Friday 6 February 2009

Making the solo seat

Here are the pics as promised.
The material used was:
1 old road sign
1 piece of high density foam mat - dad used it in the garden
Spray glue
Naugahyde - had an old piece at home
electric saw and drill
bolts, washers and nuts
electrical tape for the edges.

First I made the pattern on thin baking paper, I folded the paper in half to get it symmetrical.
I then transferred it to the road sign and cut it out with a saw, filed the edges and taped them with electrical tape. I also drilled the holes about 8 cm apart (3") and mounted screws, washers and bolts and super-glued them.

The pattern and foam before I cut out the shape.

Here you can see the cut in the sign and that I took 2 pieces of foam to cover the seat pan.
I cut it with a surgical knife. The foam is about 2cm (3/4") thick.


I then spray glued the foam and sign, let it wait for 1/2h and pressed them together, and added the second layer of foam, same process.
Then I made the rough form with the knife, finished with the drilling machine with some sand paper on it to make it smoooth.
Sprayed glue again on the foam and the naugahyde, let it set for another 30 min and the pressed the upper side to the foam, then the edges.


I then trimmed the naugahyde and spray glued the hyde and the sign again for final touch.

And from behind so one can see that it´s made from a sign, otherwise I would have glued another piece of naugahyde there for a super finish.


I hurried to mount the thing on the bike and I think it turned out just fine.
The bracket is just temporary as I couldn´t find any at the bike shop that fit to the tank mount. I don´t have a welder so I had to go another way around it.
Any comments?

26 comments:

  1. looks like shit....

    ReplyDelete
  2. previous dude's a wanker.
    looks kool.
    congrats for havin the balls to be a true "do it yerself" hotrod biker.
    to hell with bolt-on storebought trinkets! you'll have a kool bike to ride tall on.
    well done.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ...see, now why I can' I be resourceful? awesome job.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Was looking for a ready made seat. You have inspired me to make my own. Using a sign as a seat pan is brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i stole a stop sign last night just to make a seat like yous bad ass man

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks fort all the comments guys.
    But a STOP sign might not be the best sign to steal. Your seat is not worth an accident. Steal a sign that says "Rancho Santa Margarita 115 miles". Then you could get at least five seats out of that sign alone. Any other really long sign would work as well if you don´t live in California.

    ReplyDelete
  7. thx for the idea.now I can finish my bike.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice work, dude. Too many people think they need $30,000 and an Arlen Ness catalog to build something cool. I'm gonna steal your idea to make a seat for my SR500 bobber.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It does look like absolute shit. It would be nicer if the foam edges were rounded and not squared off.. And hell... if you didnt steal something that my fucking tax dollars pay to replace.

    Fucking idiot.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The last chicken Anonymous is not even man enough to sign with his name. And to chickens I only say one thing:
    Watch your back for the cock!

    Recycling a broken sign from an illegal dump, that don´t add to your tax, it´s the opposite. The city don´t have to pay for cleaning it up.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey, Really cool post. How did you get that nice bend in the sign? So yer ass doesn't fly off the seat at WOT? You got a really nice crease in it.


    Hammer on the edge of the work table?

    ReplyDelete
  12. really cool i am gonna put it on my next project

    ReplyDelete
  13. Too funny. I just cut my seat pan out of a 'no dumping sign' last night. Just need to bend it and attach mounting hardware. Then I get to try my hand at the foam and leather bit. I thought I was nuts for thinking of this. Now I'm feeling a bit better about it. Great job. Keep it up.

    Jon

    ReplyDelete
  14. Like the idea, the effort but not the seat.
    But again if You like it - yhats enough.
    Happy New Year

    ReplyDelete
  15. KUNAL - no unwanted ads in my blog. thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Won't bother with commenting on the haters, just wanted to day I like the seat and am making one just like that as we speak (glue is drying).

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks to all for the positive comments.
    Glad you like the post.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great tutorial! Very well done!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Looks great!
    I'm looking for a bobber seat for a
    Suzuki SV-1000
    wish me luck!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I like your articles very much.you have a quite exceptional view.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Good work bro!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great idea turning a recycled sign into a bobber seat!i purchased a 1983 xv500 w/9,000 mls for the wife a few years ago & she only rode it few times....I'm going to turn it into a bobber!i won't let it waste away, I'm going to go green & recycle the bike....wish me luck...:-D

    ReplyDelete
  23. Adding to this idea... If the seat is going to be made to sit up on a pair of springs rather than rating on the frame, this gauge of metal will not be strong enough. Luckily, you can double up the metal and attach two layers with a pop rivet gun out some heavy-duty adhesive (the kind in a caulk tube). This will give the curves in the seat added rigidity. In all, as long add you're not out stealing stop signs, this us a pretty clever use of old materials. Why waste money on sheet metal?

    ReplyDelete