This seat marks one of the final steps in this build. I recently got all the parts back from PC. My tank will be done soon. I finished wiring the bike last night and everything is working! Haven’t tried to run it yet, need to do a little more buttoning up first. But I’m very, very close!
I’m VERY excited about this build.
So my first seat was really uninspiring and dragging down my whole mojo for this build. So I got my pan plastic out and started to cut. Came up with a better design (I think) that flowed onto the tank a bit. With one layer of 1/2″ neoprene it still wasn’t putting a smile on my face…So I began to pile foam on foam on foam, then took my angle grinder out (over kill much?) and began torturing the seat until it conformed to my booty like a glove. I’m happy with this final product, I can’t wait to try to upholster it!
Geeez I’ve been horrible about updating this thing. Right now I’m prepping the tank for paint…but more on that soon!
Man this weather has been killing me! I can’t get a lick o’ work done when it is 2 degrees outside and in my shop! We’ve been having snow and ice storms and have more coming down the pike. So I haven’t had much to share on here. But since my sewing machine is in the house I have been practicing with it. I re-did the rising sun seat for the XS750 a 3rd time! And this one I am actually proud of! This is the best pic of it for now…
Also did my first commissioned seat. Which turned out very nicely I must say. Granted it was like the most simple seat pan ever. It is just part of a cafe style seat.
I’m also working on a chair for my step dad, which I’ll post later, and someone shipped me an old stock seat for their triumph that I’m doing right now. First time working with a stock pan and foam…it is HARD! But coming along nicely. Just need to form it to the seat now.
That was the second attempt at the cover…the first was a big lesson! I’m learning tons with each seat I love it so much!
This is for an XS400 I stumbled into awhile back. Just another practice seat until I get good enough to do my RD120 or similar serious builds. The seat pan was a skate board deck!
First I cut and adhere some of my foam to the pan. Then I shape it with my angle grinder (over kill much?)…Hey it works okay?
Then I upholstered it with some scrap material I had left over. Just enough to do a simple little job.
I’m improving a little with each seat. It is so much fun I can’t wait to do another one!
My second attempt at making my first seat was a bit more successful. But I’m not satisfied yet…
Here is what it took for me to make the foam part of the seat.
I painted the seat pan:
Then I cut and shaped the 1″ firm foam for a base layer. Notice in the center I cut a “v” in the foam and glued it together so it would make the sharp curve and hold in place.
Once that layer cured, I glued a second, softer 1″ layer on top of that, for comfort and to make the seat the desired height. It took lots of delicate angle grinding and shaping to get it just right.
At this point I haven’t decided if I’ll do a fluff layer on top for the pleats. I may just glue strips to the underside of the upholstery and see how that works…but we’ll see.
Rough fit on the bike, just to get an idea. And below you can see the tail light I also installed last night.
Now it’s really taking shape! I have on order 20 new main jets so I can tune the carbs perfectly. Stock main is a #102, I ordered sets of #105, #110, #115, #120, and #140. I’m pretty sure #120 will be the right one but every bike is different. When they come in we’ll see if she runs!
I’m going to my mom’s now to start upholstery.
So I decided it was time to give my daily rider little pip some much needed attention. For starters, the seat needed better padding and nicer upholstery. Since I am about to be doing the CB750 seat, I figured it would be good to get some practice on the 125 to see if I can make a seat nice enough for the 750.
Step one was to cut up and stitch a new seat cover. Unfortunately I forgot to take good photos of the process, but after several hours on my mom’s sewing machine I managed to cook this up.
This was my first attempt but it turned out half decent, I’m pleased. I think my next shot for the CB750 will look very passable. So after I finished sewing that I just cut out and glued some neoprene to the seat pan. I then glued a layer of soft, thin foam on top of that for extra comfort and to keep the pleats puffy. Here is the finished product after I riveted the cover on and re-installed it to the bike. Note that I am still using the aluminum street sign seat pan I made for it originally!
I’m going to document the CB750 seat upholstery job much better I hope. Next I am going to rebuild the front forks on this little guy!
So like most old bikes I get, the front brake caliper was GROSS, and the master cylinder was shot. I completely disassembled the caliper, gave it a good ultrasonic bath, removed the flaking paint, and got this…
Once they dried I prepped and painted them with good high heat gas/oil resistant paint so now they look like this.
Once reassembled and installed, it looks great and once I hook it all up, should work wonderfully!
I bought 3 master cylinders so that I had a selection to choose from, black vs silver, and different bore sizes. I want the best for my baby!
After that was all squared away I wasn’t sleepy yet, at 1:30am…so I decided to finally get those pesky header clamps off. the deed is done, though it wasn’t easy. This here is an example of why you should ALWAYS replaced exhaust gaskets…
Funny side note, a stock CB125 front sprocket and a stock CB750 front sprocket. Can you guess which is which?
And I will leave you today with this, $80 worth of the highest quality neoprene foam available, this should make about 10 bike seats so it’s really not too expensive when you do the math. It is TOTALLY worth every penny too, it’s extremely comfortable.
Until next time.
ONE-UP Moto Garage 