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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Fiberglass seat, installed!
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Message started by JohnBoy on 01/21/11 at 08:37:23

Title: Fiberglass seat, installed!
Post by JohnBoy on 01/21/11 at 08:37:23

Well the design that I had been using, that worked so well, didn’t. I rebuilt it using steel in all the important mounting areas and it failed to spring…at all! “???” I went back to my original and took a closer look and found that it was failing in numerous locations. It appears that it was giving a softer ride as it was breaking down under my butt.
New design! All the mounting points are steel and my fiberglass is reinforced with extra layers at all the key points. I used the same concept of a base mounted to the frame, and a long thin tongue that mounts to the seat. The difference is that I now have third piece sandwiched between the other two. This third piece is a fiberglass spring formed around a PVC pipe nipple. The overall stiffness of the ride is based on the thickness (number of plys) of fiberglass in the spring. I have found that you can ‘fine tune’ the ride by replacing the PVC pipe nipple with a like sized section of fuel line or steel pipe.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_TCSH6bqjHEM/TTmxZE62z2I/AAAAAAAAA3Q/ISVNBx8qTjA/s576/seatpan%http://lh4.ggpht.com/_TCSH6bqjHEM/TTmxhkoANVI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/1r5EXAsPn7s/s512/seatpan%
I currently have about 400 miles on it and it is getting the job done. That’s why I went ahead and painted it.
The ride is different. You have a bit of roll from side to side due to the narrow tongue, but not enough to feel out of control in any way. The main difference is a bit hard to explain. Most bike seats deliver the jolt from the road up through the frame into your spine, and add some padding in between. With this set up there seems to be a very slight lag between the jolt that you feel in your feet and hands and movement of your butt down into the seat. This delay seems to cancel out the road bumps and holes. This happens very fast and I’m not sure what is happening, but there is no visible wear on the seat pan. I think that the frame is delivering the jolt to the front of the seat pan and the tongue is acting like a lever which has to catch up. My first solo seat was just a hard pan of fiberglass, but even without foam the ride was a vast improvement on my back. I am including pictures of my new seat. It’s bigger and has a bit of back support. The seat is still just at the foam stage. I’m still playing with the design so no cover yet.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_TCSH6bqjHEM/TTmxSJRTkhI/AAAAAAAAA3M/70JbwmTdCoY/s576/seat-http://lh6.ggpht.com/_TCSH6bqjHEM/TTmxo2-NttI/AAAAAAAAA3c/fd5JKO5ShmI/s576/seat-
So! What do you think?

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, round two!
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/21/11 at 09:48:25

Hey, dont ask me. I thot the first design was the berries.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, round two!
Post by buttgoat1 on 01/21/11 at 09:48:48

looks good
how did you form the pan?

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, round two!
Post by babyhog on 01/21/11 at 09:49:08

Well, I must say you are persistent! ;)
And more impressive with each new "try". I have no doubt that you will eventually make the exact seat you want and need. Great job! And thanks for keeping us posted.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, round two!
Post by lukeduck on 01/21/11 at 10:06:52

Seat mods can be great. Single saddles look real neat. I've always been able to use Tylonal to solve my seat problems. Soooo, if all else fails. best of luck on the project.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, round two!
Post by JohnBoy on 01/21/11 at 11:44:55

6B7C6F7A7C7B7C6F701D0 wrote:

looks good
how did you form the pan?

I made the seat pan from 3\16th plywood with a couple of layers of fiberglass top and bottom. The plywood/fiberglass seat has a simple curve front to back. The foam is cut from a five dollar exercise mat I got at Walmarts. The foam is several layers of 1/2 inch thick high density foam glued together with 3M contact cement. I have two layers in the back and up to five in the seat horn. Shaping is acually very simple. I used a short Surform (cheese grater) rasp and a flapwheel sander drum attached to my dremel tool. If you screw it up, reach for more glue and foam! My final foam thickness ( at this time ) is about 5/8 inch at the back and gets thicker as you move forward.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, round two!
Post by JohnBoy on 01/24/11 at 18:34:31

705552547855433A0 wrote:

[quote author=6B7C6F7A7C7B7C6F701D0 link=1295627843/0#2 date=1295632128]looks good
how did you form the pan?

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, complete!
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/24/11 at 18:48:13

You cant beat that for lookin good. What kinda $$ was a deal like that, if ya dont mind me asking.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, complete!
Post by JohnBoy on 01/24/11 at 20:02:59

He added a little foam and charged me 60.00 turn around was 48 hours.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, complete!
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/24/11 at 20:09:37

Id say y0u got treated well.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, complete!
Post by babyhog on 01/25/11 at 05:21:53

062324220E23354C0 wrote:

He added a little foam and charged me 60.00 turn around was 48 hours.

Nice! I sew and that looks like a royal pain to sew, so I think you got a great deal! Although, it looks so good, it was probably so easy for him, he thinks he got a deal too.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, complete!
Post by kimchris1 on 01/25/11 at 11:06:39

That is one nice looking seat. Great job on it. It looks like it will give you many hrs of comfy riding.
When do you plan to get it on the bike and give it a try out? :) kim

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, complete!
Post by Serowbot on 01/25/11 at 11:45:30

Hey byGumby!... That looks good!...
Nice work... ;)...

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, complete!
Post by lukeduck on 01/25/11 at 14:13:13

Looks good. Shucks, that might even beat 2 Tylenol. Waiting for picts of the finished bile.

Title: Re: Fiberglass spring seat, complete!
Post by JohnBoy on 01/27/11 at 15:21:53

Some of you ask to see the seat mounted. Well I finally got the clutch cable in and installed today, so here is what the final pictures look like.http://lh6.ggpht.com/_TCSH6bqjHEM/TUH7-7JxBhI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/VqB3e4i5v-I/s576/leftside%20with%20seat.jpghttp://lh4.ggpht.com/_TCSH6bqjHEM/TUH8ClJ4u1I/AAAAAAAAA4c/1ebFAkcgCUo/s576/rightside%20with%20seat.jpg
Now to replace that silly passenger pillion and tail light! Then I can finally paint the rear fender...been a year now!

Title: Re: Fiberglass seat, installed!
Post by MotoBuddha on 01/27/11 at 18:29:09

Just had a thought. Since you're handy with fiberglass, you could have done a mold of your butt so the seat shape would cradle you perfectly.

Title: Re: Fiberglass seat, installed!
Post by 2whlthrpy on 01/27/11 at 19:54:21

Now thats funny! [smiley=laugh.gif]

But lets skip the pics.

Title: Re: Fiberglass seat, installed!
Post by buttgoat1 on 01/28/11 at 14:32:24

I had actually thought about making a mold by sitting on some compressable foam, something on the order of florist foam and then glassing it as a negative, then molding the actual pan. If that didn't work find a metal seat off of a tractor with a good feel and using that for a mold.

Title: Re: Fiberglass seat, installed!
Post by kimchris1 on 01/28/11 at 22:01:08

I think that using an old tractor seat as a mold is an excellent idea. The shape of those seats are good.
Years ago I had a bar stool made out of an old metal milk can with a tractor seat attached to the top.
I have thought of using memory foam as a seat as well. I may experiment with some vinyl and see what I can come up with.
This fiberglass seat mentioned in this thread is nice looking and looks like the rider will have a nice place to sit.

Title: Re: Fiberglass seat, installed!
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/28/11 at 23:54:39

Id be afraid to use memory foam. I mean, seriously, whats the last thing that poor thing is gonna remember? You really think its gonna ever be happy & comfortable after THAT?

Well, maybe that depends on just Who used it,