re-upholstering a seat - Pictures? pictographs? Tiparillos?

OK, I don't smoke any more but I always liked those Tiparillos ads.

I'm going to reupholster the seat on my XJ1100 & have the form cut replacement. I have the instructions on a slip of included paper but I've never seen it done before & I don't think my Swigline stapler is going to cut it. The local upholstery shop wants $60 for the labor so I have to do it on my own.

Any good links for me to be able to see the process done? I don't want it to come out looking as saggy as the rest of me...

Thanks!

 

Argh, I wish I had taken pictures when I did mine. All I can do is tell you what I did...

I took off the old seat cover. I don't remember if it was vinyl or leather, but let's assume it was vinyl since it almost definitely was. I *saved* the old seat for a pattern for the new one. It was ripped up pretty bad, but still you could see where the seams were supposed to go. I *saved* the button from the middle (some bikes have more than 1) to re-use.

Then, my gracious grandma offered to sew me a new one, so I took her up on that. She pulled apart all the seams off the old seat cover and used the pieces as patterns for the new one. The vinyl I got from JoAnn fabrics I think. She was able to sew this material on her regular household machine.

I did not do anything to the foam except scrape it to get rid of some of the crumbly parts. It was pretty much usable. If yours has more sun damage you may have to glue pieces of similar foam on and carve them. I believe some people use an electric knife to do this.

I assume that you have the cover ready to go and maybe the foam is ready too. Once I had my cover ready, I stapled either the front or the back down first. You should make sure that you get the first staple on the centerline. Then I did the back or the front, again on centerline. In order to keep from getting it uneven, then you'd want to match some point in the middle on each side and staple those down. This makes a "+" pattern, where the front, back and sides are all very taut. If you don't get them very taut, the material will stretch and it will look saggy.

I continued this process, dividing each interval in half and pulling it very tight. Eventually, there won't be any room between staples to continue, then you stop. I may have even done a double row, to make sure. The seat pan on mine was plastic, and I was able to get regular construction type staples to go into it. I believe I used either 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch staples. They have held.

Finally, you poke as small a hole as possible where the button is supposed to go and pull it until things look very tight all the way around. Staple the string from that down too. Now you should have a symmetric, non-bunched up seat.

I already over-answered your question, but if anyone else cares:

Here's what I learned from my experience. It is now about 6 years later and I think I would do a few things differently based on how the seat has aged.

1. Whatever thread was used eventually disintegrated---you have to use some kind of thread that won't come apart in the elements.
2. I will use leather in the future, because it wears well and feels better. The vinyl still looks ok, but you know what sun does to it. Plus it is sticky and very hot in the summer.
3. I would advocate building a seat in the way shoes are made (with the Dacron [I believe] thread and the baseball-looking stitches), and I will do this next time, so it looks more like a horse saddle than a piece of clothing a cheap pimp would wear.