Seat Modification

[JStones]

I am going to take a shot at modifying the original seat pan from the large bench seat to a one seater or possibly a more modern 2 seat option. I already have a Goldwing so 2 up riding isnt a necessity.

I thought about buying a manufactured solo seat but Solo seats just seem so outrageous in terms of price when they still may not be a comfortable fit for a rider.

This way I will control my foam and its placement.

I will post pictures with my progress but I was wondering if anyone has any pictures or success stories of their attempts?

 

[verde]

Built a big seat and a solo seat from scratch. The thick neoprene is a bit too firm, but it was pretty easy to work with. It'll be a little trial and error to learn how to work with the foam you've got(I'm guessing you're shaving down the stock foam?) The electric turkey knife thing is well known... I tired it and kinda bogged down with the thick foam. switched to a regular serrated kitchen knife for the rough shaping and it worked great. Bondo body file(basically the same thing as a dry wall rasp) worked OK for some shaping. Course 3M sanding sponge turned out to be the best for finishing up the shaping.

Still haven't done the leather on the solo seat:

 

[JStones]

Extremely cool. Nice vision and execution there. I decided to start from scratch, design and roll a whole new pan rather than carve up the existing. I have access to everything Ill need. (Old man teaches shop) I've finished up a few projects this week(new short stalk Turn signals, removed sissy bar, some frame paint touch up, trying to clean up the engine and covers) and started trying to make a good template. My goal is to have this lip up to meet tank, roll down on sides to cover gap between seat and side cover, and roll up onto fender. So everything is just tedious.

 

[verde]

Extremely cool. Nice vision and execution there.

Thanks.

So you're going from scratch, eh? That's gonna be a great project, take lots o' pics. Got your foam figured out yet? Layers glued together with the 3M spray glue work perfectly fine -- In fact the glue lines help guide in shaping things symmetrically. I bought a big thing of 2 inch thick foam, but probably would have been better off with 1 inch. When I did glue layers I found it better to put them together with the spray glue wet, and wait a bit longer. Trying to use it sort of like contact cement as the instructions call for only works if you get the placement exactly right. I found I liked gorilla glue better than the spray glue for bonding the foam to the seat pan. Only problem with that is you got to clamp it for 2 or 3 hours instead of 20 minutes.

This might be a useful illustrative pic. Here's me forcing the foam to conform to the solo seat pan. Notice the scrap piece of foam used with the black clamp to spread the clamping load out so I didn't form too permanent a dent with the clamps. The big "tool" is the leg off an incline sit-up bench which was also used to bend the pan:

If you haven't seen his build thread yet, check out Blower's "Scraps Racer" project for some motivation too . Nice cafe seat for an amazing bike build.

You can see how he worked the back corner with multiple pieces in this pic:

 

[JStones]

Verde,
Thanks for all the time into that post. Mighty creative on the incline bench tool that gave me a good chuckle. I went through and peeked at your threads as well. Very impressive. Extremely talented. I appreciate the insight on the glues as well.
As for my seat, I have been playing with designs. I picked up some cheap fabric store foam(Ill get good stuff when I find my direction) and cardboard and have been playing with cutouts and placing them on the bike and trying them out. Starting to get somewhere with it. Hopefully will have something rolling this weekend. I will post a lot of pics throughout.