Seat pattern for recovering the seat on Britta?

[SCJJR65]

Does anyone know if there might be a pattern I could get my hands on to use in order to cut out a new cover for the seat on Britta?  It has numerous rips and tears, which I just spent a little over an hour covering with black duct tape (only lightly better than doing it with the silver variety).  My better half says she thinks she can cut out and sew a vinyl cover for the seat if I can find a pattern to use.  The only other alternative is to just remove the existing covering altogether and use it, but I can't afford to have Britta sitting on the sidelines for several days while the covering is fabricated.  I have to ride her to school daily!  

Any thoughts or suggestions?  :-/

[NC Steve]

John, you may want to jump back over here: http://suraklyn.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1168461315/0
Not sure if Vontresc ever solved his dilemma, but apparently you can get replacement covers from motobins & maybe Sargeant: perhaps you could get a pattern or some damn good guesstimates??
Good luck! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[SCJJR65]

Thanks for the info, Steve!   [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I emailed Moto-Bins to get a better explanation as to how the seat cover they offer is put on the seat pan.  Maybe this might do the trick!  I'll keep my fingers crossed!

[Justin B.]

The Moto-Bins covers go on just like the stock cover, glue and pop-rivets.  Takes about 20-30 minutes, not accounting for seat R&R...

[SCJJR65]

Hmmmm....  Don't have a rivet gun.  I may have to get an upholsterer to put the cover on for me, if I do wind up getting one from Moto-Bins.  At least I would only be charged for labor!

I hope to hear back from Moto-Bins sometime today.  They're usually pretty good about responding quickly to inquiries.  (And I've certainly emailed them enough with dumb questions in the past!)  

[Justin B.]

Pop-rivet gun only gosts a couple bucks at somewhere like Auto Zone, Home Depot, Wally World, etc.  I have a brand new Moto-Bins cover laying around here somewhere that I haven't installed as I was not really happy about the weight of the vinyl.  I put one on the '80 "RS" and it has started ripping (about 1" so far) at the heat embossed "fake stitching" on the right/rear corner.  Maybe I stretched it too tight...

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

"Removing" pop rivets is a lot tougher than installing them!  It's not hard, really, just frustratingly weird.

[SCJJR65]

Well, I got my reply from Moto-Bins this morning.  It read:

Hi sir,
 
The 91841 is correct for your machine. The existing cover has to be removed and the new cover fitted to the seat rubber and pan by screws or rivets and glue. We suggest that if you have no experience at upholstery that you ask someone to fit the cover for you.
 
Regards from Peter  Locke
Moto-Bins Online
World-Wide independent supplier of parts for BMW Motorcycles
Hepco & Becker Equipment UK Importers.
=========================================================================


I just love the way they write!  

Well, I guess since I have no experience at upholstery, I'll order the cover and get someone at an upholstery shop to "fit" the cover for me!

[trolle]

If you do not mind the missing pattern and want a seat cover which can stand the tear and wear of daily use do as I did: Take the hide of a goat, cured of course, let it soak in water for 24 hours, then strech it over the seat as much as possible, be sure there are no wrinkles anywhere, and fasten it with clothes' pegs. Let it dry on the seat and rivet it with poprivets to the seat's frame. Remove the surplus hide with a sharp knife and for less than $25 you have a cover that looks good, is nice to ride on and can stand the daily wear.

I did so two years ago and the cover still looks new.

Greetings from a sunny and warm north where spring has sprung (oops sorry, couldn't resist)

trolle

[trolle]

Sorry forgot this:

To remove the pop rivets use a quarter inch high speed drill in the center of the rivet. This removes the rim which keeps the two parts of the rivet together and the rivet falls apart.

I had the passenger strap sown by a shoe repairer who did the job for $1. The strap was fastened with the old fasteners.

greetings from a north where the riding season has begun yesterday  [smiley=happy.gif]:-))

trolle

[nhmaf]

I also do not have upholstery experience - and I'm going to have to do something about recovering
the seat on my LS this year - it has a few small holes/cracks in the visible spots, but it has also
been completely cut through on the front end of the seat, resulting in wearing through the paint
on the back of the gas tank, which is now showing rust spots.   Duct tape can only get ya so far !!!!

I think that I can work a pop rivet tool, provided I can find a good cover.   I had called a place out
west that I believe Rob or another person on one of the previous incarnations of our R65 board had
used for their bike, but alas, they do not/will not make one for the LS seat.

There are a few custom leathers shops around, maybe I'll check into the cost of having it done
up in real black tooled leather ....

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Boy, I would miss my brown seat...

Mine is cracking at the rear seam.  It would be a good excuse for me to put on a later model seat, though, and finally install my neat (2nd gen) storage box under the tailsection... The 1st gens were so lame...

[trolle]

I did not have any upholstery experience before making my goatskin cover but found it rather easy to do and I am not above average in manual skills.

greetings from a soon to be sunny north were the temp will rise to a staggering 54F today

trolle

[SCJJR65]

I've decided to go ahead and order the cover from Moto-Bins and borrow a pop rivet gun from school.  One of my teachers has done some upholstery and said she would show me how the seat is attached using rivets and let me do the procedure myself.  I just have to remove the old seat cover first!

I'll keep you all posted and will post a photo or two of Britta's new seat once it's installed!