650hcs
Addict
Anybody have any good ideas for a homemade cafe seat.
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homemade cafe seat ideas
- Thread starter 650hcs
- Start date
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- frame seat ideas
jchrisk1
XS650 Junkie
A lot of guys on dotheton.com make their own. You might check over there.
jd750ace
Front Toward Enemy
If I was doing a cafe, I would do the fiberglass mold of the frame tubes to build up the base plate. I would build attach tabs into it from the get-go, so you don't have to jack up the glass later. Some folks go to shops that do boat seats and get a block of medium density foam, and cut it to form. I would get some top grain cowhide, fit it up for about 1-1.5 inches underlap, install eyelets, and lace it on. That way it's easy to modify if it's not comfortable.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Go to Dime City's website and watch the video of Herm making a cafe seat. He makes it look so easy I might even try it. He shapes up a seat from foam from a hobby store and lays up the fiberglass. Looks like a store bought seat when he's done except fits the lines of the bike he's making it for much better than just any old universal fitting seat off the shelf. I like places like Dime City that builds cafe bikes out of old relics that most people have long since forgot about. They seem to be partial to old Honda's their at Dime City.
jefft
jefft
mrkil
XS650 Addict
Here is the one I made for my XJ for less than $50
I also did this one for the same bike and it was the first attempt which looked great but wasn't the most comfortable.
man I miss that bike
I also did this one for the same bike and it was the first attempt which looked great but wasn't the most comfortable.
man I miss that bike
Marvelicious
Naturally Aggravated
Thanks for that. Gives me some ideas...
650hcs
Addict
thanks fellas
650hcs
Addict
Here is the one I made for my XJ for less than $50
I also did this one for the same bike and it was the first attempt which looked great but wasn't the most comfortable.
man I miss that bike
nice man, i like thatbike
bergoff
XS650 Addict
Jefft thanks for the Dime City tip. Their videos were very helpful. I just picked up all the stuff to build a cafe seat. But at 6'5" a cafe build might not go to well.
Noticed there is another cafe seat builder now on ebay. He goes by Twinlinemoto on ebay. He is making aluminum or steel cafe racer seats. I think he is out of Seattle. Phone he gives is 206-240-7418. Not cheap but I thought I would mention it since not many making cafe seats out of anything other than fiberglass. He makes them around your frame dimentions not just a universal seat. The ones he has on ebay look pretty nice and one has a built in rear tail light.
jefft
jefft
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Cafe-Dave
XS650B
I just finished tooling / wet layup of my seat pan. I have all the pictures at home, I'll put together some information after work.
Tape, Clay, Wax, Epoxy, Fiberglass. Pre plan what kind of hardware you want to use, and take that into consideration as you are doing tooling layout.
You can use foam from the craft store, or even layers of cardboard. Clay over the top of that to fair in the surfaces, paste wax to release. I'll never use polyester again, since laminating epoxy costs about $17 to do a seat pan. It's soooo nice.
Tape, Clay, Wax, Epoxy, Fiberglass. Pre plan what kind of hardware you want to use, and take that into consideration as you are doing tooling layout.
You can use foam from the craft store, or even layers of cardboard. Clay over the top of that to fair in the surfaces, paste wax to release. I'll never use polyester again, since laminating epoxy costs about $17 to do a seat pan. It's soooo nice.
ontherocks
XS650 Addict
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This...
Hoperator
book stains on motor oil
boner. I have one.
BruceDeuce
XS650 Addict
Now thats a boat tail!
westonboege
XS650 Addict
I made this one out of metal for a little CB360 cafe ive been working on...
Made a template out of cardboard and hand hammered some 16 ga sheet metal to form it... ground welds flat and skim coat and it should look decent...
Made a template out of cardboard and hand hammered some 16 ga sheet metal to form it... ground welds flat and skim coat and it should look decent...
Irish_prick
master of the cut'n wheel
mini bike seat and a mod'd trump fender
650hcs
Addict
Thanks for all the great info everyone. I decided to make my own useing a aluminum seat pan that I cut to size and heated with a torch and bend to shape using C-clamps. then i glued some foam to it and tried to upholster it but it came out looking like shit so I had it professionly upholstered by a local Austin shop Grateful Threads and it came out awesome. He riveted the fabric to the seat pan and put a 3/4 gel pad on top of the foam to add a little more comfort. Here are some pics of the process
Attachments
Any pics of how you mounted that seat to the frame? Mine is very similar and at this stage I'm planning to fix some button head bolts to the seat pan before I upholster it and they would be positioned so I can drill through the frame in a spot that won't compromise the frame integrity.
Keen to hear any other ideas.
Keen to hear any other ideas.
650hcs
Addict
Sure man, i just took some for ya.
So, first thing i did was remove the tab on the end of the tank that has a hole in it to fit over that bolt sticking up on the frame. I did this because it interfears with the seat being able to sit flat. In my opinion you dont really need it, the tank isnt going anywhere unless you crash. then I drilled a hole in the seat pan so it can utilize that bolt and keep the front of the seat stationary. In the back I welded a flat bar between the rails and drilled two holes on either side, then place the seat on where you like it and mark through the holes on the flat bar onto the bottom of the seatpan with a sharpie so you know where to drill holes into the bottom of the seat pan. To attach the seat to the flat bar I used rivnuts in the seat pan and a bolt with washers going through the flat bar and into the rivnut. Just make sure when you drill holes in the back of the seatpan you make them the outside diameter off the rivnut then push the rivnut into the hole, should be tight and use the crimping tool to sqeeze the rivnut into place. I used aluminum rivnuts and wish i used steel ones instead because after taking the seat on and off a handfull of times one of the rivnuts came loose. you can always get larger diameter rivnuts and drill larger holes and replace the old ones, but probably not too many times.but it stays on fine with just one anyway. Hope this helps.
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