Seat Uphostery

[billincentraljersey]

Anyone have experience with seat uphostery?  

The B1250 seat is generally OK with me.  I used a sheep skin pad for my NJ-CA trip and it was quite comfortable.  One exception ... The seat is not level.  I slided forward and my boys are being uncomfortably binded by the crotch of my pants.  The seat is currently set to the lowest level.  I can adjust the front of seat up to the highest setting and leave the rear setting at the lowest.  That way, the seat will be leveled.  Problem is now the seat is higher than I wanted.  Also, the extra height undo the benefit of the bar risers.

My next attempt is to peel back the uphostery of the seat, and use a 4 inch power grinder to sand down the seat where the cheeks made contact.  The resulting "dishing" of the seat will make it level and also lowers it a bit.  The lowering will also compliment the bar risers to allow me to set more upright.

The vinyl covering is held to the seat pan with staples.  Easy enough to pull the staples off.  How do I get the staples back on?  I can bring it to an uphostery guy.  He'll have the heavy duty stapler.  He'll just tack it back on creating new holes in the PLASTIC seat pan, of course.  Will the extra holes in the seat pan weaken it?  I don't know.  I am hoping some of you guys have experience in doing this.

If I reuse the original vinyl, the extra new holes will also weaken the vinyl sheet.  If it tears a few years from now, it will force me to replace it and create more holes on the seat pan.

Is my worry out of proportion?

[PhilS]

Wow - I thought I was the only one. I find myself sliding forward with even riding solo with the seat in the stock down position and yes, the boys become NUMB!!!! I am 6'4 so raising the front only and leaving the blocks in place turned out to be a good non-sliding fix. I can't speak to your worries, BUT, I am taking my seat into my work where our interior shop is planning to rebuild the front section of my seat. I will document the entire process and post it. I sell business and high-end prop and jet aircraft. Our interior guys know thier stuff and will build a progressive foam dampening seat that's contoured to humans - like Suzuki should have if they weren't so damn cheap!!!!

[skipper]

I have added a camping pad for sleeping bags and that seems to have taken away most of the pain however I think I will try shaping the oem foam with an electric knife and maybe drop in a few gel pads that my wife gets from the hospital where she works I think I might have the seat recovered in leather,I have noticed that newer bicycles have a "v" cut thru them to help prevent prostate problems I'm thinking about that  if I do I should have pictures by then

[billincentraljersey]

I just need to shape it at the butt cheek area, the back end of the rider seat, a bit lower so I won't be sliding forward.  As far as seat softness or hardness, it seems OK for my 3000 miles trip.  So I won't be experimenting with gel or other foam padding.  If I have to change the vinyl material, I'll change it to something more slippery.  I got it all figured out.  Friction is the cause of the "burning".  The claim that the beaded seat pad keeps the seat cool is, in my opinion, a wrong conclusion.  It works because the beads allows for the sliding and avoided the friction rub on the skin.  Seams in undergarment makes thing worse.

Thanks for the reply.  Do post your results to let us all know how it turns out.

[ZenMan]

Several suggestions about the staples...

If you take a penknife and bend each staple leg back to it's original shape, sometimes you can re-use them. Or even leave them in the same holes for when you re-install the seat cover.

If you break the staples taking them off, you can find the same size at an upholstery shop or maybe a hardware store and put the new ones in the same holes. You only need a handful, sometimes a shop will just give them to you.

Depending on how much padding you add or remove, maybe you'll be able to use the same holes in the cover, too. If not, then just punch new holes as you stretch the cover over the staples. Then take a small hammer and bend/fold them back over flat.

Punching new holes may or may not weaken things, so I would re-use the old holes if I could.

[brass]

The staples are not a big issue to deal with. As any motocrosser can tell you.

Simply remove the existing staples and discard them and do what you need to do to the seat foam. When the time comes to reinstall the seat cover, go to your local hardware store and pick up a good sturdy heavy duty staple gun for around $20-35 but don't be cheap with it and get the budget model. (Or you could just borrow one from a friend.) Also pick up some 3/16 staples for it. (maybe $2-3) Use the old staple holes in the seat pan as a guide for where the new staples should go in relation to the edge of the pan but don't try to get them into the same holes. The reason is that the holes are already stretched and not likely to grip the new staples. Don't worry about the pan it'll be able to handle dozens of seat cover changes and hundreds of new staple holes.

Work off a good strudy surface and make sure to lean on the staple gun when you're working it. Work from the front center towards the corners evenly so you don't get wrinkles and trim the excess material when you're done. There will be some if you have cut down the foam. Don't worry about messing up the cover, it's a lot tougher than you think.
Once it's all done, go brag to all your friends that you modified the seat on your own.

[Nitro]

If you really don't like the staples and holes, try contact cement. But be warned, when you put the two glued pieces together, have it where you want it. There is no adjustment possible.

[brass]

The contact cement is a good idea, but it doesn't allow room for errors. Not to mention it'll be next to impossible to hold the cover down tight while the glue sets. If you don't have everything perfect you'll be tearing off the cover and possibly the foam and tossing them in the trash. At least with staples you have a chance to fix wrinkles. I've been changing seat covers on my MX bikes and a few of my street bikes for over 20 years and some of those bikes went through dozens of covers. They were all stapled and the holes in the seat pan were never an issue.

[Nitro]

Once you put the cover on, you won't have to hold it. It sticks instantly (contact cement, applied to both surfaces and allowed to dry until tacky), and does not allow repositioning. It can be pulled loose (with great difficulty) and may damage the cover if you try to remove it. Acetone should dissolve the contact cement though. I have used it to install carpet in boats, and other similar things. If you want to position the seat cover before gluing, put a piece of wax paper between the two, and pull it out when the cover is in the position you want (might take a helper to do that though. You wouldn't need to have the cement around the entire perimeter of the seat pan, I would think.

[brass]

Good point on the instant bond with the glue, you're right you wouldn't have to hold it. But if you get a wrinkle you wouldn't want to have to use anything like Acetone on seat foam or the seat cover, I'd be concerned with it damaging either of them. For a first timer replacing a seat cover I wouldn't recomend using glue.

[billincentraljersey]

One more question ... I suppose the staples have to be short enough so that it won't go through the plastic pan, dumb question, I had to ask.

[brass]

You want to use 3/16 inch long staples. That's what the factory uses. Compare with the factory ones you pull out if you're not sure what you have.