed guy I am I tried to recover it myself this weekend. While functional, and with added padding, it just is not very aesthetically pleasing (read in ugly). I was thinking of just going with one of these:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/I...14643210400359

I did notice when I took my seat cover off I could see the original pattern from the bike indented into the passenger section. The driver section of the seat had a nice indentation of someones rear end. Couldn't be mine, I haven't been on the bike enough to leave a mark like that.


edit -
I'll probably order it from denniskirk seeing as how they have 2 on hand and jcwhitney is 3-4 weeks out.
http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/produc...802&mmyId=4022

[DiverRay]

You can also try the B&H Specialties seat covers. A few of the bikes around here are running them, including the seat for my project bike. They fit VERY well, and look like a new stock seat!

[manshack_one]

So, how do you put the B&H ones on? Just lay it over and hook it to the v-points? Do I have to send them my seat?

[Wildkat]

They already have most of the patterns...

as long as you have a stock seat, you just tell them what model.
They send you the cover (with instructions)... You take off your old and then put on the new... bend the tabs back to their original position... and you're good to go.
You do have to be a bit careful with the tabs as the more you bend them back and forth... the weaker they will become.

Here's the B&H Specialties Website:

B&H Specialties