Seat Cover questions

[andysutt]

Anyone know if you get a seat cover off ebay for a standard seat, do you still use the metal strip down each side of the seat or do you remove that?

My seat pan is rusty and the left side is starting to tear. If I can remove the metal strip on each side of the seat and put a new cover on and not reuse that, I think I'll be ok w/ the rusty pan for now.

[CatatonicBug]

I believe that strip is just cosmetic. The color of it usually adds to the look of the bike. However, I don't believe it serves any functional purpose. If you don't want it on there, just take it off.

[fredintoon]

- - - My seat pan is rusty and the left side is starting to tear. If I can remove the metal strip on each side of the seat and put a new cover on and not reuse that, I think I'll be ok w/ the rusty pan for now.

Hi Andy,
the chrome strip is a cosmetic thing, junk it if you want.
You are taking the cover off and if the foam seems stuck down it's only held to the pan by rust so take it off too.
Now if it's only surface rust on the pan you can de-rust & re-paint it. Use a rotary wire brush to clean the rust off then spray the pan with etching primer and black rockerguard paint out of rattle cans. If the pan is rusted away like iron lace it's easier to find a pan that's in better shape than it is to fix yours.
But seat pans can be hard to find. You can fix the laciest of rusted pans by putting 3 layers of fiberglass on the top side of it.

[andysutt]

Chrome huh? lol mine's black I guess it's been painted before as well.

The seat pan is getting holy near the edges, so I may have to fiberglass it, I just hope I dont screw it up to much. lol

[fredintoon]

- - - The seat pan is getting holy near the edges, so I may have to fiberglass it, I just hope I dont screw it up to much. lol

Hi Andy,
if the pan's edges are getting rust-holey, most likely the spiky things that hold the cover on are mostly gone too?
The Q&D way to hold the cover onto a toothless pan is with pop rivets.
Use the aluminum ones with big heads. If anyone sneers at that, tell 'em you got the idea from pictures of Viking longships.

[yamahansolo]

i just did mine with the standard seat cover from ebay two nights ago. there are 2 bolts in each one and a post for a rivet. i was going to see what it looked like without the side parts but i forgot and went ahead and installed them. the one mistake was i used a little spray adhesive and it was harder to reposition as i put the cover on... oh well it looks good though. i just bent the hooks straight out and stretched the leather over it.
it looks great for a $40 seat cover. as soon as the wife gets back in town with both our camera's i can post a pic of it.

[andysutt]

Yup, its rusty where it attaches also.

I had thought about welding a thin piece of steel to the pan and then using the black/chrome strip to drill holes in and rivet it back on that way. Then repaint it black

[Southhill101]

Seat cover rivets

Little late to reply but I just replaced my seat cover this winter. I had to use rivets as most of the points were to rusty to re-bend anymore, and broke off. I don't know the exact size of the rivets but if you find the size that will just fit through the triangle shaped holes on an angle, from the underside of the pan, and are long enough to accept a small washer on the under side of the seat pan, they will be large enough not to pull through when squashed. If this makes any sense, I was able to rivet the cover down without seeing the rivets from the outside of the seat.