Finally done! First seat.

[whinewine]

I finally finished my first motorcycle seat. It was part payment on a Nikon D70s with a Nikon 70-210 lens. The man didn't want anything fancy- he just wanted a compass rose on it- in saddle tan color. The saddle tan looked too 'orangy' for my taste, so I applied a mixture of british tan/bick4 over topof the saddle tan, with 3 coats of neatlac & a light coating of pecards over top of that, & buffed. He liked the darker combo- said it "looked rich". Then he said, "you could have added more stuff to it". Oh well, kinda late now.

Thanks for all who helped: David, Beeza & special thanks to Outcast, who answered all my stupid questions & walked me through the process from start to finish. Thanks guys!!!

And no, I didn't take the pics with the new camera, 'cause at the time, I hadn't delivered the seat yet (plus I gotta figure out how it works now: [it's a computer first, & a camera second]).

I'm gonna try to post now...

[whinewine]

I finally finished my first motorcycle seat. It was part payment on a Nikon D70s with a Nikon 70-210 lens. The man didn't want anything fancy- he just wanted a compass rose on it- in saddle tan color. The saddle tan looked too 'orangy' for my taste, so I applied a mixture of british tan/bick4 over topof the saddle tan, with 3 coats of neatlac & a light coating of pecards over top of that, & buffed. He liked the darker combo- said it "looked rich". Then he said, "you could have added more stuff to it". Oh well, kinda late now.

Thanks for all who helped: David, Beeza & special thanks to Outcast, who answered all my stupid questions & walked me through the process from start to finish. Thanks guys!!!

And no, I didn't take the pics with the new camera, 'cause at the time, I hadn't delivered the seat yet (plus I gotta figure out how it works now: [it's a computer first, & a camera second]).

I'm gonna try to post now

Dammit, I can't get but 1 pic uploaded: if I try to upload another, the original one doubles. Heck with it tonight.

[Spider]

Nice work. This seat is solid. Did you do your own foam?

[outcast]

WOW! That is an outstanding seat. Especially for a first, and a two-up to boot! That color is RICH! I really like it. You really pulled it off. Good job Russ!

[whinewine]

Spider: no, that's the original foam. Lots of wetting/stretching/molding/compressing. My older boy & I spent most of Saturday doing it.

Thank you!

Outcast: thank you!

[TomSwede]

Very nice! Like someone said, that colour is rich and beatiful.

Nice shape of the seat aswell and I really like compassroses.

Tom

[Beaverslayer]

For your first you've done a real good job. Funny, my first seat was a two-up as well. Almost quite doing them after that one...LOL

Looks real good.

Ken

[whinewine]

Here are some more pictures. My son is helping me because I'm stupid.

[Snuffy]

Nice work. You are not stupid, just new technology challenged. My father in law called me to help get his new TV system setup. He said he would have done it his self but he was too dumb. I told him that we both just know different things. He is an outstanding horseman but the saddle would probably fall off if I tried to saddle one. Same with my Mom. She will call me to take care of something at her house and apologize for being too dumb to do it herself. I told her the time may come when knowing how to kill chickens and can the meat for later will be worth a lot more than knowing how to repair a flush toilet. I think we all have different skills and if we try, we can learn new ones.

Snuffy

[zman7458]

nice work, espcially for a first. I hope my first seat is nearly as good. I have to agree with Snuffy, it's all about the learning curve, not stupidity at all.

[Scary Leatherworks]

Whinewine,

that is about the same shape as my seat that I want to do. So you cut the top of the seat shape out then stiched it back in and after you wet it and form it? do you also rivet it to the bottom while still wet?

[rdb]

Nice job! That looks like a tough first effort. Everything will be easy after that one...lol

[whinewine]

Whinewine,

that is about the same shape as my seat that I want to do. So you cut the top of the seat shape out then stiched it back in and after you wet it and form it? do you also rivet it to the bottom while still wet?

Murse:

The top is 6-7 oz, the gusset is 3-4 oz (a heck of a lot easier to wetform 3-4 than 6-7= this is why the lighter weight is used). The top is slightly larger than the gusset (by about 3/8") & the gusset is slightly smaller (by about 3/8") than the top. In effect, they overlap, for strength. I ended up gluing on the overlap. First set of holes are punched into the overlap (2 thicknesses, 6/7 + 3/4); second set of holes are only into the 3-4... & yes, the rivets are done while still wet (I stapled just for a temporary hold, then drilled & riveted, then removed the staples after the seat dried.

I hope this helps.

russ

rdb: thank you. It was a tough effort till I finally decided that it was down to the wire & I needed to get it done & I didn't want to buy him another seat after I ripped off the old plastic...

The man for whom I made this promised to take pics of it on his bike for me, but so far I haven't seen any (hey, he owns a camera store!!!).

Edited April 22, 2008 by whinewine