Seat Covers, any stories?

[Shaft]

Time for Big Zed to benefit from some winter fettling and high on the list is a seat refurb.

The previous owner sourced and fitted a new base, but put the old foam and cover back on, for some unknown reason, so the cover has a couple of splits and the duct tape isn't doing it anymore.

I can find replacement covers from various sources, ranging in price from £20-£40 and a couple of places can do new foams as well, but don't list prices.

Has anyone got any experience of buying and fitting covers, either testimonials or horror stories?

Any guidance would be much appreciated
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[stinkwheel]

Old leather jacket from a charity shop. Try for one that doesn't have a seam down the middle of the back.

Remove the lining and push the point of the saddle up towards the collar area. Fix it down to the base with either staples or pop-rivetts and washers. Work round symetrically, pulling it over the seat and fixing it down until you're covered then cut off the excess.

For foam. Get a block of high density, closed cell foam from an upholsterers (closed cell doesn't soak up water like a sponge). Stick it to the base and cut to shape with an electric carving knife.

EDIT: A mate of mine once covered his Z650 saddle using an old tractor inner tube. Shoved the whole saddle in, stapled it to the base and cut off the excess. It was oddly confidence inspiring for riding pillion on because your arse didn't move at all. You could sit there quite happily with your hands on your knees.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Shaft]

Nice idea, but if you'd ever seen me hacking up a Sunday roast, you'd know that me and electric carving knives don't go together ("One lump of beef or two, Vicar?"); this is also the reason why I buy my bread pre-sliced.

However, I have successfully fitted new foams and covers to car seats, so I'm looking for tales of pattern parts, who to buy from, or who to avoid.
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Marmalade]

bought a cover for a pan euro via ebay.

Decent quality and fitted great.

Pull it round and staple it under the base.

Saved many pennies
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Nobby the Bastard: How yo tell the difference between the actual japanese and her just screaming because she's had live fish stuck up her arse? [url=https://www.nicks-shop.co.uk/bcf-goodies-15-c.aspGet BCF stickers and things here[/url] Reflective helmet stickers - Legal requirement in france - Clicky

[Shaft]

This is more like it, any idea who you bought it from, Marmalade?
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Marmalade]

Unfortunately not.

I didn't go with the cheapest one.

Could have been this seller

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motorcycle-seat-cover-Honda-ST1100-Pan-European-/160426174043?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item255a25265b#ht_500wt_1054
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Nobby the Bastard: How yo tell the difference between the actual japanese and her just screaming because she's had live fish stuck up her arse? [url=https://www.nicks-shop.co.uk/bcf-goodies-15-c.aspGet BCF stickers and things here[/url] Reflective helmet stickers - Legal requirement in france - Clicky

[elgard]

I bought a cover from this guy on ebay for my DR650.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONDA-SUZUKI-YAMAHA-KAWASAKI-SEAT-COVERING-/140641603380?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item20bee48f34

I has a few problems getting it fitted to begin with, Until i wrote to see if had any tips and he couldn't help enough.

The seller is not my father, brother or second cousin removed before anyone asked, Just a decent guy who is happy to help and i would recommend.

[Shaft]

Thanks for the links chaps.

@Marmalade, unfortunately that chap doesn't do a cover for mine.

@elgard, not quite as straightforward as that, my seat base is steel, so no staples for me. I haven't looked closely, but there must be some kind of tight fitting clip arrangement, which I'm guessing will be mainly rotten by now.

If anyone has any other experiences, feel free to add
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Snodvan]

I picked my seat up from the recoverers today. I had a full foam replacement/ reshape (raising the seat height as I wanted as the seat is low on the BMW CS) and a recover in two-tone black with black piping. £150. I could have had any colours but wanted black.

Looks good and a quick "sit on" indicates it seems comfy. No ride yet as I only arrived back home at 5pm - and with the c*** weather predicted I will not ride for a bit yet. I will post up a pic in due course.

https://www.motorcycleseatworks.co.uk/home.html

Snodvan
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04 (UK Reg) BMW F650cs, but really 02 first Reg in Holland

[Vincent]

There's a boke on eBay based in London that does em relatively cheap, and comes recommended, (name escapes me right now, I'll have a look). He quoted me £70 - something to reshape, fit a gel pad and re-cover my seat.

If you end up doing it your self, heat the seat base up before stapling. I've done a couple that came out OK but used quality OEM covers. I've also seen a lot of DIY covering that didn't turn out too good.
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Space Is Deep

[Vincent]

Here you go:-

https://myworld.ebay.co.uk/vikingmotorcycleseats?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1181
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Space Is Deep

[Serendipity]

When I re-covered the RXS100 seat in 2006 I found that the steel seat pan had little triangular teeth all around the edge. The idea being to stretch the seat fabric into place, hook it over the teeth and bend the teeth down to lock it in place.

I found a decent seat base on Fleabay and sprayed it top and bottom with Hammerite. I re-used the original foam and bought a cheap replacement cover from https://www.patternparts.net/ (was before I discovered Wemoto).

The cover came with a big “YAMAHA” in white across the back that would have been half covered by the seat trim so I removed it with some isopropyl alcohol and elbow grease.
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2007 CBF1000 & 2016 CBF1000F - Commuter heaven | 1994 CBR600FR - Awaiting defibrillation

[yambabe]

The twice (so far) I have had to have seats re-covered I decided against trying to DIY as I am totally ham-fisted.

I went to a small local upholsterer. For the first one (seat for my ZL400 Eliminator) the original foam and cover were both shot, so I basically took him the seat base and teh sad remains of the original so he could see what it had looked like. He provided new foam and a new cover that looked fine and charged me £40 for the lot.

The second time was the seat for my Zeph, it was in good order but I needed it cutting down to help lower the bike to assist with my shortarsery. This time he took off the original cover, cut and reshaped the foam then put the original cover back on to fit to the new foam shape, cost me £15.

Both times I had the seats back in under a week.

To give you an idea of the standard of his work, this was the 400 with the original seat:

https://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/Yambabe/ZL400002.jpg

and this is what it looked like after restoration:

https://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/Yambabe/Jul06075.jpg

similarly this was the seat on the zeph when I first got it:

https://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/Yambabe/IMAG0364.jpg

and this was after it was cut down:

https://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/Yambabe/10062007103.jpg

So basically my advice would be to have a look around locally and see if you can find an upholsterer with a few spare hours!
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Sod falling in love, I wanna fall in chocolate.

[Snodvan]

[Shaft]

^^^ That's a nice looking job, but, at the risk of sounding a tightarse, the price tag caused me to have a sharp intake of breath.

I think what I'm going to do is risk 30 quid on a cover and have a go myself, if I fail, it's look out for a local upholsterer who is prepared to clear up the mess.

Look out for a show n tell thread soon and thanks for everyone's input
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Snodvan]

I was tempted to do the same ie get a tailored seat cover, some PROPER foam, and do it myself. I have a leccy stapler which would be ideal. However, the job was done as a chrissy present for me so I am not complaining. I worked out that to have a seat cover tailored ie sewn panels with piping, would have cost around £80 from the local car seat uphosterer. Add the foam cost of £15 maybe for a closed cell type and in effect that leaves £50 as the fitting cost as all I would save, but then I have the "buggeration factor".

I could have simply recovered the original CS seat ie no foam change/ resculpturing, for around £20 or so but while that would have given me a non-slip seat it would not have improved the comfort.

Snod
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04 (UK Reg) BMW F650cs, but really 02 first Reg in Holland

[Shaft]

Ah, the old Xmas pressy ploy, anything is easy to justify when someone else is doing the coughing up

Fortunately, I don't have a comfort problem with mine, just a tatty cover, so I'm hoping the foam will go again, maybe with a new plastic membrane.

In other news, my painter at work has decided he wants to play with some custom paint, so guess who gets the free paint job

Poor bike won't know whats hit it!
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Vincent]

[yambabe]

Hiya, no it was an 18".
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Sod falling in love, I wanna fall in chocolate.

[Vincent]

[Ariel Badger]

Saddle on the Badger is made out of a knee length leather skirt I purchased from a French prostitute.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Walloper]

[Ichy]

If you do it yourself then a key point is to get the cover nice and warm beffore you start tugging it around, helps it stretch when fitting and stops it going baggy afterwards. It's easy if you just take your time.
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[Ichy]

Sorry I had to copy one of my old posts, I have no idea how to link to an actual post, anyone?