Looks fantastic. My sewing skills limited to button replacement. I think I will take your pics and my seat(s) to Tim Pearson at Triple-K upholstery in Welland, ON (Canada). Only thing I might add is a gel-pac . Tim 'fixed' my Blackbird seat with a carve + gel-pac job and did an "undercut" on my K1300S (which he calls a Sea-Do seat, where the foam is attached to the pleather cover vs the seat pan) to get rid of the miserable 'crown' in the center of the seat. Great post! J
My seat hates my seat
- Thread starter Waterman28
- Start date
OhioDeere
Been There, Done That, Got the Shirt.
Business opportunity??
OP
OP
I know how I could become a millionaire building seats.... I would start with two million dollars and make and sell seats at a loss until I only have a million left.
OhioDeere
Been There, Done That, Got the Shirt.
That quote only applies in racing! In the service industry "Building Custom Seats" you will spend a million, make a million and then loose a million and repeat! .. See how nice that works out? In today's business world you can apply for payroll protection. Ask for forgiveness in all your business sins. And apply for a Small Business Association pandemic loss loan. And then break even again.
OP
OP
Awesome it sounds like a net zero win.
I’d buy one. Wanna do a 2nd seat?
OP
OP
Im pretty sure the wait time would kill you ,lol
ToddC
Site Supporter
Dude..!! I gotta see that seat...!! You are only an hour away.. let's ride..!! Todd
OP
OP
I was planning on coming out to your place this summer when you had your New-STOC4 but..... "Covid"
ToddC
Site Supporter
Cool! We can still ride...I just didn't want 18 bikers all together. Retired and ready any day. Todd
OP
OP
Sounds good, now that it is cooling off it is good riding. Im tired, but not retired yet....
That’s very impressive, I’ve cut and sanded my seat and put standard cover back on but what you’ve done there is amazing!.So I was only able to put like 50-60 miles before I was ready to get off my bike and burn the seat to the ground. With a donor seat purchased from @SupraSabre (thank you much) I decided to see if I could construct a seat that would let me ride more miles before my butt made me pull over and and give it a reprieve from the torture device. I purchased some firm foam and went to carving the seat.
Next was to glue more foam on it and shape it.
Next was to sew up a cover for it.
Its not perfect as I am very much a beginner at sewing but I rode it on a 150 mile loop and my butt had no complaints. I will probably build a new cover for it when my upholstery skills improve.
OP
OP
Anything that doesn't push you forward is an improvement over stock!
Hello All.
I've used this forum off and on for a few years (yes, a lurker) but haven't posted so consider this to be my first post!
I've been researching seats and actually am amazed at how many folks hate the seats on the STs.
This job Waterman28, is excellent and gives me the impetus to also do what you did!
I have a 2003 ST with a Sargent seat (2 piece). After 50 miles I can't go on - After 100 miles, I tough it out. After 200 miles, I'm eating Advil and cursing!
I hate this seat!
Do you recall the specs on the foam and the vinyl that you used? Weights and such? The vinyl looks soft and the sargent cover is like sitting on fiberglass.
I've done a lot of mods to my ST. If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to give back.
I've used this forum off and on for a few years (yes, a lurker) but haven't posted so consider this to be my first post!
I've been researching seats and actually am amazed at how many folks hate the seats on the STs.
This job Waterman28, is excellent and gives me the impetus to also do what you did!
I have a 2003 ST with a Sargent seat (2 piece). After 50 miles I can't go on - After 100 miles, I tough it out. After 200 miles, I'm eating Advil and cursing!
I hate this seat!
Do you recall the specs on the foam and the vinyl that you used? Weights and such? The vinyl looks soft and the sargent cover is like sitting on fiberglass.
I've done a lot of mods to my ST. If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to give back.
OP
OP
When I get home I will post up the foam weight. The vinyl was just a cheap 10 yard cut that I ordered online. The plan is to purchase leather to make a cover out of. I didnt want to use leather to start with as it could get expensive redoing the cover every time I changed the shape of the seat. I rode my ST to Reno, Nevada from Wa State to visit my Daughter. The ride down was 11 or so hours and the ride back with some alternative twisty roads was around 13 hours. There were no complaints about the seat but my legs/knees did complain a bit. I am 6'4" and the ST kinda scrunches my legs up after a few hours in the saddle. When I make a new cover out of leather I will add some seat pulls to keep the cover tight in the dish portion of the seat and also use good contact adhesive. All in all I am very happy with the way the seat turned out.
So I was only able to put like 50-60 miles before I was ready to get off my bike and burn the seat to the ground. With a donor seat purchased from @SupraSabre (thank you much) I decided to see if I could construct a seat that would let me ride more miles before my butt made me pull over and and give it a reprieve from the torture device. I purchased some firm foam and went to carving the seat.
Next was to glue more foam on it and shape it.
Next was to sew up a cover for it.
Looks really comfortable. Can you tell me what machine you used and if you had any problems with it going through the heavy vinyl? Is there anything you would do different on your next one?
OP
OP
@mcarver351 I have a Pfaff 545 industrial sewing machine that I used to sew up the seat cover. Actually vinyl sews very easy, if you use a home machine you can get a walking foot attachment that keeps the vinyl from slipping and stretching. I would use an industrial grade glue like Weldwood landau top and trim contact adhesive made by DAP. I used a cheap spray contact adhesive and it hasn't held the vinyl tight to the foam in the dished area of the seat. I would use it to glue the foam together and also to glue the cover down to the foam. Having a deep dish in the seat presents a problem when stretching the cover over the foam. You can get the sides tight but the dish in the center of the seat won't conform to the foam. Also I would install seat pulls in the seam of the dish portion to pull it down tight to the foam so you aren't depending only on the glue to hold it into position.