daught
Well-known member
I am about to reupholster a motorcycle seat. Rather than going with vinyl I was considering going with a textile material. Anyone know where I could get some material? Any material recommandations?
Seat cover
- Thread starter daught
- Start date
TorontoBoy
Well-known member
Marine grade vinyl is the standard for motorcycle seats. It has a built in UV protector that most other vinyls lack, so it will last a lot longer. You could go with ballistic nylon, but it is not waterproof unless you treat it. Seats need to be waterproof, so any material that is porous would leak water, soak into the seat foam and mold.
I am partial to leather. You can get some 1-2 oz leather from an old leather jacket or from Goodwill. Alternately you can buy vegy tan cow leather, carve and dye it to whatever colour or style you wish. This will give you a wide variety of options. Once the seat is done you waterproof it with a couple coats of Lexol. Leather lasts a long time and feels nice. You can buy leather from Tandy Leather.
If you like textile you could also sew interchangeable seat covers. When one gets dirty or you get tired of the colour you could take it off and change it.
I am partial to leather. You can get some 1-2 oz leather from an old leather jacket or from Goodwill. Alternately you can buy vegy tan cow leather, carve and dye it to whatever colour or style you wish. This will give you a wide variety of options. Once the seat is done you waterproof it with a couple coats of Lexol. Leather lasts a long time and feels nice. You can buy leather from Tandy Leather.
If you like textile you could also sew interchangeable seat covers. When one gets dirty or you get tired of the colour you could take it off and change it.
What type of bike?
I have a ebay hook-up for custom seats for sportbikes, Mine are in the mail and should be here next week.
Sargent Cycle Products does do-it-yourself seat skins, for a number of bikes.
http://www.sargentcycle.com/
http://www.sargentcycle.com/
Look up upholstery supplies on the net or yellow pages. If you are unfamiliar with heavy upholstery you might want to know that a walking foot sewing machine will be your best friend. If you don't have access to one look up some free / cheap courses with the local board of education. You get lessons and the use of a walking foot machine.
stormcat
Well-known member
If you want to spend the coin on something made for your bike rather than do it yourself, I recommend a LuiMoto seat cover. I got mine a year ago, put it on myself, and love, love, love it. I have yet to see another bike on the road here with one (but they seem to be popular in the US). They have preset designs, or you can custom design one yourself. The quality if excellent, too. No fading, no wrinkling (provided you put it on properly), no loose stitches. It still looks just as great as the day I put it on. Oh, and LuiMoto is a Canadian company (based out of BC)! 
http://www.luimoto.com/
Here's mine:
http://www.luimoto.com/
Here's mine:
daught
Well-known member
Thanks, I forgot about yellow pages.
LUI does not even list ktm. My seat is very basic anyways. I want to rip out the wood KTM has put inside their seat and just replace it with 3 sheets of sleeping pad foam from MEC and a neoprene top sheet. I have been using two sheets of blue foam on top of the stock seat and my *** has been very happy.
LUI does not even list ktm. My seat is very basic anyways. I want to rip out the wood KTM has put inside their seat and just replace it with 3 sheets of sleeping pad foam from MEC and a neoprene top sheet. I have been using two sheets of blue foam on top of the stock seat and my *** has been very happy.
