First Seat - On The Superglide

[WayOutWatty]

What an experience. Thanks to everyone for all of the information put forth on this forum.. This place (and my trial and error) is my sole source of instruction - never would have been able to pull it off on my own.. Here's some pics of my first seat attempt on the bike.. Pretty happy with the way it turned out. Comments and criticism always welcome. I have some close ups somewhere, I'll dig them up if anyone is interested..

-Watty

[benlilly1]

Great job! I know I find answers and help from this forum all the time. It's a great site.

[OdinUK]

Watty, That looks like a very nice seat. Id like to see some close-ups if its not too much trouble. Do you have any pictures of how the leather is attached to the seat base? I would like to do something similar to my bike seat but I dont know how to go about attaching the leather unless using pop rivits. Thanks.

[WayOutWatty]

Watty, That looks like a very nice seat. Id like to see some close-ups if its not too much trouble. Do you have any pictures of how the leather is attached to the seat base? I would like to do something similar to my bike seat but I dont know how to go about attaching the leather unless using pop rivits. Thanks.

Thanks Paul.. I started with a LePera seat that I got a smokin' deal on.. ($60 - hard to justify spending time to make a pan for that price..) LePera uses rivets to attach their $0.99 vinyl covers on their seats from the factory. I re-riveted through the existing holes with 1/8" stainless pops. (I know someone is dying to toss me some flack about how you can't do that and make the seat lay right, but it worked out okay for me..) The method that worked well for me was pulling the cover tight, glancing at the hole and then pushing a scribe through the leather.. Rivet slips in - no sweat. The bottom of my seat has felt stretched and glued - but that was more of a personal preference than anything.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures while I was working on the seat - it's pretty hard for me to stop working and remember to do so. Here's what I've got. Like I mentioned in the PM - I used 2/3 for the sides and it stretched and conformed to the compound curves like a champ..

There's a lot of dudes that have been doing this a whole hell of a lot longer than I have, I'm sure they can offer some more advice, but if you need anything, I'll be happy to help with what I can man.

-Watty

Top carved

dyed

Lacing with 1/8" kangaroo; 3/8" between rows, slits 1/4" center to center.

[OdinUK]

Thats brilliant, Thanks for the description Watty, I'll find that useful when making my first tooled seat.

[David]

Let me know how that color holds up on your seat.

Dave

[WayOutWatty]

Holding up like a champ so far Dave... I should probably be the one asking you how it's going to hold up though - you're one of the reigning kings of seat building here..

-Watty

[David]

Holding up like a champ so far Dave... I should probably be the one asking you how it's going to hold up though - you're one of the reigning kings of seat building here..

-Watty

Watty, you will notice that I never use color on my seats..... other than different shades of brown..... I did do an oxblood seat for Jeff Cochran....I had to strip and re-dye it three times in the first 6 months. The colors are just too fragile and they fade and rub off easily. The final time I used a couple coats of neet lac ..... way too much of it actually but it helped a bit to keep the color in place for at least a couple months....until the bike sold. I probably won't do color again.

Dave

[WayOutWatty]

Watty, you will notice that I never use color on my seats..... other than different shades of brown..... I did do an oxblood seat for Jeff Cochran....I had to strip and re-dye it three times in the first 6 months. The colors are just too fragile and they fade and rub off easily. The final time I used a couple coats of neet lac ..... way too much of it actually but it helped a bit to keep the color in place for at least a couple months....until the bike sold. I probably won't do color again.

Dave

Your seats are incredible Dave, and I really like the way that the natural leather looks when it's finished. I came into this project as a biker, not a leather worker; if I had a set of objective eyes I would have probably gone with a finish that was a little more "dependable," but unfortunately it had to be black to go on the bike.. (Weird, yeah, I know.. I can't explain it either..)

It certainly hasn't been in service for 6 months, but I've put about 2,400 miles on it (I ride more in a year than most people drive) and it isn't any worse for the wear. I did spend a lot of time dyeing, buffing, redyeing and buffing some more before I sealed the seat. (Conservatively I would guess that I buffed with microfiber towels for 8 or 9 hours total before I was satisfied..) The black and red seemed to be the worst - I ended up with three applications of each before I had something acceptable..

I've never tried Neet Lac, can't say that I've ever even seen it, but I'll keep it in mind if this doesn't work out. I sealed over the Fiebings dyes with diluted resolene applied via airbrush and then gave it a through rubdown with leatherbalm after it dried overnight.. (P.S. - Makes for a pretty slick saddle, I almost ended up on the fender on the first ride!)

I won't be able to give the full torture test - we just got our first accumulating snow here and I'm going back overseas before the weather breaks and the salt gets washed away from the roads. Thanks for the advice and the time, it's very cool that someone who works leather as a trade is willing to help out like all of you guys do..

-Watty

[David]

Your seats are incredible Dave, and I really like the way that the natural leather looks when it's finished. I came into this project as a biker, not a leather worker; if I had a set of objective eyes I would have probably gone with a finish that was a little more "dependable," but unfortunately it had to be black to go on the bike.. (Weird, yeah, I know.. I can't explain it either..)

It certainly hasn't been in service for 6 months, but I've put about 2,400 miles on it (I ride more in a year than most people drive) and it isn't any worse for the wear. I did spend a lot of time dyeing, buffing, redyeing and buffing some more before I sealed the seat. (Conservatively I would guess that I buffed with microfiber towels for 8 or 9 hours total before I was satisfied..) The black and red seemed to be the worst - I ended up with three applications of each before I had something acceptable..

I've never tried Neet Lac, can't say that I've ever even seen it, but I'll keep it in mind if this doesn't work out. I sealed over the Fiebings dyes with diluted resolene applied via airbrush and then gave it a through rubdown with leatherbalm after it dried overnight.. (P.S. - Makes for a pretty slick saddle, I almost ended up on the fender on the first ride!)

I won't be able to give the full torture test - we just got our first accumulating snow here and I'm going back overseas before the weather breaks and the salt gets washed away from the roads. Thanks for the advice and the time, it's very cool that someone who works leather as a trade is willing to help out like all of you guys do..

-Watty

Watty,

You have given me something to try also, I've not used resolene to seal the finish. That just jumped to #1 on my list of things to try. If you have that many miles on the seat in the photos, you may have hit on something that really works.

Take care overseas,

David

[chancey77]

That seat looks like it is wearing VERY NICLY!

I like the dash cover...the break up of skulls in frames is pretty hot!

F'N SWEET!