Seat Cover Replacement

Biquetoast October 11, 2020 2 Comments

I really, really wish I remembered who gave me this seat cover.  I’m actually embarrassed.

I remember that the person sent it to me because I complimented his re-covering.  He explained that he created his own from measurements and the original pieces, with a pull-string stitched into the outer edge to use to pull it taught and for something for the built-in clips to grab onto.  I marveled at the craftsmanship, and asked if he could send me the plans or a template or anything.

This was many, many years ago, and probably on Ivar’s original KZ400 forum.  The cover he sent sat on a shelf in my basement for all these years until I could finally stand it no more to look at my torn cover.  I intend to try and figure out who sent this t me and send him a beer.  Virtually…

Anyway, here’s what I did…

1. Bought a reasonably good seat pan from Ebay.  The most important things were rust-free, and with the original bottom strip intact.  More on that in a bit.
2. Gently pried open the tangs/teeth that hold the cover in-place, just enough to get the trim piece off the seat pan.
3. With a strong box knife, patiently & carefully cut the trim piece from the seat cover.
4. Important: At this point, you put the old trim piece back on the raw seat, because without it, the sharp edge would surely slice through the cover.
5. Then, fit the new cover on, pulling the draw string taught as reasonable.
6. Pry the clips back into position, and hold the string tension and the lip in place.

At this point, I haven’t used any adhesive, but it’s late in the year, and when it gets to be riding season again I suspect I will do something to better clip the drawstring, and also probably spray some adhesive in the cover/pan edge to keep it wrapped under.

But it looks great, and again I’m so thankful.  I need to see if I can find out the person, so I can maybe get another one for my other 750…

😉