Seat Pans...not A Bobber

[ikewineb]

I've been wanting to try my hand a a seat. I'm confused a little about pans. The thing is, I don't want a bobber style seat and my girlfriend would get the wrong idea if I made a solo. Does anyone know anyone that offers factory styled pans that are reasonably priced? I'd like a two up or solo with pillion. I could make either of those choices work if someone knows of a source.

Before everone jumpst on the obvious. I know I could make the pan from fiberglass myself. I have given some thought to that. For my own bike, I might would do that. I would eventaully like to make several for different bikes. If I could buy pans like that, it would be much quicker and easier. I also don't like the idea of using my bike as a tool...

I asked the local HD dealer, and they said that HD doesn't offer just the pan, you've got to buy a complete seat. They told me to check out drag specialties...I could only find bobber style pans there though.

[paprhangr]

If you decide to make your own pan.there is a good video at dimecitycycles.com that shows how to make a fiberglass seat for a café racer

Todd accufast2d.net might make you a pan.

[ikewineb]

Yeah, I checked them out, they are making steel pans in a chopper style. I sent him an email just in case though. I've seen the videos on how to make the pans from fiberglass. The thing is, if i was going to build one for someone else, I'd have to have their bike for an extended period of time.

[eglideride]

what if you used "stock/used" seats...example: I have a 2004 Road King Custom stock seat sitting in my basement..needs a good home...seems like no one really wants the stock seats- strip it, use the pan...just a thought.

[ikewineb]

That is certainly an option. What I've found though is that people want quite a bit for their stock seats, which really surprised me. My local HD store is having a take off parts sale next month. I'm going to go snoop around. Who, knows, they might make me a decent deal if I took them all. If anyone in NC or southern VA has a seat that would fit a 12 FXDWG they would let go cheap, I'd be interested.

[benlilly1]

Ikewineb, Look on Craigslist for used seats. You may get off cheaper.

[ikewineb]

I've checked Craigslist and the like. Most folks are looking at $150 - $200 for a stock seat. I have a feeling the people that have damaged and torn seats, probably don't sell them because they don't think anyone would be interested.

An interesting twist, I got an email back from Saddlman (I emailed a lot of seat companies), and they said they would sell me just the pan and foam. I'm waiting to get a quote, to see if it is reasonable. I just can't imagine I'm the only one that has wanted to cover and make a standard style seat. I'll let you guys know what they say...in case you are interested.

[paprhangr]

Once you get your Hands on one, might could make a fiberglass mold of it for making future seats

[olds cool]

Keep an eye out for local swap meets. Most guys bring in loads of stock crap and ripped up seats are usually pretty cheap.

[Uncle Fester]

I hate to be the one to point out the obviouse, but couldn't you use Kidex to make a custom seat pan?

[mendedbowl]

Biltwell offers several different styles of seat pans with foam. They have cafe, challenger, thin line solo, banana, etc. Their prices seem a little high to me, but the foam is already attached and shaped.

[ikewineb]

Kydex would not be nearly strong enough and becomes pliable when hot. Air cooled engine sitting under it on a 100 degree day...oh, it woudn't be good.

Good Call on biltwell. I'm going to email them and see if they have anything two up or offer a pillion to match one of the solos. You are right, that is a bit pricy, but it would take a lot of the work out of it. I'm not really interested in shaping foam and the like. I just want to do the leatherwork.

[ikewineb]

So, I've talked to Saddleman (still waiting on a final word there), corbin, drag specialties, biltwell, and a few others that never responded. It looks like to get anything close to what I want, I either have to find a stock seat or make my own pan. My concern with making a pan is laying the fiberglass on my bike, especially if I decide to make more than one.

Uncle Fester's comment got me to thinking. I don't know if this would work, but...What if I made a mold on the bottom of my factory seat with kydex. basically, just lay Kydex in it and heat it until it conforms to the bottom of the factory pan. Then I could tape it up and lay the fiberglass ontop of the mold. Would that work? There has to be a problem with it, or smarter guys than me would of thought of it already. For that matter, you could about cast it in plaster. In my head, it would give you a workable mold to make multiple pans on. The biggest benefit is I could make them on my bench and not on my bike.

[paprhangr]

here is something interesting that I stumbled upon a while back,

http://midnightcustoms.blogspot.com/2011/11/part-16-seat-pan.html

[Uncle Fester]

I've been riding, and working in bike shops my whole life, and I've never seen the seat of a cruiser get as hot as your suggesting. Some sport bikes that run the exhaust under the seat are the only excepion that i can think of.

That beeing said, I have a hand made solo seat that was given me by a friend that has Kidex as a seat pan.

Not trying to be argumetative, just stating what i know from experiance.

[ikewineb]

Not argumentative at all. If I'm worng about something, I appreciate someone pointing it out. I've made kydex holsters before, and from my experience, they can get soft at surprisingly low temps. Not like the weapons going to fall out soft, but loose some detail in the forming.

I've been doing some reading since your post and there appears to be grades of kydex. The thickeness of the kydex could be a factor too. Holster's typically use pretty thin stuff. Any idea how thick the kydex on your seat is? Could you lay fiberglass ontop of it to add strength? I mean, I know you can, but would it bond. Any info or ideas there would be helpful.

[Uncle Fester]

I'll get a look, and maybe some pics, tomorrow before I head out to work.

[Uncle Fester]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I didn't get any pics, but the pan is 1/8" thermoplastic of some sort.

[ikewineb]

So, I've been doing quite a bit of research on this. There are some pans made from kydex, but not many at all. Most Thermoplastic pans are made from a laminated ABS. This is the same stuff that a factory pan is made from. I've decided I'm going to try to just make a mold with Kydex and then build a fiberglass pan on top of that. There are two big benfits I see. First, I could use it mutile times to build more than just one pan. I could even borrow a few friends bikes for a few hours to make the same molds for. Second, I wouldn't have to risk getting resin on my bike. The last thing I want is to make her mad at me. It will be a while before I can get to it, but I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

[scottk1967]

This has been interesting. I've gone through a lot of seats and have a couple I bought at swap meets sitting around waiting for me to get motivated. My dads done upholstery work for many decades and has done many do overs on my existing pan either Hd or aftermarket. We prefer metal pans by leaps and bounds. HD factory pans are a dissapointmet. My dads gotten older and it's my turn to start doing sets for myself and there's a lot to learn. My thought is if you use some sort of Kydex or plastic you got nothing to loose if you build it yourself every time you do a seat you'll learn something and get better just like my dad did and I hope to. I'd put some sort of soft fabric or some thing under your pan to keep your paint nice where it rubs. GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN DOING IT!

[ikewineb]

I picked up two softail seats this weekend. The HD dealer had a take off sale, selling used parts. I got them for $25 each. I picked out the roughest of the stack. I figured I'll try to learn/practice in steps. Start with a recover of an existing pan, then foam and cover, then pan foam and cover. Now, I need to find a source for seat tangs. The front ones seem simple enough. It's just a simple piece of bent bar stock. The rear fender tang needs to be dressed up a bit.

[BadX]

your going to have to do some serious trimming to get a softail seat on a Dyna. There is a guy over on the HDForums.com who makes Dyna and sportster seats, I don't remember his name but look through the classifieds for him, he may sell you just a seat pan. Next option would be to get in touch with C&C seats and see if they would sell you just a seat pan, those guys are pretty good to work with also.

[Twisted 66]

after reading this post I have just added another item to my "to do" list lol I have my old stock seat from my Suzuki boulevard in my garage and it never even occurred to me to sculpt down the foam and recover it DUH! thanks for the thought

[David]

Thumbs down on the fiberglass seat pan..... Steel doesn't crack!

Dave

[ikewineb]

I'm not going to try to put the softail seat on the Dyna...I know that won't work. I got them to practice with and make a mold from. If they turn out well, I'll sell them. If not...no one will ever hear about it ;-). One pan I have is for a duce and the other a softail 00 and up, I believe. The Duce is missing the rear tab and the softail is missing the front tap. Those, I can make. If anyone has a picture of those taps or the measurements, that'd be a huge help. For now, I plan on just setting nuts in the fiberglass for the tabs to be bolted on the seat.

It's confusing...I know. I agree the steel pans are obviously stronger than fiberglass. I think working a metal pan for a two up seat is just way too much work. Every two up seat I've ever seen has either a fiberglass pan, or an ABS plastic pan. If you have ideas of how to make a two up steel pan, I'm all ears though. I'd love to hear some ideas. I'm going to tear the seats apart and try and get my molds made this weekend.