Seat Recovering Help!

I have the big king queen seat for my 82 xj650 and I tore the cover off because the PO had duct taped the whole lower seat and I think it looked like sh*t. Now I am looking around for a local upholstery shop, but they all want over 200 dollars. Seems a bit steep for a recovering, because the foam is good. Is it possible to do it myself with a marine grade vinyl. The seat is just so big and curvey. Any suggestions? Or experiences?

 

You would need an industrial sewing machine & keep the old cover as a patten, it can be done, outcome, questionable.
$200.00 is too much, take it to the car trimmers, shoud be about $125 / 160, but worth it.

 

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... =seat.html

 

Ready made seat cover can be bought for around 80$, they are easy to install. The ones I have installed are better looking and more durable than a stock one.

 

Get off the beaten path.

Find your way to a Portuguese or a Vietnamese Neighborhood.
Find an Upholstery Shop.

Bring the seat you want covered with you.
Bring "Sketches" of how you'd like the job done.
Welds, Piping, Patterns, Embroidery; etc.

You should be able to find an Upholsterer to cover that seat and add a few Custom "Touches" for around what a plain store-bought replacement cover will cost.

$100.00 -to- $125.00 ought to get your Seat recovered in a manner that you will really like.

Use an online translator and got-down a few phrases that will be helpful to you when you begin the search.

Like: "Gostaria de ter meu assento da motocicleta feita para olhar novo outra vez!"

 

Glad to hear this. I am awaiting the arrival of my new seat cover in the mail. I considered sending the seat out to Sargent. It lookd like the best option. But I'm keeping track of my "budget" and I've put new seat covers on countless dirt bikes. I'm hoping this one turns out that well. If it does, I'll be happy.

For the original poster, check out Sargent online. I think it's about $70 for their most economical solution, which looks excellent. Of course there will be shipping both ways. But that would still likely keep you in that $125 range and it'd be done right. Here's a link: http://www.sargentcycle.com/prodover.htm

 

Sargent's all the way. They did two for me--

The seat on my white bike (check my gallery) would have been less than $100, shipped, had I not added the red welt. It's a stock recovering job, and I certainly couldn't have done as good a job myself for what might have actually cost more (the price of a quality cover+shipping.)

The seat on the black bike has been reshaped, the "riding platform" flattened and raised an inch and has "atomic foam" added. It cost a tad more but it was worth it; it's an "all day" bike now.