Brent Herridge
Active Member
This has been going on forever, so I waited till the end to avoid such a drawn out post. In early November I took my seat to a local shop. I wanted to sit a little closer, and in the process, realized normal seating position was OK, but I need a lot more support under hard acceleration. I was flying off the back !!
I already had a pretty cool custom seat that came on the bike, but flames and tribal just don't mix, so I was OK losing it.
The local shop added foam to the back, charging me $265 for it. They priced up front having to do a second round of shaping, and after the first round was WAY off, the $90 adjustment finally fit.
Unfortunately they used a super hard foam on the very back/top for acceleration support, but it came to a point where you sit on it, and was very uncomfortable.
I also wanted natural alligator to cover it. I soon found that real 'gator hides were prohibitively expensive - $500 just for the skin. Then I found Caiman that was just $225. I ordered one and it the local guys looked it over and were very reluctant, but finally agreed that for another $350 they'd cover the seat with it.....but had lots of caveats and what ifs. it's already past Christmas at this point too.
Then I saw posts here about Mean City Cycles. They were comparatively much cheaper, and seemed very very skilled at making seats really comfortable.
I worked with Lori and agreed to send them the seat. For $350 they did their memory foam reshaping (keeping the expensive shape I already had), and upholstered the seat and sissy bar pad in 'Gator patterned vinyl.
I realized the real hide would be way more expensive, way less comfortable, and would be a constant pain, having to treat it and re-dye it as it faded. Plus their vinyl gator looked very nice. They even sent me a free sample. They finished on the day I had scheduled it with them, and return shipping had it back at my house in just 2 days.
I am happy with the texture and way they put the hide patterns on the seat. I was shocked that they put a seam across the top of the seat though.
Unfortunately, they didn't quite finish the job. They did not put the felt backing on. This is obviously critical since the seat rides directly against the fender. I also thought they did not put holes in the sissy bar pad for the screws that hold it on. I called them and they said the holes were in the sissy bar cover, which I was able to find. They apologized for the felt mis-hap, but there was no way I was going to spend another $50 to return it to them. They agreed to ship the felt and told me that HH-66 is the adhesive they use. I found it for $11 on Amazon, and thankfully felt and glue both showed up Friday.
It took quite a while, but I was happy with the pattern I cut, largely from the original. Here it is laying on the seat.
I already had a pretty cool custom seat that came on the bike, but flames and tribal just don't mix, so I was OK losing it.
The local shop added foam to the back, charging me $265 for it. They priced up front having to do a second round of shaping, and after the first round was WAY off, the $90 adjustment finally fit.
Unfortunately they used a super hard foam on the very back/top for acceleration support, but it came to a point where you sit on it, and was very uncomfortable.
I also wanted natural alligator to cover it. I soon found that real 'gator hides were prohibitively expensive - $500 just for the skin. Then I found Caiman that was just $225. I ordered one and it the local guys looked it over and were very reluctant, but finally agreed that for another $350 they'd cover the seat with it.....but had lots of caveats and what ifs. it's already past Christmas at this point too.
Then I saw posts here about Mean City Cycles. They were comparatively much cheaper, and seemed very very skilled at making seats really comfortable.
I worked with Lori and agreed to send them the seat. For $350 they did their memory foam reshaping (keeping the expensive shape I already had), and upholstered the seat and sissy bar pad in 'Gator patterned vinyl.
I realized the real hide would be way more expensive, way less comfortable, and would be a constant pain, having to treat it and re-dye it as it faded. Plus their vinyl gator looked very nice. They even sent me a free sample. They finished on the day I had scheduled it with them, and return shipping had it back at my house in just 2 days.
I am happy with the texture and way they put the hide patterns on the seat. I was shocked that they put a seam across the top of the seat though.
Unfortunately, they didn't quite finish the job. They did not put the felt backing on. This is obviously critical since the seat rides directly against the fender. I also thought they did not put holes in the sissy bar pad for the screws that hold it on. I called them and they said the holes were in the sissy bar cover, which I was able to find. They apologized for the felt mis-hap, but there was no way I was going to spend another $50 to return it to them. They agreed to ship the felt and told me that HH-66 is the adhesive they use. I found it for $11 on Amazon, and thankfully felt and glue both showed up Friday.
It took quite a while, but I was happy with the pattern I cut, largely from the original. Here it is laying on the seat.
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