Seat Sculpting
Forrest got to custom form the seat foam for his CL450 over the weekend. We showed him the basic technique and the basic shape of Emma’s XS400 seat, and he dug right in.
That’s the finished foam for the XS400 on top, and the hunk of foam about to be sculpted for the 450 below.
Some sketching and good old fashioned eye-balling are required to get the foam to start to match the seat pan shape: (the ‘L’ goes on the forehead…)
A bit of time with a hacksaw, a hand saw, and a sheetrock file, and bang, a nicely sculpted seat pad will be ready to head to the upholsterer.
We wrapped up the weekend with a quick weld job on the hitch rack on the back of Forrest’s 4Runner. Between that and the cruiser bike brake post repair we performed for the neighbor this weekend, our welding repertoire is really beginning to expand!
Fellow bike enthusiast Kevin Lorda stopped by to show off his new chops and poke around the garage for a bit. It’s pretty amazing how many people are excited about/working on vintage motos in town these days. We should have some sort of get together to celebrate all of the cool old bikes or something…
By Sunday afternoon, the bike was somewhat assembled, had some functioning wiring, and was definitely starting to look like a fun ride.
next post: a few more pics from the weekend »
Forrest Huisman on Facebook
2 May, 2012 at 2:22 am //
Awesome weekend! I even agree with the forehead gesture
Garrett
20 February, 2013 at 2:20 am //
Build looks great! I was wondering what type of foam you guys used for your seat? and possibly where to get it?
Josh Edgar
20 February, 2013 at 4:00 am //
Hey,
We use foam that is intended for kayak outfitting. It is easy to shape, comfortable but not too soft, and retains its shape over time. We buy it at our local kayak shop so anywhere that sells whitewater kayaks should have it.
Nick Surra
21 February, 2013 at 7:59 pm //
Hey, What kind of foam are you using for the seats on these bikes?
Josh Edgar
22 February, 2013 at 4:42 pm //
Hey Nick,
We are using kayak outfitting foam. You can get it most places that sell whitewater kayaks or canoes.