Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner Low Profile Seat

I really like the Newspeedmaster Low Profile Seat, but at 375 bucks it is costly. It is frustrating to see Harley low profile seats selling for 200 bucks. Is there any other options out there for a low profile seat? Has anyone had sucess on making there own out of the stock solo seat?
I want the seat to sit really low like the Newspeedmaster version, but before I break the bank, I want to make sure there isn't something else I can do.

talk to member blackbird. his wife does very nice work but i dont know his prices. its worth a talkin. look in the vendor section for some of her work.

I have been looking my self for a cheaper solo seat to fit these bikes with no luck. Im thinking about making my own. Check out [club chopper forums] and go to the seat building section there is a ton of info about building seats. Hope this helps you out.

I ordered some stuff from Brent last year and he mistakenly sent me the low profile seat. I thought it was more than 375 but that is not a bad price if you are right. I think those HD seats you are looking at are probably covered with vinyl. Since doing my solo seat, Chris has come up with a much better idea for our seats. We have found some quality neoprene that is much softer than what we used on my seat. You would be surprised how affordable it can be.

Thanks for the kind words Dunn

I have a list of priorities on my bike and a custom solo is on the list after a few others. I will be talking to you eventually, blackbird. I think Chris' work is excellent and truely 'hand made' looking . Other custom seats CAN look like it is 1. just another seat or 2. a production line seat.

I beleive the plain black seat is 375.00 at Newspeedmaster.
Blackbird, your seats are awesome, but probably a bit out of my price range, Good things cost more, and are usually worth it. Is there any pics floating around with your seats installed, do they hug the bike like the Bruiser Custom seat (Brent's)? I think the shape and fit of the seat is just as important as the quality leather work.

1funride-
A friend of mine, who used to do custom mc seats, and I went at my stock America solo seat with an electric carving knife and a cheesegrater and for free free free and lowered my seat, carving out a Corbinesque bucket and really customizing the shape of the seat for where my legs fall while in riding position. The stock seat cover is stretchy and we poppped that back on while he worked me up a nice leather seat cover- the stock seat looked fine . Before we put on the leather cover, we went back into the seat and carved out a well for a gel insert. Between the seat foam and the leather cover, we glued in a thin layer of car interior fabric (what's on the inside of most car roofs) so that the foam wouldn't rub off into little bits and so the edge where the gel met the foam wouldn't show.

Short money,and I'm very happy with my seat.

If you don't feel confident with your electric carving knife/cheesegrater skills, you might be able to find a local automotive upholsterer to do the work.

+1 on the carving knife!

I took to my stock seat witha carving knife and dished out the back of the seat the same as Paula is saying. I smoothed my seat using an angle grinder with a sanding disk on it. Because I'm such a cheap ****** I put the original cover back on and pulled down tight into the dish with some buttons tied through the back of the seat pan.this worked pretty good as it was really comfortable, the upholstery just look a little bit chatty,but served me well for quite some time.
The two tone seat in the centre of the photo is the second incarnation of that same original stock seat. This time around I narrowed the seat pan and trimmed the foam to suit. I was so pleased with how it turned out that I decided to part with some of my hard earned and actually took it to a young upholstery dude.

Wow Brent! VERY nice job on that B&W seat there, guy!!! I also cut down the side on my stock seat to make a very similar look to that one. However, instead of cutting the down, I actually added about an inch and a half of foam along the top in order to flatten it out some. Now, you may be wondering why I did that...well, it's really very simple. It's 'cause a dished out seat locks you in one position on said seat, often causing "hot spots" on the ol' rump. And so, NOW I can move around on that seat o' mine juuuuuust fine, and can sit on that puppy for hours on end without ever gettin' those "hot spots". But yeah, every butt is different I suppose, right?!

And BTW, I see you have also made some finned exhaust header clamps that mimic the ol' Triumphs clamps, just like I did a year years ago.

I found a set on those old large-pronged units you used to see on those old Triumph choppers back in the day, and I grounded off those prongs and rounded 'em to look like the old stock units.

How did you make yours?

And BTW Paula...WHERE the H*LL have YOU been, ANYWAY???

(I've missed our resident poetress 'round here, ya know!!!)

Blackbird, that looks killer, makes me want to recover my low profile seat.

Dwight,
yes mate, as far as seats go its each to their own. Although I have never personally seen one, I based the rejig of My seat on photographs I have seen of Corbin seats. I much prefer to be planted in the seat then be sitting up on top of it. I have put in quite a few big kilometre days and have never had a sore aarse. Dude, believe me this is one really comfortable seat.
I bought the exhaust fin clamps on eBay. I welded an aluminium block opposite the clamping point on each of the clamps and then split them in half. I drilled and tapped the aluminium block that I welded. I had to remove the shield at the top of the header pipes. This allowed the split clamp to fit around the header pipe and fasten up with the two clamping bolts. I hope that's clear enough for you. I think they look pretty good and I've had heaps of positive comments about them.

I want one of those cut down stock seats! Dad gum that thing looks SWEET!