custom seat for xj 650 comfort foam question

Hi all , im in the process of making a smaller lower seat . for when i feel like cruising solo . I've already taped, waxed, fiberglassed 3 layers. Im now at the stage Of choosing a foam to stick to the Pan .
I ve heard of people using carpet foam in layers , sofa memory foam, gel seats ( which are expensive). Im looking for an inexpensive ..preferably recycled material , any Ideas . I will be using leather as my external seat . The process is quite simple but time consuming , with the dry times of the resin and all .
Ill post some pics eventually

later

Jonathan

 

Yes carpet padding works well for a seat pad. I go with 2 layers on the bottom, glue or tape it to the seat pan. Then depending on how thick you want the seat, I add one of those kneeling pads they sell at Walmart (used for scrubbing the floor on your knees) It's dense foam, a little stiffer than the stuff that comes inside your stock seat. They are about an inch thick, so all you need to do is cut the outline shape (you will probably need two of them depending on the size of your seat)
Or you can get seat foam from some Fabric stores. Most of the stuff I find is very soft, which is only good for the top layer of the seat. But some have the dense seat foam too.
So use dense foam on the bottom and soft on top. That way it will be comfortable and you won't tend to sink to the bottom. That's how I've been doing it for years and have always been able to ride all day with no problem.
Another idea I've used is to just cut down the stock foam from the old seat with a large bread knife to get it the shape you want and smoothen out the curves with a die grinder using a very fine grinding wheel (do this outside, because it throws fine foam dust all over!)
You can use thick plastic, aluminum or steel for a seat pan. I like to use the plastic one that comes with the bike if I can and just cut it to what I need. Aluminum sheeting also works well. It's easy to cut and shape, but you need to pop-rivet the leather cover on, so it's more time consuming, as is steel. Good luck! PD

 

jonnymaritime
I too am looking to make changes on my seat. In my searches i ran across this website. Has soome great info and advice as well as foam and gel products at great prices.
Check it out.
www.diymotorcycleseat.com

The Buff