mission accomplished

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…

Trying something different

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*

Jeff’s XS650 seat

Just popped this seat out for a buddy. He did the pan and foam, I just made the cover, digging it!

So close I can ride it…but haven’t

Well the Ninja has just a smidgen of work left before it can be my daily! I snapped a few preliminary shots of it because I am too excited to keep it hidden in my shop. From day one this build has taken me just shy of two months (if you don’t count the 2 weeks I was out of town). So it is one of my quickest frame up builds!

Left to do: grips and K&N air filter are in the mail, they need installed. Then I can start the tuning process which will take some time and frustration I’m sure. But VERY soon this bike will be 100% and I’ll be sure to take some classy pics of it ASAP.

 

I know I know…I did a horrible job updating this build. It went from nothing to done in 2 posts. I’m still not set up with an adequate camera situation. My GoPro isn’t good for it without a screen and poor low light quality. So I need to find a little powershot or something. This IS a priority!

Derek’s XS400 seat.

It kicked my arse but turned out in the end!

 

It wasn’t easy but had to be done.

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!

 

 

My new cockpit

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!

Brown is the new black

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.

Slow storm

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!

Seat #2.

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!