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But a HUGE improvement.I have an Android smartphone that I love so much. Not perfect - there’s a slight ridge on the top left you can see. The final motorcycle seat with new vinyl stretched over it. However, I don’t recommend using a hair dryer because you might melt it from leaving it on for ages and getting all close to the plastic… many cheap hair dryers may not have adequate ventilation. They’re not expensive, but it was inconvenient. Why’d I use a hair dryer? Turns out that my hot air gun was 110V and I had left America to the rest of the world that (nearly all) uses 220-240V. Finally, I stapled it around the top, and then re-stapled everywhere to keep the whole thing tight.I set holding staples along the way, but not as many as I’d need long-term.I pulled each side tight until I had zero creases running along the edge. Then, over the ridge, I started using a hair dryer to really loosen up the vinyl before pulling it tight.The end I had it fastened on was the more elevated one. The main mistake I made in this step was to not use a hot air gun or hair dryer. Reupholstering a motorcycle seat – a failure stage This is after my first attempt to reupholster it. I tried to stretch the fabric over the sides, once the sides were fastened.I didn’t use glue (some sites said to, some didn’t, and the original didn’t) - correct.I fastened the front and the back (mistake).To reupholster it, I followed procedures I found on a number of corners of the Internet. The naked Ninja 650 seat, with vinyl removed. This is the naked Ninja 650 motorcycle seat - just the foam. It took about 10 minutes to properly pull out all the staples and leave the motorcycle seat naked. Staples being pulled out of the Ninja 650 seat
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I pulled the first ones out, then used the weight of the vinyl fabric to rip out the rest of the staples with my hands. I might have caused one or two of them when cleaning the motorcycle with my cleaners (it was really dirty!) The original Ninja 650 motorcycle seat It had a huge hole in the seat that the previous owner had covered with duct tape. The picture below was the original Ninja 650 motorcycle seat.
#Mini bike chopper seats with the pro
(Mind you, if you use a light craft adhesive, it should be easy to pull off - pro upholsterers can feel free to overrule me.) All the tools for reupholstering the Ninja 650 motorcycle seat: the seat, some pliers, a knife, and some marine vinyl. Glue gives you a false sense of “hey it’s sticking down” and then you might end up with a wrinkly seat cover. If you have to remove the vinyl and do it again, glue will make things messy.Īlso, it’s super important to stretch out the folds. I think it’s short-sighted to use glue if you’re a first timer, because you might screw it up. I’ve seen some guides that suggest you need glue to adhere the fabric to the foam. Tools you need to reupholster a motorcycle seat You’re looking for “marine vinyl” or “marine-grade vinyl”, which means it’ll be waterproof.Ī heat gun! Or a hot air gun if you can’t be bothered digging it out (works almost as well, but you might burn it out from overuse) Marine-grade vinyl (by the yard), 6 feet/2 metres – about $20-30 for 2 metres / 6 feet. You don’t need an electric one (unless you suffer from an impairment) The tools you need to reupholster a motorcycle seat are: PictureĪ staple gun (a hardware store kind) ($20-30). It will take you a couple of hours, and considering it only costs $200 roughly (more or less, depending on where you live and the seat) to reupholster a motorcycle seat professionally, you might want to do that if you don’t think it’s worth your time. I’m the kind of person who breaks things and knocks them over, and I still got it done satisfactorily.
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While I said stretching out the fabric is hard, it’s not technically hard. You need extra vinyl because if it’s your first time, and/or if the seat is a weird shape, it’s easy to screw up. Stretching out the fabric to reupholster the motorcycle seat and staple it down.Measure out your new fabric, cutting it roughly into shape.sport bikes, where you have to basically remove the entire top half of the bike, then access the bolts for the seat from underneath) This should be really easy, but I’ve had motorcycles on which it’s hard (e.g. Here are the steps, just so you’re ready. Sign up General overview of the reupholstering process
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