Been cruising around the last couple weeks on my new 1980 XS400SG, and I'm thinking I need a new seat. There's nothing particularly wrong with mine, but it's missing the latches, is held on by a strap, has been re-covered (poorly), and has had a hole cut in the seatpan (looks like where the toolkit once was? not sure what was happening there)
I've been thinking about fixing myself up with a new seat - obviously I could order an old seat off ebay, rip out the seatpan, re-foam and re-cover, but I'd rather not spend that money if possibly on my junky old bike.
I'm wondering what the easiest way to come up with a new seat is - plywood with the original mounting brackets screwed in maybe? I've seen some people around the internets making new seatpans with fiberglass, but that's way more of a hassle than I'm looking for. I just want something easy, cheap, that won't look awful (and might even look rather fresh in a ghetto-retro kind of way).
If buying an old seat and re-using the seatpan is the only solution, so be it, but just wondering what other people have done in this regard.
Also, if you were re-covering a seat, what kind of foam would you use? I'm sure I could get special seat foam somewhere, but I'd prefer to source a little more frugally. Carpet padding? Foam ripped out of old car seats? Upholstery foam from the fabric store?
I've been thinking about fixing myself up with a new seat - obviously I could order an old seat off ebay, rip out the seatpan, re-foam and re-cover, but I'd rather not spend that money if possibly on my junky old bike.
I'm wondering what the easiest way to come up with a new seat is - plywood with the original mounting brackets screwed in maybe? I've seen some people around the internets making new seatpans with fiberglass, but that's way more of a hassle than I'm looking for. I just want something easy, cheap, that won't look awful (and might even look rather fresh in a ghetto-retro kind of way).
If buying an old seat and re-using the seatpan is the only solution, so be it, but just wondering what other people have done in this regard.
Also, if you were re-covering a seat, what kind of foam would you use? I'm sure I could get special seat foam somewhere, but I'd prefer to source a little more frugally. Carpet padding? Foam ripped out of old car seats? Upholstery foam from the fabric store?
