My first bike

[jeffcoatfilms]

I'm a new rider with my first bike, a 79 R65 with 56,000 miles on it. It'll be a year next month since I first got it.  New Avon tires, converted points to Boyer Electronic ignition, new rear shocks, carbs rebuilt, heads rebuilt and it's nimble, peppy and I'm loving it.

The back of my seat is starting to come apart and I recently picked up a replacement cover from Motobins.  Any advice before I dive into the project would be much appreciated!

[Barry]

I've replaced that exact same seat cover. The motobins cover looks a little different with plain sides and no grab strap. I prefer the look but the cover material is thinner than the original and perhaps it's not the best quality seat cover around.

Fitting requires some patience and a warm day.

1st and most important step. Take pictures of the underneath of the seat so you know where all the metal strips and individual rivets go.

Drill out the pop rivets retaining the washers and metal strips for re-use.

Be prepared for the possibility of corrosion in the seat pan. I re-painted mine before fitting the new cover.

Stretch the new cover over the seat and use lots of bulldog clips or something similar to temporarily hold the edges in place.

You'll find that the original cover had something like double sided tape on the edges of the seat pan. It's a good idea to try and replicate that to protect the new cover from being cut when stretched over the sharp edges.

When happy with the fit remove a few clips and glue the edges a section at a time with impact adhesive then fit the metal strips.

Last job is to trim excess material neaty with a sharp knife.

[Dave 2]

Nice looking Bike, I agree with Barry on his technique, the only thing I did differently has to use  a 3M brand spray adhesive to the surface of the seat foam and the back side of the covering. Also make sure to  somehow mark a center line on the fabric so that you don't get skewed. The vinyl can withstand a good amount of stretching to get the the seat cover tight to the foam core. Good Luck, Dave 2

[montmil]

Sharp looking '79, Pygar. Welcome to the herd.

Hit up one of the Forum Administrators for a "kitchen pass" that will get you into our forum's Photo Gallery -find the tab at the top of the page.

Go to my photo gallery and locate the seat cover DIY. Plenty photos and tips. Allow about a half day for the job. And be sure to really warm up the new vinyl cover as you'll need to stretch it over the pad and pan for best results.

[nhmaf]

Welcome aboard!

+1 on doing this on a hot, sunny day - it really helps with the stretching of the vinyl.   Otherwise, a hairdeyer will help, but still isn't as effective as having the entire thing out in the warm sun.

+1 on sanding and repainting the seat pan, if necessary, and also on covering the sharp edges of the metal pan with something to avoid cutting the new vinyl - I used some plastic guard strip cut to length that had been covering the teeth of a bandsaw blade (thanks Justin) though you could use other types of materials too.

I think that you'll have to send a message to RobValdez for the Coppermine photogallery access - I don't think that I have the access to the part of the system

[montmil]

...covering the sharp edges of the metal pan with something to avoid cutting the new vinyl - I used some plastic guard strip cut to length that had been covering the teeth of a bandsaw blade (thanks Justin)...

Ah, Jeez, Mike. You had to go and poke the sleeping bear.

Years ago, I mooched some of Justin's vast supply of band saw blade guard for my R65 seat cover job. Although I do recall sending him money for lunch in payment...

...Justin ragged on me every chance he got for many moons wanting me to send him a bag of blast sand. Now that he's got his "Q ship" money pit, beater rod, I'm sure to be under his lash again.

Watch your six, Mike

[jeffcoatfilms]

Thanks for the tips, I'm feeling a bit more confident in attacking it.

- john