This is the nicest seat I’ve done yet. I’m a bit of a perfectionist…so even though most of my seats are FINE, I see all the little flaws and things I could have done better. But this one is the closest I’ve ever come to being completely happy with my upholstery job.
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Well thanks for all the crossed fingers everyone. I managed to get the seat ready for upholstery. Lots of trimming and welding! It was VERY tricky to get that perforated metal welded in place…so thin…Then I got the seat pan shaped and cut out. I’ll wait to upholster it until the tank is mounted and finished, so I can ensure a good mating of the two parts.
Misty gave me the idea to just put the metal there on the under side. I’ll use it somehow to mount the tail light…maybe individual LED’s in the perforated holes? hmmmmm
So far so good! Not sure what to get onto next. I’ll probably try to make the new 2-1 intake manifold tomorrow for the VM34 round slide carb. Then I can do the underside of the tank, then upholster and get the tail section powder coated, by then the bearings will be in for the front end, then I’ll have to relocate the brake caliper, shorten the forks, and make spacers for the new wheel, order/ mount new tires, wire it, and come up with some exhaust situation…then…done! Phew…
For the tail piece I wanted to get a little creative. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at metal fab so here is my chance! I cut and welded a “skeleton” of the tail piece together and then laid some perforated metal down to see how it looked.
But the problem with that is in the end it wouldn’t look “finished” ya know? After welding it up there would be rough edges and I can’t have that, plus I was sad to cover up the cool skeleton I made. I really wanted to keep the perforated look because I haven’t seen that before…SO I came up with a solution!
This is obviously just the beginning of this process, had to call it a night for now. Basically I’m going to shape and weld the metal separately between each piece of the frame. This solves the loose ends because the pieces are now recessed into the tail piece as opposed to being laid over top. It also allows the skeleton to become an integral part of the look as well as function. I hope the perforated metal ends up looking good in the end. I’ve decided I’ll be getting the whole sub frame powder coated black to match the frame once I’m done fabricating it.
Tomorrow I intend to have the seat done and the pan ready to upholster *fingers crossed*
Today I got the seat frame fabricated.
It is a pretty high stance, I’m 5’10” and can’t really flat foot, but that’s on the center stand, it will probably come down to a nice height when it is rolling (or maybe I’ll just have to sell it to a tall dude/ dudette!). I like the look of the re-bar. I think I may keep it raw, and keep the tank the stock blue. It already says Yamaha on it so I’m all set! Now I need to get my 18G sheet metal out and fab up the tail piece/ make a new bottom side for the gas tank. Then I’ll get the seat pan ready for foam and upholstery.
Hopefully the steering and wheel bearings will be here early next week… I really want to see it with the new front end.
Hack weld hack weld hack weld. Repeat.
I’m getting sick of waiting for all the new bearings to come in for the front end swap on this dude so I got a tank out and started to whack it down to fit. Here is a rough up.
Next of course is to come up with a tail piece so the tank doesn’t look like it is floating there. And to have a place to sit…I suppose. Hack weld hack weld hack weld. I went and got some re-bar to make the tail piece from. I think it will create a unique, rough-cut look while being very sturdy and functional. So far I’ve only got a piece of it chopped up…
I know, it doesn’t look like much at all. But I have something cooking in the ole noggin and I hope it will materialize half as well as it looks in my head! Gotta start thinking colors…Or leave it raw? hmmmmm I think this bike may be a “rat V”
So just a few hours after hearing this puppy run and taking the initial “pre-build” pics. I’ve got it stripped down to what is staying.
I know, not a lot left! Don’t worry, some new things will be going on instead. Here is the scrap pile that is getting junked tomorrow. I’d say it is about 50% of the bike haha.
Actually the mufflers I’ll be selling on eBay, they’re like new. And the carbs are getting sold to purchase a VM34 round slide to do a single carb swap with. Gonna hopefully be sweet and simple! Okay that’s it for tonight…bed time. Tomorrow I go get new bearings for the front end swap and front wheel. I probably won’t have the front end mounted and done tomorrow because there is always complications but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Stay posted!
I finally got around to upholstering the solo seat for the Ninja. I had procrastinated on it as long as possible because I knew it would be hard! Since the tank is coming back from paint tomorrow I was forced to get everything else in line so I spent a few hours and it wasn’t as painfully difficult as I had expected. Here is the final product. Painted/ finished pics to come!
This is still one of my first seats. It was quite a challenge! I cut/ formed the seat pan from scratch, foamed/ shaped the style. Then upholstered it. I feel so accomplished knowing I made this 100% from blank stock materials! Not too shabby eh?
Still have a lot to learn though…And even longer way to go before I can really call myself a seat upholsterer.