Bike Gear Questions

[IngleGunLeather]

Hello. I got into leatherwork a couple years ago when I was heavily modifying my old Night Train. I wanted to do it all, fork rolls, bags, and of course seats. I even went and got a DVD from Hammer in Hand Cycles. Well, kinda of gave up on this dream after getting a new bike and didn't need those things. Then I moved on to gun leather. I think I have the some of the basics down now and want to start on bike gear again. So, what would be a good place to start with seats? Should I order a seat kit with foam already cut and shaped? Is there a common seat pan that is widely used? I don't have a project bike to put a seat on. Other than me really wanting to be able to make seats, I have no real reason to make one. For all I know, it would probably sit on my shelf after completed. So, I guess I'd like to start with a common seat pan and put a basic design or no design at all just to be able to add this to my list of offerings.

[David8386]

What is it going on? You can get used stock seats on eBay pretty cheap and then strip them down and recover them. That way you have the stock pan in the stock mount. I'm pretty much in the same position with my dyna. It is on my list of things to do just not at the top yet. There are some very talented seat builders on here that can guide you on chopper or springer seats. Good luck

David

[benlilly1]

CountryTrash,

You're not going to find any good kits for seats....Just bite the bullet and do it! There's a kit on Ebay with everything you need, down to the lace and needle but, it's around $300. I get my pans from Accufast2D. My neoprene comes from FoamforYou. You'll probably have less than $75 in supplies for one. I have 3 finished seats sitting on a shelf just so I had product to show for my website. You'll get along fine.

[IngleGunLeather]

CountryTrash,

You're not going to find any good kits for seats....Just bite the bullet and do it! There's a kit on Ebay with everything you need, down to the lace and needle but, it's around $300. I get my pans from Accufast2D. My neoprene comes from FoamforYou. You'll probably have less than $75 in supplies for one. I have 3 finished seats sitting on a shelf just so I had product to show for my website. You'll get along fine.

Thanks. That's pretty much all I want to do I guess. Just do a couple just so I know how to do them in the event someone wants one.

[ramrod]

i got a chuckle out of this thread. I'VE been wanting to do the same thing - just build a seat for no bike in particular just to see if i can do it. i gotta look on ebay for some cheap stock seats to redo.

[Cyberthrasher]

Biltwell are good seat kits to get started on, and they're very well liked in the industry. Plus, the pan is built right for durability.

http://www.biltwelli...ct_detail&p=121

MAKE SURE that you get a pan with some structure built into it. There are a lot of really cheap pans out there that won't hold up for anything. If it's just a straight piece of metal, walk away. it should have some visible reinforcement. If you want to get a cheap one to try it, fine, but keep in mind that anybody you sell it to in the future may get really upset down the road if they weren't informed of the cheap construction ahead of time.

Edited December 15, 2012 by Cyberthrasher

[ramrod]

it's easy to see that the biltwell pans are far stronger. they have ribs rolled into the pan whereas many of the ones i've seen - such as those on ebay - are just formed on an english wheel (perhaps) with no real strength added to them. those ribs will add significantly to it's strength.