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In this post Nico Hennrich helps you, Cafe Racers, with how to Build a Metal Cafe Racer seat from scratch.
ps: If you like more information on Cafe Racer Seat (Gel Pads, Building them, Mounting them etc… click here)
After having built a fiber glass seat for my Honda CB 650 I decided to make it a bit more “authentic” and build the second seat using pure metal. The form of the hump was clear as it should be a shorter version of the old one. The frame I needed to develop from scratch as the old one still used the original mountings that result in a very high position.
Step 1: The frame
To design the frame I used a model of wooden sticks that I attached to the bike’s frame. Based on this model I built the frame from square tubes that I welded together.
Step 2: The ribs
To shape the hump I used three ribs – one at the end of the driver’s seat, one in the middle to support the curve and one at the end. I gave the rib at the a bevel of 45 degrees to have a sharper back side.
I also welded a plate for mounting the seat cushion. Ribs and plate are made from 0,8mm blank sheet.
Step 3: Covering
In my first thought I wanted to build the whole cover in one piece and bend the plate. Unfortunately the plate was too inflexible for that – so split the cover into two pieces that I welded on the ribs
Step 4: The Seat Cushion
The covering is simple wooden plate covered with foam. The cover I made from leather substitute. In the image below you can see the raw layout of the cover that I sawed afterwards.
The mounting on the seat is realized using simple screens whose heads are fixed using wires that are soldered to it.
Step 5: Finishing
Final steps for the seat were the grinding, filling and painting. Mounting the rear light that is fitted into seat. The seat is fixed using screws on the frame.
I was quite surprised that the new metal seat was not really much heavier than the fiber one.
After the first test drive the final step at this stage was to use a angle grinder to remove all old fixings for the original seat.
We thank Nico for sharing his story!
Building a Cafe Racer Yourself?
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