Input on building a new seat

[Civicalized]

I have been thinking about making a new seat for my 82. I am still hesitant to hack up the bike so I was thinking about making something that uses the stock mounting points. My seat has no rips or tears and isnt the least bit faded so I need to make something from scratch. There is a junk yard here that is only motorcycles and snowmobiles, so finding a good starting point (and hopefully future project bike) shouldnt be a problem. I need to do it super low budget since I have two other projects going on (my daily driver 65 Ford F100, and 63 Rambler) and cant spend too much. My question is, should I go find an old seat at the junk yard, or can something be made out of scrap just as easily. My goal is to get rid of the passenger seat (i will worry about the cosmetics later) and make my seat sit much lower. I have taken the seat off and like the height while sitting on the frame, so the lower profile the better. Any advice would be great! Thanks.

 

[bcware]

Camping foam from walmart is very dense, fairly comfortable and super cheap. You need a rigid base for the seat; the absolute cheapest solution is scrap plywood from your local homedepot/lowes. The next step up is probably using sheet metal, but cutting it with snips and bending it by hand. Next from here is probably fiberglass and the most expensive is using sheet metal but welding. By expensive I mean the total investment including tools. Simply make a stencil using cardboard, or sculpt a shape out of foam for fiberglass.

 

[hmusket]

If my 400 looked like yours I wouldn't want to hack it either. One alternative would be to get an old seat pan for that model, either at the junkyard you live by, or on eBay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yama...rcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item588a4cef0a
That might be a starting point for experimentation. One thing you would have to keep in mind is that you may not be able to do something too much different than stock because of the rear grab bar/light combo.

 

[Civicalized]

Yeah I have all the tools necessary and access to any scrap needed. I was thinking plywood would be easiest but I may go with a scrap base. I went by the Motorcycle junk yard an hour or so ago... APPARENTLY they are getting rid of all their bikes because there was a crane with a big magnet out there and all the bikes were in three massive piles... It was a very sad sight. So it looks like making one from scratch is in my future. Maybe I will start that tomorrow. Thanks for the input. I do remember the Walmart foam pad idea from another thread (yours?) and think I may do that. Then again I have been looking at a lot of bratstyle bikes so who knows what I am going to do...

 

[Civicalized]

hmusket, you posted as I was replying to bcware. Yeah I am VERY hesitant to cut anything. I was hoping to go to that junkyard and find an old beater bike for a project so I wouldnt care what I did to it, but like I said, it seems like they are closing or something because all their bikes are in piles now. they used to be organized by make so who knows. That ebay listing seemed like what I was thinking as a starting point if I werent to start from scratch. I was hoping I could to a lot of cosmetic work after making a new seat and would manage to keep all the original parts intact.

 

[eric123]

Crap...I hope Chinden Cycle Salvage isn't closing...

 

[Civicalized]

Yeah man, I drove up and everything looked the same out front but the gate was open and all the bikes were in three big piles back there. I didn't go inside but who knows. I will drive by there again shortly and see whats up, or call tomorrow and ask.

 

[eric123]

I may still have the seat pan and cover from my '81. If I can find them, you can have them if you drive out here...And if you want them to experiment with...

 

[Civicalized]

Yeah, that would be great! you said you live in Kuna?

 

[new kid on the brat]

that looks a lot like mine when i started. i have very little hard cash into my bike. i like the challenge of creating something from scrap. the only things i have paid for on my project is the hinge for my seat, some nuts and bolts at the hardware store, the front turn signals rear signals tailight and the header and slip on that i scored at a salvage yard that was going out of business $15.00! i kind of let my parts that i come across lead me in a general direction as far as design. i have more fun that way!

the only parts i have destroyed are the tail of the frame but i have a large colection of bikes and parts to pick from.that second pic is from last summer, i added a 84 500 shadow and two more 3 wheelers to the heard this winter!

when you design your seat you will find that the lower you go the wider your seat will feel and you will not be able to straighten your legs as much. the frames on these bikes are pretty wide. slipping your forks up an inch or inch and a half and some shorter shocks like the rebel shocks are likely to benefit you more than trying to chop your seat. and then you will have a bike that looks basicaly but way better and no one can tell why!! lol.

 

[Civicalized]

I love that first pic. I may do something similar and leave it at that. I really like how you did the seat. Do you have any other pics of it and how it is mounted on there? What shocks do you recommend for lowering the rear a little.

On a different note, I totally agree with you when you talk about doing things low budget and letting the parts guide you. I work more on cars than motorcycles and love the rat rod style. I just think there is so much more skill involved when you make something look good with what you have, not what your high budget can afford.

 

[eric123]

Yeppers...Kuna...

 

[Civicalized]

Here is kind of the direction I want to head in. Im not the greatest at Photoshopping (actually Paint.net) but I think I did a decent job on this one.

Before, as it sits now.

and what i'm thinking

 

[reed]

on your seat frame if you dont find anything just right to suit tour taste, you can make your own and might appritait it more, I stopped at a garage sale and found an old aluminum scoop shovel somthing like you would scoop out a horse stall out with easy to cut and work with but still pretty thick. good luck any way you go and have fun creating

 

[Civicalized]

thanks reed, thats another great idea. A good friend of mine works at a recycling center, I'm sure I can go scavenge for materials.

 

[new kid on the brat]

the hard part for me was getting my rear fender to hug the rear tire without rubbing the tire.and maintaining some suspension! i don't think my back can handle a hardtail. so i,
took the shocks apart,
removed the springs,
reinstalled the shocks so they just sat on the rubber bumpers,
measured the height of the shock and verified fender clearance
reinstalled the springs,
sat on the bike to squish the springs and marked a height corresponding with the fully compressed height of the shock and added about an inch to the spring height to give me about an inch of spring travel.

this seemed like a good theory but i should have allowed more spring it feels pretty solid going over any substantial bump

by the way, do this with an extra pair of springs so you can switch back in case this turns out bad for you. my shocks that i used had blown seals, maybe this is part of my problem, but seat springs don't work any different right?

 

[southTxs400]

Yeah I am also trying to figure out a direction to go with my seat. Like ive said before, I really like how New KId's bike came out. Im going to try and achieve the look he has because it seems like a real sportster look with out having to hard tail it. I cant wait to get back home and start!

 

[HoughMade]

Get an old tractor seat pan, cut it down a little, then cover it...no, I'm not kidding.

When I see your bike, and I know this is not the style you are after, I see longer shocks on the rear, a flatter seat, lower bars and a slightly lowered front....and that would be about right in my book. Of course, then it would look like my bike...not your bike.

 

[Civicalized]

The tractor seat pan is actually a good idea as well, I think a friend may have one sitting around somewhere. I really like stuff that is reused like that. I want to use tractor seats for a future project (truck) actually.